Rodeo, New MexicoMarch 1949

Unidentified

Summary

This case began with an explosion in remote mountainous country near Rodeo, New Mexico on March 31, 1949. A Border Patrol officer named Mr. Corning reported hearing a very heavy explosion after spotting a plane overhead. The next day, he and others rode out on horseback to investigate and found a huge crater in the brush and timber, along with a piece of metal about 12 inches in diameter that appeared pointed. Corning thought it might be a warhead from a guided missile. No wreckage resembling an airplane was found at the site, which lay roughly ten miles east of Rodeo in wild, mountainous terrain.

The Air Force's Special Investigations office contacted a witness who was approximately one mile away at the time of the explosion. That witness reported seeing five B-25 type aircraft (twin-engine bombers) overhead. A bomb ordnance expert from Biggs Air Force Base examined the fragments and fuse and determined they came from a 100 or 150 pound practice bomb of the type used routinely by the U.S. Air Force. Based on this finding, the Air Force and the Federal Bureau of Investigation concluded the explosion had been caused by the accidental detonation of one of these practice bombs. No further investigation was pursued.

Despite the determination that the explosion resulted from a practice bomb, the Air Force officially classified this case as unidentified. The case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives across 7 pages of microfilm.

Reported location

Rodeo, New Mexico

Date of incident

March 1949

State / country

NM / US

Page count

7 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 4

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 7

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28933772