FOIA: Sandia Base NM Sighting 24MAR50 (Balloon)?

NM_MAR_24_1950.pdf
Sandia Base, NM Sighting 24MAR50 Classified: Balloon
This is an investigative reoprot on the sighting of bright silver colored object with reports from four different witnesses over the skies of Sandia Base, NM on 24MAR50.
Document date: 1950-03-24
Department: 4TH ARMY G2 Fort Sam Houston, Texas
Author: Various
Document type: Report
pages: 10


Archivist's Notes: Other than the first page this file is in legible condition. Witness descriptions vary from one to four objects and duration from three to seven minutes. The speed of the object also varied from stationary to 700mph according to the reports. No documents included which shows how the balloon determination was made.

Pfc. William B. Gault was at the Sandia Base MP Hqtrs when a call came in from a lady reporting a disc. Apparently when going to look, he was in front of the Officer's Club when he spotted a "square" bright object the size of a softball (held at arms length?) in the sky to the Northeast of his position. It was standing still when he first saw it, but then left, moving Northward at an estimated speed of 700 MPH. He described it's flight as "looping".

A second MP was present and had the object pointed out to him, (by Pfc. Gault?) and described it in much the same terms, though less detail. He seems to have just glanced at it.

At almost the same time, yet another MP who had been alerted by his radio, saw an object to the east of the base. Cpl. William Schmidt was in front of the Base Officers Quarters when he saw an object the size of the moon.It was round, silver colored, and six to eight miles away. This UFO was traveling south at 100MPH. (The report notes that Cpl Schmidt is reliable and is "Q" cleared.)

Some thirty minutes later Pvt. Henry D. McMinn, Jr. glances up while near main and "D" streets, and sees four silver objects that are Aluminum looking and brightly reflect sunlight. He describes them as "spinning and turning" traveling "level" at about 7,000 feet and then going straight up and out of sight "faster than any jet".

It would seem that was an exciting fall day in New Mexico.

This document is of four reports of unidentified aerial phenomenon written in standard questionnaire form. The first three occurred at 1500 and 1505, or 3:00 in the afternoon. The fourth report of four objects occurred 45 minutes later so it was obviously a different sighting. The first three are similar but have some differences. The first gave the shape of the object to be square, the second was round and the third was indistinguishable. All color descriptions were silver and very bright. Three of the reports say the object went in a north or northeast direction and the other said the object was heading south.

One way to see if there was any correlation between these sightings would be to get a map of the base and plot their locations. The first three having times so close together would make you think they were the same object. If not, it was a busy day indeed.