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.

Incident No. 176a

1. Date and Time of Observation: 23 Sept 48 Approx 1230

2. Where Sighted: Castro's Ranch - 4 miles due east of San Pablo, Calif & 4.1 miles south of Pinole, Calif.

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

4. Name and Address of Observer: Mr Sylvester Bentham, 2655 Dam Road Richmond, Calif.

5. Occupation and/or hobbies: retired butcher

6. Attention Attracted by: Col Bekins calling his attention to the object

7. Number of Object( ) Seen: 1

8. Size of Object(s): Appeared from observer's viewpoint to be 2 inches by 1 inch by 1 inch.

9. Color of Object(s): Buff or gray in color

10. Shade (Sketch if Possible)

11. Nature of luminosity: (directed beam of light?)

rectangular outline with sharp corners (See attached drawing) M/S

12. Altitude of Object: Very high (estimated)

13. Estimated Distance of Object from Observe r: H/S

1h. Estimated Speed of Object: faster than any plane he had ever seen

15. Time in Sight: At least 3 minutes

16. Tactics: horizontal flight

17. Sound Code b: Object(s): no noise

18. Direction of Flight of Object(s) northwest then turned north

19. Apparent Construction: Seemed to be covered with a translucent material

20. Effect on Clouds: 2/8

11. Exhaust Trail Color of): Left no exhaust or trail

22. manner of Disappearance: flew out of sight gradually fading from view.

23. Weather Conditions at Time of Sighting: 2/8

24. Peculiarities Noted: Seemed like a vegetable crate flying thru the air

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.