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HEADQUARTERS THIRD ARMY 4
FORT MCPHERBON, GEORGIA

AJACI-3 360.383 : 22 September 1950

SUBJECT: Unconventional Aircraft

TO : Commanding General
Air Materiel Comnand
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
Dayton, Ohio

Attention: MCI (Control No. A-1917)

Inclosed herewith is newspaver clipping from the PRUSS-SCIMITAR,
Memphis, Tennessee, 19 September 1950, re unusual object in the sky.

FOR THE COMMANDING GENERAL:

OHN MEADE

Colonel, GSC
nw ' AC of S, G-2

1 Inols &

AB apnvee above \

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Pilot Views Flying Saucer

. Yesterday: ‘Like Silver Marble’

Bl “flying saucer,”|at Memphis f tuel, also took alf
which hovered ‘over the Mawouti| com Seton edt ekotite athe |
city for about five hours yester-| tion. Lt, Don Hoefker, of Memphis, |:

WAS an errant weather|was supposed to relieve Lt. i
fee ee oet Air ne nk erty, but meee S arcived when pa
who closest pilot left. Hoefker could
sald today. be reached today
|

“It looked like a silver mar-| Residents of the area reported as
we ” said Lt, Gutudes Haverty 30 seeing the saucer were:
of einer itoon"Fn' ses] RSG a te aa

Various residents of, Poplar Bluff] EC. Caneay. pire tatin" operon” |
had described their acrial mystery! _2uemie McGee. Booiar ‘Bruit
visitor as looking like & “translu-| [es
cent wash tub,” “two big white :
fosent sites } a wih Pe |

e a re
tubular aftair hanging from the
bottom,” and a sphere “with lav-
ender colored edges, a bright gold
center and a tip.”

Firat sighted in the early after-
noon, the o hung around un-
til Lt. Haverty flew up from Mem-|
phis ay | lar Bluff airport

TE een ree

AF FORM.112—PART Il SECC |

APPROVED | JUNE 1048
| AIR INTELLIGENCE INFORMATION REPORT

s

PROM (Agency) REPORT FO. ,
Intelligence Division, Hq MATS At /
Andrews AFB, Washington 25,D.C. | IR-291-500 0 | ot cts

"g. Pilot emphasised that it was possible there was no connection between
the object and the lights seen after dark. ®

Captain, USAF

ESPIONAGE ACT, 50 -
RS a” . LAW.
Ai. DIRECTOR OF

TT

Astre Meteor
Heed lean ak’ AOS) abr A

+, ' September a0, the same year, was a big day tor meteors. At

Meteor Blast 1:98 AM. @ glant firchall (AMS 2920) roared over southeastern
Illinois from north to south, leaving a luminous train visible in five

states and illuminating the sky and countryside from St. Louis to

In Sk Rocks Louisville and from Memphis to Knoxville. The final detonation,
y over western Kentucky, was heard over an area 1000 miles square

and shook buildings from Paducah to Memphis. Fragments show-

} i; f A ered farms over a twenty-five mile area, struck five buildings, and
"4 q ¥ f Gd penetrated one roof. About fifty pounds of meteorites dropped in
| SASHVILLE, Sept.'20 (AP). Murray, Calloway County, Kentucky, and are now in - Smith-

\
—A weteor flashed through sonian. Institution in Washington

the sky to the west of here
jearly today and apparently! * Meteors in the Records

exploded in the air, jarring

an area from Paducah; Ky. }
oo iiventin Hae, 5 RYs The American Metcoritics Society, whose members specialize i
peed, the study of metcors and meteorites, for years have collected re-
Gtepateher ta Paducah veld tee | ports of such phenomena. From a large enough number of good
Ss — pad 4 eee = a yrs meteor, astronomers carr analyze the data
i ci & winiend dalaienh mathematically and determine the metcor’s radiant—the point in
at Covington, Tenn., 40 miles the heavens from which it seems to come. The meteor is then identi-
are as tan te toe ie cen fied by its radiant and given an AMS number. The data were pub-
larger and larger, then explod- lished in Mctcoritics, the journal of the society, and thus made
ing. available for future research.

