Key West, FloridaAugust 1953

On the night of July 24, 1953, a Navy student at Key West watched an object move rapidly across the sky. It appeared as bright as a star and roughly the same size. Beginning in the western sky, it traveled eastward in a series of controlled turns, blinking out several times before disappearing below the horizon. About a week later, on August 1, a similar sighting occurred at nearly the same time, though clouds obscured the object's final moments.

The observer was a Seaman Apprentice named Charles B. Forrest, a student at the Fleet Sonar School at the Naval Base. Investigators who interviewed him found him calm and reliable. His supervisor described him as conscientious and above average, and the interviewing officer noted that Forrest appeared stable and well-adjusted, though reluctant to discuss the sightings publicly. Forrest himself suggested the object was some type of highly maneuverable aircraft, but acknowledged he could not explain the pattern of its movements. He was emphatic that it resembled an aircraft's running light, at least until it began its erratic course.

The Air Force collected detailed information about weather and wind conditions at the time. On July 24, the sky was partly cloudy with good visibility. On August 1, a heavier overcast covered the area. No physical evidence or photographs resulted from either sighting. No radar confirmation appeared in the file. The final investigation report, filed by the 1455th Troop Carrier Wing in Miami, noted only that Forrest appeared skeptical of his own sighting and had checked it against known phenomena before deciding he had observed something unfamiliar.

An earlier memo from a senior Air Force analyst suggested the object was probably a searchlight mounted on an aircraft scanning the area, a possibility supported by reports of aircraft in the vicinity. However, the official case conclusion listed in the file simply states: "Other, Probably searchlight on aircraft."

The complete case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives and consists of 13 scanned pages.