Butler, MissouriSeptember 1954

On the night of September 26, 1954, a weather observer at Butler, Missouri, spotted unusual lights in the sky. The observer reported seeing what looked like a small cluster of stars, colored silver to white, flying in formation with no sound. The objects made three complete circles overhead before disappearing into the clouds. The witness saw them three separate times over the course of several minutes, with each sighting lasting between thirty and forty seconds.

The Air Force investigators noted that the observer seemed sincere and may have seen something genuinely unusual. However, they concluded that the sighting most likely resembled birds. Because no definite shape or configuration could be established from the account, the case remained unidentified. The weather that night featured thin broken clouds at 22,000 feet with eight-mile visibility, which would have made any objects difficult to see clearly.

A second sighting occurred a day later, on September 27, 1954, near Beaumont, Texas. Military pilots flying at 3,000 feet in a VB-17 aircraft spotted a very bright light that at first appeared to be a star. As the object moved west and south, the pilots realized it was moving toward them. When it passed to the right of their aircraft, it appeared to be a series of lights in a straight line, shaped like an airplane fuselage. The lights were much brighter than normal aircraft cabin lights. The object had no visible wings, running lights, or exhaust flame, but appeared to have rectangular windows in a row. It flew past them at about 6,000 to 8,000 feet altitude at roughly the speed of a fast transport aircraft, then disappeared westward. The pilots observed it for about two minutes total.

One of the pilots, a colonel serving as Deputy Chief of Operations, reported that he had heard another aircraft near Lake Charles Air Force Base report seeing something at nearly the same time. The Air Force noted that no physical evidence was available and did not reach a definite conclusion about either sighting.

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