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.
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
Fifty tq/60 shiny objects were seen moving at a speed faster than any known aircraft on an Easterly heading at an extremely high altitude. For the most part these objects traveled in a straight line altho some of them zig-zagged slightly. No sound was heard. Some objects seemed to have a silvery tail which might have been exhaust. These objects could not have been weather balloons as only one balloon was released by the Memphis Weather Bureau that day. NOTE: Witnesses thought they had seen a meteor; however subsequent investigation seemed to preclude this possibility. See Supp II to Trip Report to Memphis - Visit with Dr. Paul Herget of the Observatory of Cincinnati, Ohio, in which Dr. Herget expressed serious doubt that the 50 or more objects observed 7 May 48 in Memphis were meteors. He, was, however unable to offer any explanation as to a possible identification of the objects. Dr. Hynak of OSU and Dr. Lincoln LaPaz are to be consulted about the possibility of these being a meteor shower. Witness of this incident were: Mr. F. J. Kaiser, salesman 251 W. Waldorf Ave., Memphis Mrs F. J. Kaiser, housewife 251 W. Waldorf Ave., Memphis, Tenn.
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.