Medford, Ore., August 1949 - Incident Number: 419August 1949

On August 8, 1949, at around 11:30 a.m., airfield personnel near Medford, Oregon sighted shiny objects moving across the sky at high speed. A member of the Airways detachment at Medford Municipal Airfield spotted the first object and reported it immediately. A second object appeared almost right after. The Control Tower was asked to help locate and identify the objects, since they were too high and far away to see clearly without binoculars.

The Control Tower operator reported seeing three silver-colored objects with what appeared to be conventional wings, moving "very fast." Ground observers estimated the objects were flying at speeds comparable to or faster than standard jet aircraft, at an unofficial altitude of around thirty thousand feet. A United Air Lines DC-4 airplane flying in the area at seventeen thousand feet reported that its crew could not see any strange objects, which suggested the mystery objects were indeed flying higher than that. No clouds were present in the sky to help observers judge altitude more accurately.

Witnesses observed the objects maneuvering in formation for a while, then breaking apart and reforming in a line. The objects would disappear for short periods, then reappear in the same general area. Personnel from Medford Radio used a theodalite (a surveying telescope used to measure angles) to get a better look. Tower operators used binoculars and thought they could make out wings, but could not identify the objects further. The objects were only visible to the naked eye when they reflected the sun's rays. No sound or exhaust trails were reported. An aircraft search proved unsuccessful because the objects were no longer visible. Additional reports came in afterward, but investigators believed most of these were likely sightings of balls of thistles, a common plant seed that was prevalent in the area at that time.

The investigating detachment concluded that no definite identification of the objects could be made because accurate observations had not been possible. The full case file, as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below across 11 pages.