ARTESIA, NEW MEXICOJanuary 1952

Unidentified

Summary

On January 16, 1951, an aeronautical engineer working for General Mills reported seeing two unusual objects near a research balloon over Artesia, New Mexico. The engineer was tracking the balloon, which floated at about 110,000 feet altitude and measured roughly 110 feet across. When he first spotted the objects from the ground in front of a hotel, one of them appeared to move upward toward the balloon's position. He later observed the two objects together in the sky, moving in a straight line and covering about 30 degrees of direction in roughly three seconds before vanishing. The observer described them as opaque, off-white in color, and similar in size to the balloon he was tracking. He held an aeronautical engineering degree, had piloted aircraft for the Air Force for three years, and had been doing balloon research for over a year.

Additional witnesses at the Artesia Airport also saw the incident. A manager of the airport and several civilian pilots watched as two objects appeared to circle the balloon or moved near it in formation, traveling side by side. The observers stated the objects were dull gray or dull white, larger than the balloon, and moved with sudden acceleration before flying off rapidly to the northeast. All witnesses insisted the objects were not reflections or conventional aircraft, and they observed clear skies that morning with no clouds obscuring visibility. The observers were described as reliable and experienced.

The Air Force investigation faced a significant delay. The sighting occurred on January 16, 1951, but no report reached the Air Force until April 1952, more than a year later. The lead investigator noted that due to this time gap, no further investigation was pursued. The file was then closed by the Office of Special Investigations. The case has been reproduced below as held by the National Archives in 15 pages.

Reported location

ARTESIA, NEW MEXICO

Date of incident

January 1952

State / country

NM / US

Page count

15 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 9

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 15

View transcribed text

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Rae. | UNCLASSIFIED
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APPENDIX 1 Ny
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Artesia, New Mexico -~ M6 January 1952 _
I. DESCRI2TION OF INCIDENT
: On 16 January 1952, two menbers of a balloen project from the Generel Milla
Aemnautical Research Laboratory and four other civilians observed two unicdenti.
fizd aerial objects in the vicinity of the balloon they were observing, Tha
balloon was at an altitude of 11:,000 ft. and was 110 ft. in diameter at the
tize of the observation,
~The objects were observed twice, once from Artesia, New Mexico, an? once
from the Artesia Airport. In the first instance, ono round object ap cared
to renain notionless in the vicinity, but apparently higher, than the balloon,
The balloon appearcd to be 1} inches in diameter and the object 2) inches in
. dimeter (ratio 3:9) and the color vas a dull white. This observation was
nade by the two General Mills observers,
A ghort tine later the same two observers and four civilian pilots were
obzerving the balloon from the Artesia Airport. Two objecis at apparently
exiremely high altitude were noticed coming toward the balloon from the
northwest, They circled the balloon, or apparently so. and flew off to the
northeast, The time of observation wes about 40 seconds. The two objects
werz the same color and size as the first objest, They were flying side-by-
81d, Vhen the objects appeared to circle the balloon, they disappeared and
| : ths observers assuned they were disc-shaped and had turned on edge to bank.
II, STATUS OF INVESTIGATION
Unfortunately this report was not made until 5 April and did not reach
ATIC until 16 April. Due to this time lapse, no further investigation is
contemplated, The observers are known to be very reliable and experienced,
III, CONCLUSIONS
Fone.
DOWNGRADED AT 8 YEAR INTERVAL a; NA
DECLASSHY LD AFT 19 Yiang > WB
DOD DIR 5200.10 ; hy
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11 T52-10839 \
: UNCLASSIEIED

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28940661