Casewell AFB, Eath, Me., September 1958September 1958

On the night of September 25, 1958, military observers at Caswell Air Force Base near Bath, Maine spotted an unusual object in the sky. The object appeared oval or oblong in shape, about the size of a silver dollar, and displayed greenish-red, blue, and white colors. The most distinctive feature was approximately 20 bright colored lights that seemed to hang beneath the object and faded in a random pattern.

Ground controllers at Caswell and the tower at Dow Air Force Base requested a B-52 bomber on a routine training flight to investigate. The AC&W radar site (an air control and warning radar system used to track aircraft) maintained radio contact with the B-52 and directed it toward the object, but the radar could not pick up the target. The object remained roughly 20,000 feet above the aircraft.

The B-52 crew reported conflicting observations. The pilot described the object as almost motionless, while the tail gunner said it moved rapidly with erratic directional changes. This difference may have been partly due to the aircraft's own heading changes while under ground control. The object drifted generally from Augusta, Maine to Brunswick, Maine and stayed in the area even after the B-52 left. The crew observed the object for 35 minutes. Notably, both the tail gunner's search radar and the aircraft's interphone system failed within seconds of the sighting, though technicians later attributed this to normal electronic failures unrelated to the encounter.

The B-52's intelligence officer noted that the crew had extensive high-altitude night-flying experience in Alaska and was familiar with aurora effects. They also observed the planet Saturn at roughly 45 degrees elevation above the object but could offer no explanation for what they had seen. The file notes that an aurora borealis was visible from the aircraft at altitude but not visible from the ground, and the report suggests the aurora's presence in the area as a possible factor in the sighting.

The Air Force evaluation box on the case file was left blank, with no conclusion marked. The full case file, held by the National Archives, spans 8 pages.