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This 217-page Project Blue Book desk file on the 24 April 1964 Socorro, New Mexico sighting by policeman Lonnie Zamora comes from the Rob Mercer collection. It contains the Blue Book record card, which carries the case as unidentified pending more data, along with Foreign Technology Division messages and resumes and a narrative of the sighting. It also holds inquiries about lunar modules, helicopters and VTOL craft, soil and radiation findings, and a letter by J. Allen Hynek rejecting Donald Menzel's hoax hypothesis.
“Lonnie Zamora”45 pages
UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECT REPORT SOCORRO, NEW MEXICO, 24 APRIL 1964 On April 24, 1964, a Socorro, New Mexico policeman, Mr Lonnie Zamora, reported sighting an object about a mile south of the tovn at approximately 5:45 pm, in an unpopulated area full of hills and gullies and covered with sagebrush. Following is a summary of his report to Air Force investigators: Mr Zamora rePorted that while chasing a speeding car north on US 85, he heard a roar and saw fle.llies in an area where a dynruni te shack vas known to be located. He aban- doned chase of the auto and proceeded to where he believed an explosion had occurred. After traveling a little-used road and experiencing considerable difficulty in t~ng to drive .his car up a gravel-covered hill, he said he then obserVed what he thought was an overturne-d car standing on end. At . this point he vas about 800 ft distant from the object and his car was at the crest of a hill with the object ahead of him in a gully. He reported that during this first glance he sav one or two figures in coveralls whom · he assumed to be occupants of the object. This is the only time he sav these figures; he did not see them again. After radioing to Police Headquarters at Socorro that he was proceeding to investigate what he believed to be an auto accident, he drove to a point about 150 ft from the gully where the obje~t rested and stopped the car to proceed on foot. He said the object vas white, egg or oval- shaped and apparently supported on girderlike legs. He said he heard a roar and sav smoke and flame coming from the bottom of the object. At this point, . Mr Zamora be- lieved that the object vas about to explode and he became frightened, turned, and ran to shield himself behind the police car, bumping his leg and losing his glasses on the way. He said that he crouched dovn, shielding his eyes with his arm while the noise stopped and he glanced up. He reported that the object had risen to a point about 15-20 ft above the ground and the flame and smoke had ceased. At this point, he reported, he noted a design on the object which he described as markings in red about 1 to 1! ft in height, shaped like a crescent with a v~rtica~ arrow an~ horizontal line underneath. He stated that the object remained stationary for sev~ral seconds and then flev off in a southerly direction following the contou~ o~ the ~lly. Within moments afterward, Sgt Chavez of the Nev Mexico State Police ~rriYed on the scene in response to Mr Zamora ta earlier radio call. He observed no object,. but he reported that there vere some slight depressions in the ground and apparently burned brush in the area where Mr Zamora had reported seeing the object. The brush vas cold to the touch. Sgt Chavez reported the incident to local military authorities who conducted the initial investigation. The Air Force sent investigators from their project office at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. The investigation disclosed the following facta: · No other witnesses to the object reported by Mr zamora could be located. There were no unidentified helicopters or aircraft in the area. Observers at radar installations had OQserved no unusual or unidentified blips. I There vas no unusual meteorological activity; no thunderstorms. The weather vas windy but clear.Rob Mercer
Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 217 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.