Documents / Report
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.
“Socorro, New Mexico”4 pages
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Attention is called particularly to the large number of small particles in one of the 145-1/2-hour collections. The actual number in the collection was 140, for the five-minute run. Most of these were in the size range of two to five microns, and the principal difficulty in associating them with the fireball is that a five micron particle cannot fall much more than 10,000 feet in 145.5 hours. These particles could have come down from a greater height only if some downward motion had taken place in part of the air involved. It should be mentioned that collections were taken during the afternoon of July 27, at several points south and east of Socorro, the farthest being near Bingham. These collections contained particles giving copper indications, the particles being in the same range of sizes as those collected in Socorro at about the same time. It is perhaps noteworthy that the copper-bearing particles in all these collections were of opaque material. Most of the copper minerals that have previously come to our attention in collections from the air have been colored material, blue, green, red, or yellow. ## COBALT AND NICKEL TESTS In the 2:00 p.m. collection of July 26, three quite remarkable particles were found that gave very strong cobalt indications. The particles were apparently perfect spheres (at least they were perfectly circular in cross section), twelve microns in diameter. The reaction with rubeanic acid, after ammonia treatment, produced a dense yellow-tan halo, sixty microns in diameter. The color was not quite so clear as with pure cobalt: the appearance suggesting a high-cobalt composition with some metal present. Such particles are quite unique in the experience of the present., If these particles were of meteoritic origin they could, in the absence of vertical air movement, have fallen a distance of the order of 20,000 feet in an interval of 41.5 hours. Two particles giving nickel indications were found. This is quite normal, however. If anything, the number is smaller than might have been expected in material of surface origin. The collections were not given acid treatment: additional nickel indications might have been found if this had been done. ## A SUGGESTION While the results of the present investigation should be regarded as negative or inconclusive, it is desired to call attention to the fact that a means is at hand that should make possible a definite demonstration of the presence or absence of copper particles associated with events of the July 24th type. Particle collection equipment, operating on the same principle as that used in the present investigation, and designed for airplane installation, is on hand and its successful operation has been demonstrated in numerous slights. Provision
Report, from the pursue collection. 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. 116 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.