Project Blue Book Case File
Colorado Springs, ColoradoApril 1949
Summary
On the afternoon of April 15, 1949, three military personnel at Peterson Air Field in Colorado Springs spotted two round, bright objects moving rapidly across the sky. The sighting lasted between 25 and 30 seconds.
The three witnesses were Major Joe R. Bullock (Aircraft Maintenance Officer), Master Sergeant Leonard Fink (Line Chief), and Technical Sergeant Walter J. Morbeck (Crew Chief). Morbeck first noticed the objects while watching a B-25 bomber pass overhead. He called them to the attention of Bullock and Fink, who were standing nearby. The observers described the objects as perfectly round, about 6 to 8 inches in diameter when viewed from an estimated distance of 20 miles and altitude of 30,000 feet. They resembled frosted electric light bulbs and made no sound.
The objects flew north in a straight line at an extremely high speed. The investigators calculated they covered approximately 40,000 feet in 12.5 to 15 seconds, suggesting a velocity around 1,400 miles per hour. When first sighted, the two objects were in formation with the rear object about five feet behind the lead object. Remarkably, the trailing object then accelerated and overtook its companion in about two seconds, flying closely beside it before both disappeared from sight heading north. The Air Force investigators noted that this overtaking maneuver seemed to rule out the possibility the objects were meteors.
The file includes weather data from Peterson Air Field at the time of the sighting and confirms that visibility was unlimited. No radar sets were operating in the vicinity. A weather balloon had been released that morning at Lowry Air Force Base, but the investigators found no evidence connecting it to the sighting. Local military and commercial aircraft were accounted for and ruled out as explanations.
The Air Force intelligence investigators found all three witnesses to be reputable and competent, with nothing derogatory in their backgrounds. However, the case file does not contain an explicit conclusion regarding what the objects were. The full case file, consisting of 12 pages, is reproduced below as held by the National Archives.
Reported location
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Date of incident
April 1949
State / country
CO / US
Page count
12 scanned pages
USAF evaluation
unknown
Microfilm
T1206, Roll 5