Robbins AFB, Ga., April 1950April 1950

On April 10, 1950, around 4 a.m., two men at the station hospital at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, reported an object. A sergeant arriving for duty first saw a red flash in the south shaped like a V, then a light approaching that he at first thought was a burning plane. The object passed directly over the hospital. He said it looked like a child's spinning top, with a glowing red rim and a white shiny rim, the inside lit by reflected white light. As it passed overhead, he estimated the bottom was about 24 inches across and the whole object about 25 feet across.

The sergeant said the object wobbled, sometimes stopped, then made a sharp right turn east, banked left, and headed north toward a swamp, gaining altitude rapidly before disappearing. There was no sound or odor. It was in view about four or five minutes. A captain who came up at the end also saw it, but described it as small, about the size of a star, glowing red and fading in intensity. He estimated it much higher, about 12,000 to 15,000 feet, and elliptical or balloon like.

Weather was clear with light wind. Both men were judged reliable witnesses with good vision. The Air Force record (Project 10073, its official file for unidentified flying object reports) noted the case as unidentified.