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 SUMMARY GREET

Incident No. 207A

1. Date and Time of Observation: 18 Nov 48 2200 hours

2. Where Sighted: East over Andrews AF Base, directly over Comp Springs, Md

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

4. Name and Address of Observer: Henry G. Combs, 2d Lt, USAFR

5. Occupation and/or hobbies 511 S. Capitol St., Washington, D. C.

6. Attention Attracted by: movement of lone moving lighted object

7. Number of Object(-) Seen: 1

8. Size of Object(s): Smaller than a T-6 type aircraft

9. Color of Object(s): dull gray (whitish grey)

10. Shape (Sketch if Possible) Oblong ball, no wings or tail surfaces (oblong

11. Nature of Luminosity: Seemed to have had one continuous glowing white light (directed beam of light?) Could not determine whether source of light eminated from entire object or was exhaust type in nature.

12. Altitude of Object: 1700 ft to around 7500 ft (estimated)

13. Estimated Distance of Object from Observer: Approx 300 to 400 feet on one instance

14. Estimated Speed of Object: 80 to 600 MPH

15. Time in sight: 10 to 12 minutes

16. Tactics: Evasive controlled tactics and ability to perform tight circle quick variation of air speed. Vertical ascents. Evasive movements

17. Sound made by Object(s): N/S

18. Direction of Flight of Object(s) East to West in circular pattern

19. Apparent Construction: metallie

20. Effect on Clouds: N/S

21. Exhaust Trail Color of): no exhaust flame

22. Mannar of Disappearance: I/S

23. Weather Conditions at Time of Sighting: CAVU, no smoke, haze or fog. Full moon.

24. Peculiarities Noted: No wings or tail structure; extreme maneuverability highly evasive movements, high rate of acceleration.

25. Summary of Incident: (over)

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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.