Ellington AFB, TexasMay 1953

On the evening of May 19, 1953, six Air Force personnel at Ellington Air Force Base near Houston, Texas reported seeing an unidentified yellowish-orange object moving rapidly across the night sky. The sighting began around 2230 (10:30 p.m.) when an aircraft dispatcher received a phone call from someone off base asking about aircraft in the Houston area. Curious, the dispatcher and five colleagues stepped outside and spotted the bright object directly overhead. They watched it travel in a straight line from east to west for about one to two minutes before it disappeared from view.

The witnesses described the object as round in shape, moving at extremely high speed, and traveling at an estimated altitude of 30,000 feet. No sound was heard, no exhaust trail was visible, and the object did not change brightness or shape during the observation. The sky was clear with light surface winds and warm air. One witness attempted to track the object with a theodolite (a precision instrument for measuring angles), but the object was moving too fast to get an accurate fix. Local radar operators were contacted but reported no radar return from the object. The U.S. Air Force's Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) suggested the object might have been a high-speed aircraft and requested information about any flights in the area on that date and time. The San Antonio Air Route Traffic Control Center and the Fort Worth Flight Service later reported they had no information to explain the sighting.

The investigation noted that meteorologists at the University of Houston reviewed the possibility of planets or meteors being responsible. They concluded the object was not a planet, since planets could not be seen with the naked eye at that time of year, and the description did not match that of a meteor. The investigating officer concluded that the six airmen had observed an unidentified object, though further explanation would be a matter of conjecture.

The full case file, comprising 20 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.