44N 49W (Atlantic), May 1963May 1963

In May 1963, a military aircraft over the Atlantic Ocean detected three unusual radar contacts moving at identical speeds of 1,400 miles per hour. The radar operator at Dow Air Force Base in Maine tracked the blips as they approached the plane, with two following identical paths 120 degrees from the aircraft's heading and a third at a varying angle. The targets came within two to fifty-five miles of the aircraft before disappearing from the scope.

No other aircraft reported seeing the objects. Ground radar stations detected nothing. The pilots and crew aboard the aircraft saw nothing visually, despite what the radar analysis noted would have been visual range. The radar film was submitted to the Air Force's Foreign Technology Division for analysis.

The investigation quickly turned toward equipment failure. Since the radar contacts were never corroborated by visual sighting, ground radar, or any other independent detection method, investigators considered two main explanations: a malfunction of the aircraft's radar system itself, or more likely, interference from other electronic equipment aboard the plane. The identical speeds of all three targets and the identical angular paths of two of them suggested not a genuine external phenomenon but rather an artifact of the radar display or a false signal. An evaluator from the Air Force noted that although the incomplete data submitted made a definitive conclusion difficult, the evidence pointed strongly toward internal electronic interference rather than any external object.

The Air Force evaluation concluded the case as "unknown," though the investigators believed the most probable explanation was electronic interference from equipment within the aircraft itself. The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, comprising 53 pages.