Fort Worth, TexasApril 1949

Two Air Force officers at Fort Worth, Texas sighted an unidentified flying object on April 13, 1949, at approximately 2105 (9:05 p.m.). First Lieutenant Robert A. Francis and Captain Stanley Borowski were standing in the flight line parking area after completing a local flight when Francis spotted a pinpoint of light moving on the horizon from the north. The object appeared as a bright silver sphere or egg-shaped form, growing to roughly the size of a quarter or half-dollar held at arm's length as it approached. It traveled at tremendous speed, estimated by the witnesses at 1,500 to 2,500 miles per hour, far exceeding any jet aircraft speed they had witnessed. The entire sighting lasted only five to eight seconds.

The object moved on a straight path from north-northwest to south-southeast, maintaining altitudes ranging from about 10 degrees above the horizon when first spotted to 70 degrees as it passed to the east, then dropping to about 50 degrees at its last visible point. The witnesses placed the object roughly 10 miles north of their position initially, passing about 10 miles to the east near Fort Worth, and disappearing around 20 miles away. The most striking feature was the object's trail, which appeared whitish in color and roughly three times the size of the object itself. The trail seemed to originate from a perfect circle in the object's rear and consisted of silver streaks and star-shaped reflections. The object made no sound and showed no maneuvers, disappearing suddenly from view rather than gradually fading.

The Air Force investigation confirmed the officers had clear security clearances and solid reputations. An Carswell Air Force Base weather station had released a weather balloon with a T-09 type radio transmitter attached by approximately 100 feet of cord around the time of the sighting. This balloon would later appear in the file as a possible explanation, though the weather data and balloon trajectory information are difficult to parse from the heavily degraded OCR text. The case file notes that no aircraft were known to be operating in the vicinity at the time, and no photographs were obtained. The investigation records show this case remained unidentified by the U.S. Air Force.

The complete case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, spanning 21 pages of microfilm T1206, Roll 5.