Gonzales, TexasOctober 1951

In October 1951, a husband and wife driving near Gonzales, Texas, saw an unusual object in the sky while traveling on Highway 3, about a mile north of town. As they crested a small hill, they spotted what looked at first like a grayish cloud with a white circle around it. On closer inspection, the object appeared solid and seemed to be moving under its own power, not drifting like a cloud.

The witnesses described the object as roughly two yards in diameter. The center was white and creamy, about two feet across, while the outer ring was a darker grayish white. The object appeared at an angle of about 30 degrees above the horizon, directly south of the observers, and was moving from east to west. It stayed in view for roughly half a minute and covered about 15 degrees of sky during that time. The witnesses noted that the outer edge seemed to reflect light like sunlight bouncing off aluminum. There was no sound, no smell, and no trail. The object eventually disappeared as the car went down the hill and lost sight of it.

The wife stated that if she had been alone, she would have dismissed what she saw as her imagination. But because her husband also witnessed it, they discussed the sighting and concluded it might be a "flying saucer." The Air Force investigator interviewed the couple in May 1952, seven months after the sighting. The wife confirmed she wore glasses at the time and was looking through a clean windshield. The investigator noted the weather was clear with unlimited visibility.

The Air Force also conducted background checks on the witnesses. The Gonzales County Sheriff vouched for their reliability over many years. A bank president and a Chamber of Commerce secretary offered mixed assessments: they confirmed the wife was trustworthy and reliable, but expressed some doubt about the husband's credibility, suggesting he might exaggerate or supplement facts with imagination, particularly after an old injury from a fire.

The Air Force concluded the object was unidentified. The full case file, comprising seven pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.