Smyrna, Tenn., March 1948 - Incident Number: 104March 1948

On the evening of March 7, 1948, military personnel at Smyrna Air Force Base in Tennessee observed a yellow-orange object that resembled a flare hovering near the horizon. The object appeared roughly six miles away, positioned between west and northwest of the base. Major L. Fenn, the commanding officer, along with radio and tower operators, watched as the object moved slowly and directly away from the station. It remained visible for about forty-five minutes before gradually fading into the distance. No sound was heard, and no exhaust trail was seen.

The Air Force's investigation concluded that the object was almost certainly the planet Venus. An analysis in the case file notes that the stated position "checks exactly (within allowable observational error) with the computed position of Venus." The color, brightness, speed, and the time at which the object disappeared all matched what would be expected from observing Venus under the atmospheric and lighting conditions present that evening. The slow apparent movement over the forty-five-minute observation period is consistent with the way a bright celestial object can seem to shift position as an observer's perspective changes.

The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, comprising 9 pages of scanned documents.