Indianapolis, IndianaApril 1949

On April 28, 1949, a civilian contacted Chanute Air Force Base in Illinois by long-distance telephone to report an unusual sighting over Indianapolis. The caller, identified only as "Mr. W," told Staff Officer Captain G. J. Zaithley that he had observed objects shaped like balloons at noon that day. The objects were very high in the sky and moving fast, traveling in a heading of 340 degrees (roughly north-northwest) at between 100 and 100 miles per hour. The witness estimated they were at an altitude of 8,000 to 11,000 feet.

Because the call came through the base switchboard and was paid for by the caller himself, the Air Force was unable to trace his full name or address. Captain Zaithley believed the man was a former B-17 pilot (a large military cargo aircraft) living roughly 10 to 50 miles north of Indianapolis, but the investigation could go no further without that basic information.

The limited details that survived the phone call were forwarded up the chain of command over several weeks. The report moved from Chanute Air Force Base to the Technical Division of Air Training Command at Scott Air Force Base, then to Air Training Command headquarters at Barksside Air Force Base, and finally to the Director of Intelligence at U.S. Air Force headquarters in Washington. Despite this official circulation, no follow-up interview with the witness was ever recorded in the file.

The Air Force marked the case "Insufficient Data for Evaluation," since investigators had little to work with beyond a single phone call from an anonymous observer. This 15-page case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives.