UAP Reported at Sandia Base, 1948-1950

This U.S. Department of War release compiles 1949 records tied to Sandia Base, New Mexico. It includes a Sandia Base security inspection reply and a W. D. Crozier letter to Lincoln LaPaz. It also contains Crozier and Seely's report on collecting airborne copper particles after the July 24, 1949 fireball near Socorro, which they judged negative or inconclusive. LaPaz's sixth report on green fireballs disputes parts of that finding, and a Fourth Army report describes unusual lights around the Q Area at Camp Hood, Texas, in 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.

Photograph of Unknown Aerial Phenomena taken at Datil, New Mexico by Cpl Lertis E. Stanfield, Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico on 24 and 25 Feb 1950. An analysis of the above photograph was made by Dr. Lincoln LaPaz, Head of the Institute of Meteoritics, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, who reached the following conclusions:

a. The angular diameter of the perfectly round luminous object Stanfield observed was approximately 1/4 of a degree.

b. The angular velocity of the object in the sky was greater than half a degree per minute.

Dr. LaPaz stated that on the basis of the results (a) and (b) above, the object seen by Stanfield was not the moon (for the angular diameter is too small), it was not Venus or any other planet (for the angular diameter was too large), and it was not a bright fixed star slightly out of focus (for the observed rate of motion is double that due to the diurnal rotation of the earth).