Curling East, Newfoundland, February 1949 - Incident Number: 249February 1949

On the morning of February 11, 1949, a civilian worker in Curling East, Newfoundland, observed a dull red ball of light in the sky that faded and then re-appeared as a long flame resembling a blowtorch. The observer, waiting for a bus to work around 6:55 a.m., described the object as roughly the size of the sun when it rises, glowing red or orange at first, then shifting to red, purple, or bluish when it ignited into a bright flame. The burning object seemed to last about four minutes before disappearing behind a 2,000-foot hill. A second observer who saw the object from the bus also reported it to the driver, who confirmed the sighting. All three men noted there was no sound. The observers estimated the object was about thirteen and a half miles away, heading first south toward St. George's, then turning southwest over Lark Harbour.

The U.S. Air Force investigated the incident from April 25 onward. The main observer was a forty-five-year-old paper finisher of limited education and low intelligence, yet police and employers considered him reliable and truthful. The second observer was a laborer in his fifties. An air search of the rugged, snow-covered terrain where the object appeared to land, conducted from May 2 through May 6, 1949, yielded no physical evidence. The investigators contacted local police, harbor officials, and commercial air operators. The harbor master confirmed that the Bay of Islands and nearby waters were covered with sea ice at the time and that no ships were known to be in distress. The bus driver, who operated a private vehicle with no fixed schedule, could not be located.

Both observers were questioned about flares and rockets. Neither had ever seen ships' signal flares or rockets fired. The file notes the possibility of a meteorite, though the observers confirmed that it was daylight when they saw the object (sunrise occurred at 11:02 a.m. local time on February 11). Weather conditions were clear and favorable for viewing (CAVU, an aviation term meaning ceiling and visibility unlimited). The investigators took photographs of the terrain and observation site in late April. The file does not state a final conclusion by the Air Force regarding the object's identity. The full case file, containing 38 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.