Project Blue Book Case File
Red Bank, New, Jersey, March 1949 - Incident Number: 266March 1949
Summary
On the afternoon of March 4, 1949, four employees of Watson Laboratories in Red Bank, New Jersey, spotted an unusual object in the sky while watching a B-29 bomber pass overhead. The object appeared as a bright white or shiny disc, roughly the size of a dinner plate held at arm's length, moving at a rapid speed. All four witnesses agreed they had never seen anything like it before.
The witnesses described the object as disc-shaped and metallic in appearance. It traveled from the northeast to the northwest while making sharp turns, including what one observer described as a half loop-like maneuver before heading northwest at what seemed like jet-like speed. The sighting lasted about one minute before the object disappeared into the atmospheric haze near the horizon. No sound was heard, and there were no visible signs of propulsion such as vapor trails or heat waves. The object appeared to be moving under its own power rather than drifting with the wind.
The investigators checked whether any weather balloons or testing devices had been released in the area that day. The Army Signal Corps Engineering Laboratories at Belmar, New Jersey, about 11 miles south of Watson Laboratories, had conducted one test balloon flight between 1:52 p.m. and 2:32 p.m. at 54,000 feet. However, the investigators concluded this balloon was unlikely to be the same object, since it was many miles south of the sighting location and moving in a different direction.
All four observers were radio mechanics or administrative personnel who had been employed at Watson Laboratories for at least two years and held security clearances. Military investigators considered them qualified, reliable witnesses. No radar confirmation of the sighting was available. The Air Force record does not state a final conclusion about what the witnesses saw.
The complete case file as held by the National Archives comprises 21 pages.
Reported location
Red Bank, New, Jersey, March 1949 - Incident Number: 266
Date of incident
March 1949
State / country
? / XX
Page count
21 scanned pages
USAF evaluation
unknown
Microfilm
T1206, Roll 4