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This Project Blue Book file, released through The Black Vault, collects US Air Force records from 1950 to 1959 on the movie film Nicholas Mariana shot at Great Falls, Montana on 15 August 1950. It includes the OSI interview report, letters about borrowing and copying the film, and a 1956 Douglas Aircraft analysis. Blue Book's own findings were not consistent: one letter lists the cause as unknown, while later memos conclude the objects were probably two F-94 jets.
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
Hq, 1701st Air Transport Wg, Great Falls AFB, Montana, Subj: Project Blue Book
arc motion at very high speeds. I approximate the speed to have been over 400 MPH. At all times the altitude was definitely in the 5,000 ft. to 10,000 ft. above the terrain bracket. The end frames of the movie reel show the objects to be in line with a high water tower, which is approximately 130 ft. high. I approximate a $ 3 0^{\circ} $ angle to have been formed by the level ground and a straight line from the objects to the spot where I was standing. At the point above the water tower, the objects hovered motionless for two or three minutes and then flew out of sight. The clearest films of the reel were removed by the Air Force when I first lent them the movies. The only ones which remain in my possession are those which show the objects at a considerable distance. I believe the objects were at all times within 2 or $ 2 \frac{1}{2} $ miles of me. Total time that the objects were in view: approximately $ 3 \frac{1}{2} $ minutes.
3. Sketch #1 shows the point from which Mr. first sighted the objects. It is approximately the same spot from which he took the film. The extreme ends of the Great Falls AFB runway are indicated for evaluation as to flight traffic pattern.
4. Sketch #2 used as the center the exact spot from where original sightings were made. The spot adjacent to his parked automobile is also indicated. It was here that the film was taken.
5. It is reported by hearsay that other individuals observed these objects at the same hour on the same day. However, due to elapsed time since these sightings, no concrete leads can be found to identify other witnesses.
## 6. Mr. is the manager of the
quent, if not daily, continue. Shortly after the incident, a denounced all who claimed to have seen "flying objects". Particular reference was made to Mr. M. M. Ma. This bad publicity resulted in the loss as sponsors on nine (9) of the fourteen (14) radio stations for Mr. M. Ma.'s sportcasts. It was nine (9) months before these stations returned to Mr. M. Ma.'s program and this doubtlessly resulted in considerable financial loss to him. At present, Mr. Ma. is in the final stages of a lawsuit against Mr. Ma.
7. Mr. is well-known as a pleasant, friendly, courteous and competent individual. There seem to be no ulterior motives involved.
DOWNGRADED AT 3 YEAR INTERVALS; DECLASSIFIED AFTER 12 YEARS. DOD DIR 5200.10 Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 114 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.