Documents / Official release

box Incident Summaries 173-233

U.S. Department of War · 144 pages · text by GLM-OCR

This Air Materiel Command file, released by the U.S. Department of War, holds Incident Summary Sheets 173 through 233, sent under a 1949 transmittal. Most of the sheets record sightings of unidentified aerial objects in 1948 and early 1949. They cover Santa Fe, New Mexico, San Pablo, California, Honolulu, Kentwood, Louisiana, and Jackson, Mississippi. Each sheet gives the observer's details and the object's size, speed and shape, and often an investigator's note on how reliable the witness seemed. The file ends with a blank guide for investigating reports, including radar sightings.

From the source:Release of 2026-05-08 Incident: N/A, N/A. NARA Record Group 38, catalogue id 143685. Each of these incident summaries 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.

  • p. 10 …Main part of body translucent and of a dirty gray color 10. Shape (Sketch if Possible…
  • p. 11 …object was translucent and of a dirty gray color and that the dark, circular portion appeared…
  • p. 12 …Buff or gray in color 10. Shade (Sketch if Possible) 11. Nature of luminosity: (directed beam…
  • p. 13 …It was buff or gray in color with several darker vertical lines like ribs. (See drawing…
  • p. 54 …an article/which appeared in the first gray light of dawn on Nov 6. It was…
  • p. 57 …15 miles northwest of Grays Harbor. Washington 10 miles off coast 3. Observer's Position: Air…
  • p. 58 …to weather reports for the vicinity of Grays Harbor) No estimation could be made as to…
  • p. 85 …dull gray (whitish grey) 10. Shape (Sketch if Possible) Oblong ball, no wings or tail surfaces…
  • p. 86 …It had a very dull gray glow to it and was oblong in shape as mentioned…

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

1. Date and Time of Observation: 23 Sept 48 Approx 1200

2. Where Sighted: Castro's Ranch - 4 miles due east of San Pablo, Calif and 41 miles South of Pinole, Calif

3. Observer's Position: ground (i.e., ground, air, control tower, etc.)

4. Name and Address of Observer: Horace S. Eakins, Col., U. S. Army (RET) 1024 Esther Drive, Walnut Creek, Calif.

5. Occupation and/orobbies: Retired army colonel formerly a veterinarian presently employed as a Meat Inspector by Calif State Dept of Agr.

6. Attention Attracted by: Was observing an Army bomber when he observed an unknown object flying above the bomber

7. Number of Object(s) Seen:

7. Number of Object( ) Seen: 1

8. Size of Object(s): About the size of a 4-engine bomber - longer than wide

9. Color of Object(s): Main part of body translucent and of a dirty gray color

10. Shape (Sketch if Possible) undulating with center portion appearing

11. Nature of Luminosity: Did not reflect or give off light of any type (directed beam of light?)

12. Altitude of Object: Over a mile (estimated)

17. Estimated Distance of Object from Observer: Over a mile directly above

11. Estimated Speed of Object: very fast speed

15. Time in Sight: Could not estimate

16. Tactics: Appendages seemed to flap or oscillate while center portion remained stable

17. Sound made by Object(s): No noise

18. Direction of Flight of Object(s) Nearly due east

19. Apparent Construction: Thought main part of object appeared like canvas

20. Effect on Clouds: I/S

21. Exhaust Trail Color of): No evidence of exhaust

22. Warner of Disappearance: just disappeared from sight in a very short time

23. Weather Conditions at Time of Sighting: Day was rather dull and hazy - there were very few clouds in the sky at the time.

24. Peculiarities Noted: See drawing attached

25. Summary of Incident: (over) (See attached page)

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About this file

Official release, 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. 144 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.