FOIA: Military Sighting at Holloman AFB 18FEB50 "VEGA"

NM_FEB_18_1950.pdf
Holloman AFB Sighting 18FEB50
18FEB50 Investigation Report of Sighting at Holloman AFB
Document date: 1950-02-18
Department: USAF AG OSI
Author: Doyle Rees
Document type: Investigation Report
pages: 6


Archivist's Notes: This sighting was reported by three military personnel of an object which remained visible for almost two hours which was determined to be the "VEGA" star by unamed evaluator. The document is in very good condition, all pages are legible

On the afternoon of Feb18th,1950 an Air Force Major, William J. Haynor and two M/sgt were reported to have observed a UFO for an 1 hour and 44 minutes. Rising from the horizon it changed from a round object to an "ice cream cone" shape, and was described as the size of "a coffee cup held at arms length". During some point the lower portion reflected the sun and seemed to swing back and forth. It eventually became to dim to see.

The Air Force labeled this as the star Vega, for some reason. It isn't noted who told them that Vega could reflect the sunlight or swing back and forth, nor how often this star was known to appear the size of a coffee cup at arms length.

If these men, with some rank and standing in the military, were so confused by a simple star, it is a wonder that we ever won WWII.

vega certainly has an interesting history and would have been very bright in the sky, although it still was not the brightest object (it ranks 5th). it used to be the pole star and in several thousand years time it will be again and im pretty sure that every single person on the planet would have known what that star it was if it was the size of a coffee cup at arms length (even if it was one of those egg cup sized coffee cups).

the last page states that those that saw the object were adamant that it was most definitely NOT a star and were themselves more aware of astronomical objects than the report evaluator in that they explained why it could not possibly be vega either, so why did they choose to classify it as vega?

a simple check with an astronomer could verify where vega would have been during the time period this object was sighted but i have yet to come across a single mention in any of these documents of what qualified person actually confirmed one reported sighting to a verifiable astronomical event. so were they under orders to actually classify anything as a meteor or planet whenever possible? after all, how come this was classed as vega and closed when the obviously more knowledgeable observers stated that it could not possibly have been so.

Would have to check weather reports for the area and day to be sure, to determine wind patterns, but really sounds like a Skyhook (or similar) balloon from the description. It was early in the morning, so that would account for the coloration, and they appear round at first, until the bottom would have been visible from the rising sun. Also, it would explain the slow ascent, and swinging action.

en.wikipedia.org...

What's funny, is that there was a Skyhook facility at Holloman (back then, was Alamagordo)

reply to post by Gazrok


not to mention these 'balloons' change shape with air pressure...from a completely round sphere to a flattened pancake in a matter of seconds.

[edit on 28-12-2007 by blueyedevil666]