Clarendon, TexasApril 1950

On April 18, 1950, a Northrop Aircraft test pilot flying near Memphis, Texas, spotted an unidentified object in the sky. The pilot, Max Stanley, had been asked to investigate after ground observers in Clarendon and Childress, Texas, reported seeing a silvery object with an orange glow since about 9 a.m. that morning. Stanley and his two crew members, Lloyd Balsam and Sam F. West, were flying an F-61C reconnaissance aircraft at about 20,000 feet when they first detected the object to the southeast, recognizable only by occasional glints of sunlight on what appeared to be metal.

As Stanley's plane climbed toward the object, it began to look like a weather balloon. But when the pilot contacted the local weather station, forecasters ruled that out. They said the object had remained visible in the same area for four hours straight, and wind conditions aloft would not allow a free balloon to stay in place that long. The object disappeared briefly into a cloud layer, then reappeared closer to the aircraft at about 30,000 feet. Stanley described it as silvery and metallic with a translucent quality, roughly half the size of a full moon as seen overhead. The shape was roughly spherical with prominent indentations on the top and bottom, connected by a dark streak that occasionally tilted, causing the object to shift sideways slightly. There was no visible means of propulsion. A B-36 bomber that had been sent to search for the object reported it was unable to sight it from its higher altitude of 46,000 feet. After about 20 minutes of observation, Stanley's plane had to descend because its oxygen supply was running low. The object was spotted once more, briefly, before contact was lost for good.

Both of Stanley's crew members were technically trained observers. Balsam had graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and West had earned a degree from the University of California and spent five years at MIT's Radiation Laboratory. All three pilots agreed in their report that the object was not an airplane, balloon, celestial body, or anything commonly seen in the sky. The Air Force ultimately classified this sighting as unidentified. The complete case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, comprising 7 pages.