Maxwell AFB, AlabamaAugust 1954

On the night of August 11, 1954, personnel at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama watched a bright object move across the sky and change colors for about 35 minutes. The object started out about the size of a baseball held at arm's length, according to witnesses. It glowed white, then turned red, then orange, and back to white again before fading away.

The sighting began when tower operators at nearby Lawson Air Force Base spotted the object due west of their position. After sitting still at first, the object suddenly moved at high speed across the sky in a north-northwest direction. It then returned to its original position and began descending slowly until it disappeared from view.

The sighting was serious enough that the Air Force scrambled two Army helicopters to investigate. The helicopter pilots confirmed they saw something that was not a star and located it approximately 20 miles to the west at an altitude of 2,963 feet. However, their fuel did not allow them to close in on the object for a closer look. Multiple witnesses on the ground and in the air saw the phenomenon, including Air Force personnel, helicopter pilots, and Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) radio operators.

The case file indicates that investigators considered Mars the probable explanation. The file notes that Mars was positioned in the southwest sky that evening at an elevation of 20 degrees, and its brightness and color changes could match what the witnesses described. The Air Force marked the case as "unknown" in its official evaluation, though the detailed analysis suggested an astronomical body, likely the planet Mars, was the most probable cause.

The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, consisting of 8 pages.