Fielding Lake, Wash., July 1948 - Incident Number: 145July 1948

On July 9, 1948, at 12:05 p.m., two officers from the 729th Reconnaissance Squadron were fishing at Fielding Lake in Washington when they spotted something unusual in the sky. They saw roughly 20 objects that looked like gray-black dots, either sphere-shaped or disc-shaped, arranged in a loose formation that reminded them of a shotgun blast pattern.

The objects were flying low, around 5,000 feet above the terrain and just below the clouds. The observers estimated they were moving at more than 500 miles per hour from west-northwest to east-southeast, covering the distance in five seconds or less. The weather that day was bright and sunny with excellent visibility. Just before the objects appeared, the observers heard a loud roaring sound they first thought came from wind in the woods. But as the objects got closer, the sound changed into a buzzing noise like jet aircraft. The observers saw no exhaust trails, and no photographs were taken.

The Air Force analyzed the case with the help of Dr. J. Allen Hynek, a scientific consultant on the Project Blue Book investigation. The file notes that the lack of exhaust trails ruled out any astronomical explanation like meteors or satellites. The investigators concluded the objects were most likely balloons viewed at a much closer distance than estimated, aircraft flying in formation, or possibly a group of birds.

The full case file, consisting of 10 pages, is reproduced below as held by the National Archives.