Knoxville, tennesseeMarch 1950

Unidentified

Summary

On March 1, 2, and 3, 1950, a radar station near Knoxville, Tennessee, tracked unidentified targets on three nights in a row. The station reported the objects to the Atomic Energy Commission security office at nearby Oak Ridge. On the first night, a target sat still for 1 hour and 55 minutes at about 10,000 feet, bearing roughly 320 degrees from Knoxville. On later nights, more returns appeared, including objects at about 30,000 feet and 49,000 feet. On March 3, an object the size of a C-47 transport plane was tracked moving at about 200 knots.

The Air Force record (Project 10073, the service's official file for unidentified flying object reports) concluded these were probably ground returns caused by a weather inversion. It noted the still targets lasted too long to be aircraft and were likely ground targets. The March 3 report was judged probably an aircraft. Officials checked with nearby air bases and found no flight plans for planes in the area.

Reported location

Knoxville, tennessee

Date of incident

March 1950

State / country

TN / US

Page count

4 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 7

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 4

View transcribed text

& TORE THPTRSOYRTND TINNY 7h HT ONO 5157 0 SRT ay STE ST . " :
4
PROJECT 10073 RECORD
1. DATE - TIME GROUP % LOCATION sll 45 :
| 1,2, 3 March 1950 Knoxville, tennessee
3. SOURCE 10. CONCLUSION
: AJC (third report)
Aroy Radar Other (IEC, Xe SERRE UR KE = ony Probable Ground Returns
4. NUMBER OF OBJECTS
Several Returns on 3 sucessive nights from same quadrant, Probably
ve ground returns frem inversion, Report on 3 March of A/C,
s. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION |11. BRIEF SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS
1 hour 55 minutes, " Two successive nights returns of stationary object. Ca third
5. TYPE OF OBSERVATION night slow motion was reported, 1st night 1 hour 55 minutes.
Ground Radar 2d night Not stated. 3d iIX.X day report of object size of
C-47 with track speed estimated at 200 knots.
7. COURSE
_ Report from 3 March probable A/C. First two nights returns
1. Natiemasy, 2. Not Reps stationary objoct likely ground targets since they wore
3. PHOTOS of long duration, No Weather data included. Should be an
inversion in the area at the time in order for this to bs a
0 Yes cause of the report.
_ No ;
9. PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
O Yes : ’ : :
=D No
FORM
FTD sep 63 0-329 (TDE) Previous editions of this form may be used.
E soils int va re { :

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28937487