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.
“Edwards Air Force Base”1 page
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
average during December, January, and February, yet no green fireballs have been reported in any other areas. They seemed to be confined to the Los Alamos, Las Vegas, and West Texas triangle.
8. Mr. Teller then took over the discussion and showed that a material object travelling with the velocity of the subject phenomenon (about eight miles per second) would have to have a mass of about twenty grams, assuming all the kinetic energy could be converted to light, under the assumption that the light output is in the vicinity of $10^{14}$ ergs per second. He then went on to show that the shock wave produced by the passage of an object of these dimensions or greater passing through the atmosphere at a height of eight to ten miles (the observer figures) with a velocity of eight miles per second would produce a loud noise easily audible ten kilometers from the source. No sound has been observed. Therefore, Mr. Teller has the tentative opinion they are not material objects passing through the air. We should look to electronics and optics for an explanation rather than in the field of hydrodynamics. In any event, it was apparently agreed by those present that it was almost incredible that a large object such as a guided missile or informer vehicle could pass through the atmosphere at a height of eight miles at a velocity of seven to eight miles per second without producing a loud noise which would have been audible to observers. Mr. Bradbury demurred so far as the electronic explanation was concerned, saying if it were assumed that the answer lay in that region, many more difficult problems would have to be solved.
## 9. The following action seems in order:
a. Recalculation of the data outlined by Mr. Teller with a more accurate treatment to verify his tentative conclusions.
b. The establishment of well-equipped and organized observation stations to give as thorough photometric and photographic coverage as is possible in the geographic area involved.
c. Assuming that Mr. Teller's theories are borne out by recalculation, declassification of the Project to permit participation and thinking by scientists throughout the country.
10. Dr. LaPaz and Captain Neef have fruitlessly attempted to obtain information from a meteorite observers' group now at White Sands, said to be performing work under contract for the Navy. Commander Mandelkorn offered to assist them in their endeavor to enlist the services of the group for observations in connection with Project "Grudge".
11. Conclusion: It is my belief that these phenomena, *particularly if there are any further incidents, are deserving of serious consideration 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.