Documents / Official release
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.
1. Date and Time of Observation: 1 Jan 1949 1700
2. Where Sighted: 2 miles east of Jackson, Mississippi
3. Observer's Position: from air at an altitude of about 1,800 ft (i.e., ground, air, control tower, etc.)
4. Name and Address of Observer: Mr & Mrs Tom Rush, 402 Mitchell Ave., Jackson, Mississippi
5. Occupation and/or hobbies
5. Occupation and/or hobbies: Pilot employed by Dixie Air Service at Jackson, Mississippi. Ex AAF pilot
6. Attention Attracted by:
6. Attention Attracted by: Mississippi. Ex AAF pilot something fly/in front of them
7. Number of Object( ) Seen: 1
4. Size of Object(s): 60 ft long. 10 feet wide tapering to 4 ft
9. Color of Object(s): Dark blue or black
10. Shape (Sketch if Possible) cigar-shaped - not unlike sleeve target. (1st report mentioned short stubby wings)
11. Nature of Luminosity: N/S
11. Nature of Luminosity: N/S (directed beam of light?)
12. Altitude of Object: 1500 to 1600 feet, then a gradual climb (estimated)
13. Estimated Distance of Object from Observer: Crossed path of plane at 500 feet; after turn it was as close as 1,200 feet from them
14. Estimated Speed of Object: Approx 200 MPH when first sighted, then accelerating to approximately 400 to 500 MPH
15. Time in Sight: 10 to 12 seconds
16. Tactics: Made 50 $ ^{\circ} $ turn and increased speed as it headed southwest 17. Sound
17. Sound Made by Object(s): Similar to helicopter (1st report roar (2d report)
18. Direction of Flight of Object
18. Direction of Flight of Object(e) West then southwest
19. Apparent Construction: Similar to tow target
20. Effect on Clouds: N/S
21. Exhaust Trail (Color of): none visible
22. Monner of Disappearance: climbed toward Southwest & disappeared 23. Month Condition
23. Weather Conditions at Time of Sighting: Weather clear to southwest
24. Peculiarities Noted: As object made turn object appeared to have no wings.
25. Summary of Incident: (over) (See attached page) Not linked to a story yet.
Official release, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. The text was read from the page images by an OCR model; expect the odd misread word. 144 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.