Cambria, CaliforniaMarch 1953

On the night of March 2, 1953, four airmen stationed at the 775th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron in Cambria, California observed an unusual object over the ocean. The men were on duty at different locations on the base when Sergeant Benjamin F. Crunges spotted something and called the others outside to look. Between 2100 and 2135 (9 p.m. and 9:35 p.m.), all four witnesses watched the object as it moved across the sky.

The object was spherical in shape and appeared red to reddish-orange in color. The witnesses disagreed on its size, with estimates ranging from about one inch to one foot in diameter. The object had no visible exhaust, trail, or sound. According to the witnesses, it moved in an unusual way. One observer described it as looking "like a light suspended from a balloon." The object oscillated gently from side to side when first spotted, then moved away from the observers in a west-northwest direction. It seemed to hover at times, then move again, and finally disappeared below the horizon around 2135. The entire sighting lasted about 35 minutes.

The Air Force's investigation noted that the 775th Squadron's radar equipment did not pick up the object. The weather was clear, though the investigation report mentioned brush fires in the area that created haze and smoke. An intelligence officer noted that on the two nights following the sighting, March 3 and 4, an extremely bright planet was visible in the same direction from the base. As that planet moved lower toward the horizon through the smoke and haze from local fires, its apparent size and color changed in ways that matched how the witnesses described the object. The intelligence summary concluded it was possible that the unidentified object the airmen saw on March 2 was actually that planet, viewed under different atmospheric conditions.

The Air Force officially rated this case as unidentified. The complete case file, as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below in 11 pages.