FOIA: USAF Report of UFO witnessed by B-29 crew

NM_FEB_17_1952.pdf
USAF Report of Unusual Aerial Phenomena
USAF report of a 3 ft diameter green-blueish ball of fire flying at approx 15,000 feet near Roswell NM.
Document date: 1952-02-19
Department: USAF
Author: Numerous Contributors
Document type: Air Intelligence Information Report
pages: 6


Archivist's Notes: B-29 crew witnessed UFO. Documents fairly legible however there is much code used. Report was seen by CSAF and sent to the ATIAA.

Page 1: Not legible.

Page 2: A brief report of the incident which occured on February 17, 1952. Personnel flying in a B-29 aircraft in a southeasterly direction witnessed an Unidentified Flying Object Aerial Phenomena.

Document uses some text and numerical code while sending the report to noteworthy places such as:

- Air Defense Command (ADC) at Ent AFB, Colorado
- Chief Air Tech Intel Center Wright-Patterson, Ohio
- HQ USAF
- Air Defense (ASD) FT Worth, Texas
- Offutt AFB, Nebraska

Page 3: Aircraft Commander, the instructor pilot, and the bombardier all visually sighted a ball of greenish blue light approximately three feet in diameter, approximately one mile ahead of aircraft at about 15,000 feet altitude. Object appeared to be traveling southeast.

Object had straight line trajectory and was only visible for 2 seconds. Observers stated it did not appear to be a meteor and did not have streamers. Crew of aircraft have extensive flight experience and all observed the object in the nose section of aircraft. Afterwards, craft let down at Walker AFB.

Page 4: Chief of Staff, United States Air Force (CSAF) sends security report to ATIAA (Air Technical Intelligence) regarding the sighting. Gives the sighting details once more.

Page 5: End of report to ATIAA. Not much info.

Page 6: Extract from Status Report #4

Date: 17 Feb 52
Time(local): 0145
Location: Roswell NM
Length of Time Observed: 2 seconds
Sound: None
Speed: Unknown
Altitude: Above
Heading: 135 deg
Source: B-29 crew members
Action/Comments: Green Fireball Phenomena. No conclusions
Description of Incident: Greenish-blue ball of fire was observed by a B-29 crew

the above post sums up the report very well.

it seems there seem to be many sightings being classed as meteors. are they such a common sight in the sky? if so, why do so many people (including trained pilots and scientists) seem to be reporting them? i wonder if military personnel were encouraged to report ANY light or object they saw.

perhaps plotting the location and dates/years of the 'meteor' sightings might bring up some useful information, especially when compared to present day known astronomical phenomenon.

Yes justyc, there were a truly remarkable number of meteors around New Mexico at the time, especially green ones. I don't have time to go into it in detail at the moment but HAL9000 has posted a number of links to Project Twinkle and the Green Fireball Mystery in this forum, in particular:

Wikipedia- Green Fireballs

or you can go here and read the formal documents:

Project Twinkle

I have a strong suspicion that this report will be posted as part of this exercise fairly soon anyway.

The fireballs were something of an enigma and there was certainly some strong feeling that they were not natural.

[edit on 21-11-2007 by timeless test]

reply to post by justyc


If it was a meteor why did it end up at the CSAF within 2 days?

I found the documents to be quite interesting as they contained a fair amount of code. I wonder if that's standard operating procedure with all classified material or if it's related to the nature of the subject matter.

I remember when I was 12 or 13 years old.. I was heading to bed and I peered out my bedroom window.. A big bright green ball fell fast from the sky and appeared to land in the wooded area in front of my house. But it didn't seem to make a sound, nor did it continue to glow.

I am from a small community called Hackett's Cove near Peggy's Cove in Nova Scotia..and the description of these green meteors sounds quite familiar.

sounds like a meteorite to me...classic case, straight line trajectory with a blueish/greenish hue? contains high lvls of either copper or silvers i would imagine. Not all meteorites exhibit streamers either.