St. John's, Newfoundland, July 1950July 1950

On the evening of July 31, 1950, several witnesses at and near Pepperrell Air Force Base in St. John's, Newfoundland saw a fast-moving object cross the sky in about ten to sixteen seconds. The object appeared as a bright green or yellowish light under low cloud cover. It was traveling from east to west (or in some accounts, northwest) and made no sound.

The most detailed account came from a witness who was driving on the base. He described the object as moving in a straight line at high speed. It appeared as a small, round, very bright light, but it cast no reflection on the clouds. As he watched, the object broke into two distinct pieces. Each piece became a dull-colored light and then disappeared. The fragments briefly continued forward at the same level before dropping slightly and vanishing without leaving sparks or any other visible trace.

A second witness, watching from a window overlooking the area, described the object as resembling a comet with a long wake, traveling from east to west. This witness saw it split into two portions and break apart in mid-air like a disintegrating comet. A third account, from someone leaving the NCO Club with a sergeant, described a blue flame with reddish-orange coloring that flickered and seemed to renew itself, resembling a rocket fire. This witness placed the object's altitude at between 3,000 and 5,000 feet. Canadian Royal Mounted Police constables present gave statements consistent with the other accounts.

The Air Force evaluated the sighting as a meteor. This conclusion appears in the official case summary, though the investigation file does not explain in detail how investigators ruled out other explanations or what analysis led to the meteor determination. The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives across 7 pages.