FOIA: Sighting by Bell Lab Employees March 14, 1951

NM_MAR_15_1951.pdf
Unidentified Flying Objects
A letter (in very good condition) by Dexter Rosen detailing a sighting he and other Bell Lab employees had.
Document date: 1951-03-15
Department: Bell Aircraft Corporation
Author: Dexter Rosen
Document type: memo/letter
pages: 3


Archivist's Notes: This is a letter that is apparantly part of the "Project Twinkle" final report.

The letter written by Dexter Rosen and sent to Lt. John G. Albert states that on March 14, 1951 at approximately 1500hrs(3pm)a group of UFO's was spotted by Dexter Rosen and a group of fellow Bell Lab Employees.

The other witnesses were Clifford Heskew*, Lawrence Weber, Floyd Lane, Walter Rosenthal, Jerry Donovan, Jerry Baker, James Mott and George Karres.

Initially spotted by Mr. Heskew while watching the approach of a B-50(#600)from the Bell "Hardstand" with his fellow employees, he at first thought they were a flock of birds. He began to think they weren't birds and alerted both Lane and Weber who also saw the objects.

The group consisted of 14 to 20 objects moved like a "flock of geese" or "a handful of leaflets in an updraft". Due to the distance it was impossible to gauge individual shape but they all seemed to agree the object were white.

The objects continued to swirl around as they increased their "apparent" elevation and moving slowly to the north and regrouping on at least two occasions into a V formation. At this time Dexter Rosen apprised General Control of the phenomenon and also attempted to give General Control bearings as seen from the Hardstand.

More details are given in the document including communications problems between air to ground and ground to air including the B-50 during the time of the sighting. And the possibility of wings on the objects.

Mr. Rosen also ends the letter stating that these objects were different than anything he had ever observed including a flock of birds.

I get the impression that Rosen and the others didn't think they were looking at birds or terrestrial objects.

A very interesting document in my opinion.

*might be Meskew...99.9% sure its Heskew.

So much for the debunkers claim that UFOs are always seen by one or two nut cases in some isolated spot. On the afternoon of 14March1951, while watching the flight of a B-50, a team of nine men from the Bell Labs saw something that couldn't be identified in the skies above a viewing stand at Holloman Air Force Base.

While watching the B-50 fly at about 15,000 feet, they noticed at a slightly higher altitude what at first seemed a flock of birds, weaving in a random pattern. The 14-20 seemingly white objects formed up into a V on at least two occasions during the fifteen minutes they were observed, the last time to fly off out of sight, "at a relatively high velocity".

During the test, the control tower was having problems with their communications to the plane, yet ground communications were not effected. Upon landing, it appears that the plane was also experiencing radio problems at the time.

Dexter Rosen, Bell Labs Field Test Director and the writer of the report, was certain these were not birds, and "were different from anything" he had seen before.

The report leaves no doubt that what these men, of some stature and to be considered reliable witnesses saw that day was in every sense of the word UFOs. The report shows no doubt at all, even though they did try to compare the phenomenon to other things as they sought to rack their brains for an explanation.

This has to be one of the most solid sightings on record, at least as far as the witnesses.

reply to post by NGC2736


Agreed.

The information in this document has already been well covered, so I will offer my thoughts instead of trying to organize the contained information.


It seems to me, after reading the majority of the similar FOIA documents scanned thusfar, that none of these reports are filed with even a mild hint of skepticism.

While they are very professionally done, it seems obvious to me that those investigating the events are familiar enough with them to not see them as being "out of the ordinary".

If anything, these documents show me that the government is likely well aware of possible "visitors".


Jasn