At Memphis, 220 miles south-
west, police patrols raced north
of the city, and one radio car
reported the meteor hit in the
“icinit> of Hafchie bottoms, a
semi-,wamp area between Mem-
phis and the Millington naval ~
base, about 20 miles away. This,
report was not confirmed,

REPORTS SKY FLASH.

A report of the sky flash was
aiven in Memphis by American
Airlines Capt. H. J. Garman, of
Dallas. Tex. Garman had just
landed a DC-6 with 41 passengers
from Washington.

“We sighted that thing some 50
miles east of Nashville," Garman
jsaid. - ® . .

No, it wasn’t a clear light, It
seemed to be with an
orange, yellow and flame.

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| AIR'INTELLIGENCE INFORMATION REPORT “9 hig

——e. eer

PROM (st peney)
Intelligence Division, Hq MATS | | alk 3
Andrews AF Base, Washington, D.C, IR-291-50 _ a a a

‘li —_—— - —>- —

The Commanding Officer, Maxwell Flight Service Center, Maxwell AF Base, Alabama,
has forwarded the following report of an unidentified aerial object sighted in
Missouri on 19 September 1950;

Wa. At 16300, [19° Se September 1950) Malden Radio was advised by telephone that an
unidentified object een sig over Poplar Bluff, Missouri. At approximately
1640C, Malden Radio had the object in sight. A Tennessee NatYonal Guard F-51,from
Memphis ,was dispatched to the scene at 16/5C, Malden Radio directed the F~51 to the
approximate location of the object. The pilot sighted the object, but was unable to
reach it at his ceiling of 30,000 feet. A second F={51, NG 45-11582, was dispatched
at 1800C. This F~51 climbed to the vicinity of the first aircraft over Malden, and
there also sighted the object. The first aircraft then withdrew from the area, the
unidentified object being over New Madrid, Missouri, at. that time. The pilot of the
second F-51 was able to climb to 40,000 feet but was still unable to attain the
altitude of the unidentified object, and was unable even to estimate how far the
object was above him, This pilot stated the object appeared to be a very large
balloon and was silver in color. There wag neither fire nor lights, nor was there
exhaust. In shape it appeared to be between spherical and elliptical. At about
1900C the object was lost from sight. Remaining in the area of the sighting, the
pilot of the second aircraft reports that at approximately 1918C he observed a set of
green and white lights above him, moving at a very high rate of speed. The green
light was reported in the front and the white light in the rear, in the same manner
as on USAF aircraft. These lights appeared to move in bursts of speed in a northerly
direction toward St. Louis.

ae ao 4 i

-

) PEON? NO,

">, Weather at the time: Cirrus haze at 30,000 feet, lower scattered stratus.
"c. Witnesses: Pilot of NG 45-1187, Haverty, James, lst Lt, 155 ANG Squadron,

Tennessee. Address unknown, Pilot of NG 45~11582, Soefker, Donald L., lst Lt, 155
G Squadron, Tennessee, RFD #1, Box 1131, Raleigh, Tennessee, Occupation: Mechani-

cal) engineer.

"d. Photographs of ob‘ect not available.

"e. No sketch available.

"f, Object sighted:
(1) Number: One.
(2) Shape: Egg shaped to spherical shaped.
(3) Size; Unable to establish size by comparison with anything.
(4) Color: Silver to silver grey.

(5) Speed: Hovered or was stationary, lights moved at a terrific rate
of speed.

(4) Heading: Northerly toward St. Louis.
(7) Waneuverability: Stationary, lights moved in 4 straight Line.

(8) Altitude: Unable to estimate, but very definitely above 40,000 feet.

5 ln ele ata SOWNGRADED AT 3 YEAR INTERE AL”
hot ee ee i DECLASSIFIED AFTER ts :

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