FOIA: Silver Object in Moriarty, NM: April 162, sworn witness statements.

NM_APR_13_1952.pdf
Silver Object in Moriarty NM: April, 1952
Multiple Witness Report of a silent, high speed and extremely manouverable craft: Moriarty, New Mexico.
Document date: 1952-04-23
Department: 768th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron
Author: James H. Barnett, 1st Lt, USAF, Asst Air Adj Gen
Document type: Air Intelligence Information Report
pages: 16


Archivist's Notes: An interesting document containing sworn statements regarding the observation of a silver object travelling at high speed and demonstrating unusual manouverability. Witnesses are said to be familiar with comtemporary aircraft.
Document contains Project 10073 record card which do not give an explantion. It merely suggest a weather balloon, but says it is unlikey.

This document is an Air Intelligence Information report from the 21st of April 1952.

The report was filed by a Paul W Evans a captain in the USAF.

The report outlines an incident on the 13th of April 1952. At 4.45 that afternoon four individuals reported sighting of an unconventional aircraft at Moriarty New Mexico.

The report states that these four individuals were part of the 768th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron. It mentions that because these individuals work with and are extremely familiar with modern aircraft their sighting of an unconventional aircraft seems highly plausible.

The first page of the document outlines the sighting while the following pages give detailed reports from the four gentlemen as well as their sworn testimony.

The four men were Earl O. Cormier, John R. O’Neal, David C. Miller and Charles E. Baker.

Earl explains in his report that he witnessed an egg shaped craft that was silver in colour. He reports that the strange aircraft was very manoeuvrable and as fast as anything he has ever seen. He witnessed the craft in front of the dining hall on a very clear day. Although he was a fair distance from the craft he did not see and wings that a conventional craft would have.

John reports that he saw a circular and flat object that was also silver in colour. He also saw the object in front of the dining hall on a very clear day. He couldn’t make out the size but the craft was flying in a very erratic fashion. He witnessed the craft for three minutes before it went out of sight.

David saw the same object that was round and flat in his opinion. He also thought it was silver in colour and moved faster than any jet to his knowledge. He estimated the craft was flying at around 40,000 feet and when it turned sideways it seemed to disappear because if it’s saucer like shape. He also witnessed this at the same site.

Finally Charles reports that he saw a metallic unknown aircraft that was round and flat. He also saw this craft in front of the dining hall. The craft was very fast and he also lost sight of the craft as it turned.

All men witnessed the same craft at the same time in very similar fashions.

The report investigated these sightings and mentioned the fact that a weather balloon was close to the area at the time. Although the report debunks this due to the fact that it was too far from the sighting, weather balloons don’t fly that fast and would burst at the reported 40,000 feet altitude.

No plausible explanation was reached.

I noted the dates, and nine days from the reported sighting these men were giving sworn statements. Given the fact that the sighting was late afternoon, this effectively leaves eight days. Seems like there as a program to give priority treatment to such things. In turn, this would indicate the level of seriousness that some in the military placed in information about such objects.

And at no point was there any indication in the paperwork that these men were reporting anything other than fact.

A classic case of a UFO that was taken seriously by the military.

Is interesting that most of the sightings we're dealing with (from 1948-1952) are reported from NM. It appears that this area in those years has been a ufo hotbed. I'm speculating but I think the assertion that ufo-s increased their presence in NM after the A-bomb tests kind of makes sense IMO.

reply to post by NGC2736


I totally agree. It seems like they are stating the fact. It had the tone of "oh, here's another on" to it.

Yes, it is a matter of fact, report, on what was witnessed by credible observers. Any investigation after the fact, would be flawed due to immediacy of perception on the part of observers, who upon observing something not within their realm of experience, morph the observation into something they can relate to, such as "saucer shape" or "egg shape", while neither of those two examples are normally viewed moving through the air. Accurate reporting is dependant on the experience of the observer and the ability of the observer to articulate what was observed.
Anyway, good report, professionally done, would indicate Unknown Aerial Phenomena occurred and remained unexplained.