Honolulu, HawaiiJuly 1949

On July 20, 1949, between about 10:30 and 11:00 a.m., a civilian woman in Honolulu, Hawaii, saw two objects while doing laundry behind her house. She was interviewed by investigators. The Air Force conclusion was balloon. The report became part of Project 10073, the Air Force's official record for unidentified flying object reports.

The woman said the first object was a balloon-like object high in the sky, north of where she stood, traveling toward the west. While she watched, a second balloon-like object appeared from the south and rose to a position above the first. It seemed to circle the first object. Then both moved together toward the west and disappeared from her view, which was blocked by her house.

Investigators checked local weather and military sources. A weather balloon, called a radiosonde, had been released at about 1025 (10:25 a.m.) from Pearl Harbor for training. It carried a small box on an eight-foot wire below the balloon, and the box could swing in a circle and reflect the sun. Officers concluded that a balloon at one altitude and a second balloon at a higher altitude could have produced what she saw, with one appearing to circle the other before drifting west.