La Grande, OregonJuly 1953

On July 19, 1953, civilian airline personnel on the ground at La Grande, Oregon, and a Navy pilot in the air both observed an unidentified object at high altitude. The sighting lasted roughly two hours and was immediately reported to Air Force flight service centers.

The ground observers worked for West Coast Airlines at La Grande Airport. Looking through 25-power binoculars and a transit scope, they saw an object they described at first as resembling a golf ball but later as triangular or shield-shaped, with a bright white or aluminum-colored appearance. They estimated its altitude at 18,000 feet and noted that it appeared to drift northward. The object seemed stationary most of the time and did not move dramatically across the sky.

A Navy pilot, Lieutenant Commander J. E. Brandt, was flying a Naval aircraft between Seattle and Denver when the La Grande radio station radioed him to ask if he could see the object. From his position in the copilot's seat, Brandt observed what he described as a bright, metallic shape high above his aircraft, which was flying at 11,000 feet. He estimated the unidentified object to be approximately 20,000 feet in altitude. He watched it for roughly two minutes as it appeared to move in a southerly direction.

The Air Force investigation quickly focused on the Moby Dick balloon program, a classified effort that launched high-altitude research balloons to collect data on upper atmosphere conditions. The Lowry Plotting Center in Denver reported that a Moby Dick balloon was positioned about 120 miles south of La Grande at the time of the sighting, though investigators later found discrepancies in that claim. One military officer suggested the object was possibly a parachute or other item released by the federal government. The case file notes that ground observers believed they had seen a Moby Dick balloon.

However, the file itself acknowledges uncertainty. Weather data for the area showed clear skies and twenty-five mile visibility. No physical evidence of the object was recovered. After examining available information, Air Force investigators concluded the sighting was unknown. The file contains 37 pages as held by the National Archives.