Documents / Report
This U.S. Department of War file combines security and green fireball records connected to Sandia Base, New Mexico, from 1949. It holds a 7 April 1949 security inspection reply from Detachment D, 1100th USAF Special Reporting Group, at Camp Campbell. It also holds Dr. Crozier's report on airborne copper particles collected after the July 24, 1949 Socorro fireball and Lincoln LaPaz's sixth report on luminous phenomena, both judged negative or inconclusive. The last part is an interim report on unusual lights seen by security personnel at Camp Hood, Texas, on 6 to 8 March 1949.
From the source: Release of 2026-05-22 Incident: 1948-1950, New Mexico. This file contains 116 pages of documentation from the Armed Forces Special Weapons Program (AFSWP) – the direct, post-World War II successor to the Manhattan Project – and from the U.S. Air Force – relating to a series of sightings and investigations in Sandia, New Mexico, from 1948-1950. This file contains 209 sightings of “green orbs,” “discs,” and “fireballs” reported near the military base. Witnesses reported unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) maneuvering, flying out of sight, disappearing, or exploding. The documents also include the results of contemporary investigations into residual copper powder found in some areas where sightings were reported. A few of these investigations became the basis for Project Grudge, which collected reports of unidentified flying objects from various other military installations – also included in this collection.
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•the time of fall. Sinea we cannot assume co mplete stagnation ot the air rnu,ees
1n the Sooor1"o neiBhborhood tor 145 hours . it must be supposed that such air
motions aa occurred were approximately compeuating and resulted in the return
ot Dr. Crozier' s tiny •r1ve-.:u.cron particles" to the Socorro neighborhood in
a.p_pro:d.mo.tely 145 hrurs. Only a detailed otudy ot air .ll!4SS c.otiol!a ror the
time interval i~lTod can settle this point. )
(.3 •.3) The lo continued Q: ea.ranee of co r particles (however • -as
Dr. Crozier emphasizea, S'::l8ller end smaller 1n size . 1n the Sotjorro collection.s.
(Preoisely sueh a decrease 1n particle size hao repeatedly been observed in
connection w1th duat oolleotions believed to be ot metooritic or.lgi n and is attri b- ~
uted to the slower e.nd slower rate ot descent of the particles as their average Bize
decreases. Thuo , L. Rudaux's ros'Qlta strongly indicate 'that particles :from the •
01aoob1nid shower ot 1933, Oltober 9, filtered down in anallor md Sll18.ller sizes
tar 100 hours or more. Fm-ther.m.ore , tor the green fireballs ot J'Uly 24th and
August 6th, U,.o nearly ver:t1eal real paths extended from alt111udtts of lDO mile&
or more down almost to ground level an4 therofore optimum conditions for long
continued intall of duet particles wre approached in these fallo. ) •
(3. 4) !'allure or the airplane collection ot August 8th to detect ~
bor ne co ner rticles def1n1tel not ot terrestrial or1~1n. (How&Ter, the
airplane eolleotiona vero all made at great distanoee hundreds of ailea) rrom
the Vaughn region in -r.-hir.h tho fireball of Auzust 6th i"ell; and, ea Dr. Crozier
points out , at the mo:.nent 1t can not be determined "whether or not tho :tlight
d1d aotuall,7 include air that should have borne partialee .f'ro:n rmteor tre.jei:,tory. w
In this connection the results a1luded to in para.:,"'!'aph 4 , belcnT• may be or
considerabl e aigniticonce.)
(4) At the ttmo the airplane eolleotion of :uguet &th was plamied the writer
reoamnended not only tha.t the t'l1ght traverse the area fram Vaughn northward to
Raton and · then NW- ward into the Durango, Colorado re~ion (a reconimandation based
on advice received trom l!r. Po.ul Taft of tbO u.u. eathor Buroan) but aleo tb.a~
.s1mu1taneoualy a ground search 1th the portable i npaotmcnt dust collectin,z oq_u1p
ment rigged up on J"uly 27th be run i'roa Va\l8hll through Future. to Santa Rosa.
Tlle latter po.rt or thin reoomre~mdation was rollowed by Dr. Crozier l'Zho reported
on the results obtained in hia letter to me under date or August 10 . copieo ot
which are hereto attached. Dr. Crosier' s letter makes clear that ground collec
tions in the subt1nal regions or tho fireballs of both ~st 6th ond J\lly 24th
resulted in the dotootion or unu.eual. aggregations otcoppor particles, .lppe.rently
the copper IX1rticle aggregate o'btai.ne4 in collectioA R - l04L, m.thin the subtinal
resion ot the August 6th tall was the only such a~egate rou:id in Dr. Crozier' s
lenghty ground search or quet S-9. 111 aeema :particularly oi('Uificant to th&
writer tbat Dr. Crozier auapoets that tho copper dust :round 1n this particular
eolleot1ou R- 1Q4L ntsy have been stirred up troa tbe pavemnt on Illgln'lq 84 ---
a likely oatol:dent airfaca for dust put down by tbe green f.'lreball of. August 6th,
in view or the information giYen me by Ur. T8:f't in regard to tba wind direction
pre•aillng dtn"ing the hours !mediately following t llie incident.
(5)8 In apito or the critical ac:mnenta m.ede in porezraphs 3 mid 4 above , the
writer hes no quarrel with Dr. Crozier•• oonclu.aion that the resulta ao far
obtained in the investigation of volatilization product~ possible put down by
the green 1."1.roball.e are negative or at best 1neonolU81ve. ,However, I do wiah to
stress noat emphatically that 1:r :tuture more detailed ,,ork shon that the nuzcer
oue copper part1oles tound by nr. Crozier and Mr. Seely .!I!!. indud floating don
~NND 58378 Report, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 116 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.