Bakersfield, Calif, March 1948 - Incident Number: 109March 1948

On the morning of March 9, 1948, two people working in the Haberfelde Building in Bakersfield, California, saw an unusual object in the sky. The witnesses were a secretary and a dentist. They watched from the fifth floor as a bright orange-red object appeared about seven to ten miles north of the city, at roughly 1,000 feet altitude. The flaming object looked like a very small airplane to them.

The object trailed considerable black smoke in a zigzag pattern for what witnesses estimated as 4,000 to 5,000 feet. After a few moments, it disappeared behind a water tower near the ground. Both witnesses waited for an explosion, expecting the object to impact, but nothing unusual happened. On the same day, the Bakersfield Sheriff's Office received multiple calls from residents reporting similar sightings. Other witnesses described a large, burning ball of fire that appeared to split in half before continuing to burn, with what looked like a parachute drifting eastward afterward.

The Air Force intelligence officers who reviewed the reports offered an explanation. Although they found no hard evidence to back it up, they believed the activity could be attributed to marker flares. Marker flares are illuminated devices sometimes deployed for military training or navigation purposes. The file notes that any further developments would be forwarded by the Sheriff's Office, though no additional information appears in the case record.

The full case file, comprising 11 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.