Project Blue Book Case File
4 Mi. N Of Alton, Ill, April 1948 - Incident Number: 123April 1948
Summary
On April 11, 1948, a retired Air Force colonel reported seeing a large bird-like creature flying four miles north of Alton, Illinois, around 11:30 p.m. The object resembled a huge fowl, according to the account. The colonel said it was definitely a bird and not any type of aircraft, though he did not observe it flapping its wings. A boy named James Trares, age 12, said he had seen the same bird flying over his home in suburban Glendale, Missouri, about three months earlier. Two other observers from Belvidere, Robert Price and Veryl Bath, reported the bird was "bigger than an airplane" and flapped its wings.
The investigation noted that the colonel's companion, Colonel Ralph Jackson, head of the Western Military Academy at the time, was talking to a farmer when the object appeared and did not see it himself. The colonel said he did not mention the sighting to his companion because it seemed too incredible to believe. The Air Force's official assessment stated there was "nothing of astronomical character in this incident" and suggested that if one focused mainly on the colonel's account and set aside the less reliable statements of other observers, the object may well have been a bird.
The Air Force's conclusion sheet lists incident 123 under "miscellaneous" explanations, grouping it with reflections, auroral streamers, and other bird sightings. The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives across 6 pages.
Reported location
4 Mi. N Of Alton, Ill, April 1948 - Incident Number: 123
Date of incident
April 1948
State / country
? / XX
Page count
6 scanned pages
USAF evaluation
unknown
Microfilm
T1206, Roll 2