Orlando AFB, Fla., January 1949January 1949

Insufficient Data

Summary

On the morning of January 31, 1949, something unusual moved across the skies near Orlando, Florida. Multiple witnesses, including military personnel and civilians, reported seeing a glowing object that traveled from northeast to southwest over a span of roughly an hour and a half.

At Orlando Air Force Base around 1:55 a.m. (0155 hours), nine Air Policemen on duty noticed the object. They described it as round, roughly the size of a car wheel, and blue-green in color with a bright center. The object appeared to move slowly, at about the speed of a light aircraft approaching to land. Witnesses reported no sound, odor, or exhaust trail. The object seemed to have no physical substance and disappeared suddenly, like a light switching off.

About an hour earlier, a communicator at Tampa Municipal Airport had observed a similar luminous disc about 25 feet across, also traveling southwest. He reported it was moving in a circular pattern at an estimated 120 to 150 miles per hour. Meanwhile, the Chief of Police in North Safety Harbor, Florida also witnessed an object matching the same general description before it vanished over the Gulf of Mexico.

The investigation, conducted by the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations between February and March 1949, documented the accounts of multiple credible observers, including military personnel with solid records and law enforcement officers with years of experience. All reported clear skies and good visibility. Weather records confirmed the conditions were favorable for observation. The investigators found no evidence of aircraft or balloons in the area at the time.

The file notes that all witnesses, with one exception who professed to being slightly color-blind, either had normal vision or did not wear glasses. They viewed the object through clear air or, in a few cases, through car windows. The Air Force designated the object's origin and nature as unknown. The full 63-page case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives.

Reported location

Orlando AFB, Fla., January 1949

Date of incident

January 1949

State / country

? / XX

Page count

63 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 4

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