Atlantic, IowaOctober 1949

# Atlantic, Iowa October 1949

Two men in Atlantic, Iowa reported seeing an unusual flying object on October 28, 1949 at 1000 (10 a.m.). One of the witnesses later wrote directly to Air Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to describe what they had observed and ask for information about the Air Force's "Flying Disc" investigation.

According to the witness letters and sketches included in the file, both men saw a circular, rotating object with a shiny metallic appearance. The object was traveling northward at high speed and appeared to be between 4,000 and 5,000 feet in altitude. One witness estimated the object to be about 5 feet in diameter from his vantage point, though he believed its actual size was closer to 30 or 35 feet. The object rotated continuously as it descended in a counter-clockwise direction and made no sound. Neither witness saw any exhaust, vapor trail, or visible means of propulsion.

The witnesses said they lost sight of the object after about 30 to 45 seconds when they looked away briefly to point it out to a third person. Both men stated clearly that they wanted no publicity and were simply offering their account in hopes the Air Force could explain what they had seen.

The Air Force responded in January 1950 with a brief acknowledgment, stating only that exhaustive investigation of reports on unusual objects had revealed them to be various conventional objects. The file contains 25 pages as held by the National Archives.