Labador, Canada, June 1954June 1954

Insufficient Data

Summary

On June 30, 1954, a British Overseas Airways Corporation pilot named Captain J.R. Howard was flying a Stratocruiser across the Atlantic near Labrador when he spotted something unusual in the sky. He reported seeing one large object surrounded by five or six smaller objects. The formation had a wavering appearance and reminded the crew of a jellyfish. The objects stayed visible for about 18 minutes, hovering roughly 10 miles off the plane's left side. Captain Howard and his crew of 10, along with 51 awake passengers, all confirmed the sighting. When a U.S. Air Force fighter jet from Goose Bay tried to intercept, the objects faded away.

At the same time and location, a ship at sea also reported seeing something unusual. Unlike the aircraft crew, the ship's observers quickly identified what they were seeing as the planet Mars. They also noted that mirage conditions were present in the area due to temperature inversions, a weather phenomenon where a layer of warm air gets trapped between colder air layers, creating optical illusions.

The U.S. Air Force's Air Technical Intelligence Center evaluated the sighting and concluded it was an inversion reflection of the planet Mars. Because the British Air Ministry had requested information about the incident, the Air Force's analysis was forwarded to them. The full case file, comprising 29 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.

Reported location

Labador, Canada, June 1954

Date of incident

June 1954

State / country

? / XX

Page count

29 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 21

i} H i 3 . PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD | ER ESERIES Se Ol PAE US RIA oR cy ESE ICE SELI EEE | 1. DATE ° {2 LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS | 5 Rly | 0 Wos Balloon £ 30 Jun=s 1954 | Tabadsr, Canada a Probably Balloon f 3. DATE-TIME GROUP A. TYPE OF OBSERVATION 5% ossitty Ba i Local erp 0 Ground- Visual O Ground-Rador a ibs TUL IRE 3 omy ot July/0109Z7 B-Air Visual O Air-Intercept Radar 0 Possibly Aircraft Hi 5. PHOTOS . SOURCE TO Wos Astronomical Mars : a Yas : : 0 Probably Astronomical 4 “0 Ne Civilian DO Possibly Astronomical 4 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE a BE 0} § 5) pee er ee ER DE RSS 0 insufficient Date for Evaluation Bb Gh way i PAT 0 Unknown > | 18 ihnutes ross : SET wat he Dae tae i A Be Re et SE SRE Se ES 3 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS £ Large object Ww [five or six smaller cnes abouit,.| Evaluated af the Planet Mars, 4 ATIC FORM 319 (REV 26 SEP 52) 1