Project Blue Book Case File
Bakersfield, CaliforniaMarch 1955
Summary
On the morning of March 30, 1955, a civilian chemist and a technician spotted an unusual object near Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Bakersfield, California. The object was described as rectangular in shape and caught their attention because it was flashing a sharp light at regular intervals of about one second.
The men watched the object stay relatively still in the sky for 17 minutes. They used a stopwatch to count the flashes, which added up to approximately 74 per minute. They were preparing to set up surveying equipment to pinpoint the object's exact location when it suddenly disappeared.
The Air Force investigated the sighting but found no conventional explanation for what the men had seen. The case file notes that investigators had insufficient data to determine the object's distance, altitude, or how it disappeared. The Air Force concluded the sighting was unidentified, meaning they could not rule out any explanation based on the available information.
The full case file, comprising 19 pages, is reproduced below as held by the National Archives.
Reported location
Bakersfield, California
Date of incident
March 1955
State / country
CA / US
Page count
19 scanned pages
USAF evaluation
unidentified
Microfilm
T1206, Roll 22