Hollman AFB, N.M., January 1950January 1950

On the night of January 6, 1950, Russell O. Womack Jr., a Special Agent with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations stationed at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, saw an unusual light in the sky from his home in nearby Alamogordo. The object appeared at 10:30 p.m. and was bright white in color, comparable in brightness to the planet Venus. It was slightly larger than Venus and hung about 16 degrees above the horizon, roughly toward the south.

For 45 minutes, Womack watched the object move generally from east to west across the sky. Its path was not straight. The object moved erratically up and down and side to side, though the changes in altitude were small and jerky rather than smooth. The color shifted in an unpredictable way, changing from white to green and red. The object made no sound, left no visible exhaust, and cast no light on nearby clouds. The night was extremely clear with no clouds present.

Womack was not alone in observing the sighting. Five other military airmen, all stationed at Holloman AFB, also witnessed the phenomenon. The investigators made several attempts to gather more data. They tried to get a precise angle measurement using a theodolite (a surveying instrument), but an obstruction blocked the view. A Q-13 type radar set was used to detect the object, but it produced no results. The Air Force also checked with the Operations and Projects Division at Holloman and the Research Section at nearby White Sands Proving Ground to determine whether any experimental devices had been launched in the area. None had been. The observer did not see the object disappear; it simply remained in sight when he stopped watching. The investigation file was marked closed, though no final conclusion appears in the available record. The full case file, six pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.