Lucerne Valley, CaliforniaFebruary 1951

Unidentified

Summary

On February 6, 1951, near Lucerne Valley, California, two civilians reported strange objects in the afternoon sky. The witnesses, a structural draftsman and his wife, first saw two objects between about 1500 and 1503 (3:00 p.m.), and later a third between 1700 and 1715 (5:00 to 5:15 p.m.).

They described the objects as pencil-shaped and silvery, about twenty times as long as they were wide, with no clear wings. The objects appeared to hover or move very slowly and made no sound. One object seemed to slowly turn end over end. The witnesses could not judge the distance but estimated the objects were at least 14 miles away. The objects simply faded from view over about 15 to 20 seconds.

The witnesses gave their account to Navy intelligence and the Atomic Energy Commission. The Air Force recorded the case in Project 10073, its official file for unidentified flying object reports. The investigating officer believed the objects were target sleeves towed by aircraft from a nearby Air Force base.

Reported location

Lucerne Valley, California

Date of incident

February 1951

State / country

CA / US

Page count

4 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 8

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 4

View transcribed text

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| PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD

1. DATE { LOCATION 12. COMCLUSIONS

| ls Yas Belloon

6 Feb 51 ie Ap Lucerne Valley, Califomia 0G Probobly Balloon

3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION 5 rg Possibly Balloon

TR  — XL Ground- Visual O Ground-Reder a Probably Aircrofs

CMT 06/2300Z ol 0 Air-Visuai QO Air-Intercopt Radar D Possibly Aircraft

{ ete er es ————————— i —et——  S— BE et SE  — ————— — — —-——— —— ———— —— ———t— a — So rr

| S. PHOTOS 4. SOURCE 0 Was Astronomical

0 Yes : Q Probebly Astronomical :
e5 No Civilian Lhd 0 Possibly Astronomical

| 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION | 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE ge) Other. TO Toreots
AL 13 0 Insufficient Dgta for Evaluation
a 0) 7 8 ¥in | (1) Two | GS Udaeon

Co nee Be 6 ERERRR SERRATE aes
| 10. BRIZF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS

| : .

Shape like pencil,color was silver, Speed Believed to be tow targets from
Probably Stationary. Alt was high. No sound. Maroc AB by investigating officer,

ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52) :

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28939055