Project Blue Book Case File
[ILLEGIBLE], July 1947 - Incident Number: [ILLEGIBLE]July 1947
Summary
On the night of July 7, 1947, a single observer in Arlington, Virginia spotted what he described as a blob of bright, cool white light crossing the sky at extremely high speed. The object appeared and disappeared in just two to three seconds, visible from a bedroom window. The observer estimated its speed at approximately 1,350 miles per hour.
The witness who reported the sighting was a high-ranking Air Force officer. He described the object's color with precision: it reflected white light, similar to the moon on a clear night, with no red tint to it.
The Air Force investigation noted that a slow-moving meteor could explain this sighting. Slow-moving meteors are typically observed before midnight, which aligns with the reported time of the incident. The file indicates that no astronomical explanation contradicts the observation, and the meteor hypothesis remains the most straightforward interpretation of the reported phenomena.
The complete case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, spanning 79 pages.
Reported location
[ILLEGIBLE], July 1947 - Incident Number: [ILLEGIBLE]
Date of incident
July 1947
State / country
? / XX
Page count
79 scanned pages
USAF evaluation
unknown
Microfilm
T1206, Roll 1