Documents / Report
This declassified U.S. Air Force compilation of unidentified flying object incidents 101 to 172 contains check-list reports from 1948 and 1945. Incident 101 covers the 18 February 1948 sky explosion over Norcatur, Kansas, with letters from Norman G. Markham suggesting a lunar spacecraft, Dr. Lincoln LaPaz's reply judging it a genuine meteorite fall, and witness statements. The final incident, 172, records George F. Gorman's 27 minute F-51 pursuit of a white light over Fargo on 1 October 1948, corroborated by tower controllers and Dr. Cannon.
From the source:Release of 2026-06-12 Includes a "Check-List - Unidentified Flying Objects" that contains details about the incident. Many summaries also include witness lists or statements and other narrative reports or descriptions.
“Los Angeles Times”1 page
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
CHECK-LIST UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS 1. Date of Incident 1 Oct 1948 Incident # 172 b 2. Time of Incident 2100 hrs 3. Place of observation Fargo, N. Dakota Airport - Control tower Fargo, N. D Arpt. Name of observer Manuel E. Johnson 5. Occupation of observer Assistant Air-port Traffic controller 6. Address of observer 1422 Broadway, Fargo, N.D. 7. Number of objects observed 1 8. Distance of object from observer 1 to 2 miles 9. Time in sight several seconds 10. Altitude 2000 to 2500 ft 11. Speed extremely fast 12. Direction of flight NNW 13. Tactics one turn 14. Lights clear white light 15. Sound none 16. Size of a lamp 17. Color clear white 18. Shapo sound 19. Odor detected none noted 20. Apparent construction none noted 21 Exhaust trails none noted 22. Weather conditions CAVU 23. Effect on clouds none 24. Sketches or photographs none 25. Manner of disappearance straight line 26. Remarks: Mr. Johnson was on duty at the Fargo Airport tower from around 1600 hours 1 Oct 4g and was in the tower at the time the F-51 called in requesting information about local traffic. When Lt Gorman called a second time about the object Johnson walked to the rear of the receiver and looked out the south window and saw the object and the Cub. Object was a little higher than the "Cub" and seemed to be on a north heading, and then turning northwest. It seemed about 2,000 ft in the air and traveling at an excessive rate of speed. No definite outline could be identified. Both the object and the "Cub" were noticed at the same time.
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. 210 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.