50 mi SE of Holloman AFB N.M., January 1951January 1951

Insufficient Data

Summary

On January 22, 1951, two Air Force officers flying a C-47 transport aircraft near Alamogordo, New Mexico spotted an unusual object while tracking a weather balloon for Project Gopher, a high-altitude research program. Captain James Cocker and Captain Ernest Spradley were flying at about 11,000 feet when they noticed a small, star-like object appearing near their balloon, which was cruising at roughly 70,000 feet, about 50 miles southeast of Holloman Air Force Base.

The object held a steady position next to the balloon for approximately three minutes. As the pilots watched, it took on a clearer, round shape and appeared to grow in size until it reached about one-fourth to one-half the size of the balloon itself. The object was milky white in color and seemed to hover silently. When the pilots moved to get a better view from the plane's astrodome (a transparent viewing bubble on top of the aircraft), the object suddenly separated from the balloon and traveled westward at high speed in level flight. About one minute later, it emitted a series of brilliant flashes of light, similar to camera flashes, at one-second intervals and then vanished from sight.

The Air Force investigators looked into the incident and noted that the balloon descended shortly after the object disappeared. They concluded that the most probable explanation was gas leaking from the balloon itself. According to the file, the flashes and disappearance could be attributed to the balloon's leaking gas igniting or exploding, and the object's milky-white color could be explained by the temperature and altitude at which the escaping gas was visible. The file lists the final evaluation as "Probably Balloon," though it also notes "Possibly Balloon" and "Other Gas from balloon" as conclusions considered.

The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, consisting of 8 pages.

Reported location

50 mi SE of Holloman AFB N.M., January 1951

Date of incident

January 1951

State / country

? / XX

Page count

8 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 8

A PROJECT 10073 RECORD CAR™ ‘ . wr ( 2. LOCATION "112. CONCLUSIONS 3s | [8] So4 Menage, 22 Jan 51 4%. . 50 mi SE of Holloman AFB N.M, [OQ Probably Balleon “3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION *74-~]0 Possibly Balloon CTE RN EEA CNA Th 0 Ground- Visual D Ground-Radar = Probably Miverels OMT 22/ 18002 __ CXAir- Vi suai 0 Air-Intercept Radar 0 Possibly Aircraft . "5. SHOTOS "| 8 SOURCE OQ Wos Astronomical O Yes 01 Probobly Astronomical tM No Project Gopher Observers YT. Eh 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION |B. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE |C% Other Gas from balloon. y LEN OF SUIRRVATION A Tne gsi 0 po rr Dota for Evaluation 3 min ne 0 Unknown BE. ae. hject observed from C-47 that was tracking a White object observed in conjunction wit opher E21loon, First appeared to be star-like, | balloon, Balloon scheduled for 4 hr flight, he object held a const:nt position next to the DRescended shortly after observation of 1lloon vihere it seemed to take shape and increase object. Most probable cause was gas in size vhtil it was 1/4 tol/2 the size of the leaking from balloon, Flash attributed alloon, Then it detached and traveled in level to disappearance and/or explosion of ight, at high speed, emitting orange sparks. leaking gas, Color attributed to he C-47 was at 11,000" and the balloon at 70- altitude and temperature of escaping 00,000', Shape was circular. Color. Milky whitel, gas. Speed, Hover to high, | ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52) Gt