St Louis, Missouri (NAS), May 1949May 1949

On May 19, 1949, at approximately 9 p.m., multiple observers at Naval Air Station St. Louis witnessed an unusual object in the sky. A ground observer walking near the main gate saw a ball of fire moving from east to west, traveling at a low angle above the horizon. The object appeared to have a trail of fire behind it and moved in a straight horizontal path before suddenly disappearing. A second ground observer who witnessed the same event noted that the object moved horizontally rather than falling like a meteor would. Both observers described it as a bright ball of fire lasting roughly 30 seconds.

Two pilots flying in the area at the time provided additional accounts. One pilot flying at 3,500 feet reported seeing an object about 500 feet above and 2,000 feet away, traveling at a very high speed on a heading of approximately 270 degrees. The pilot initially thought it might be an aircraft, but it had no running lights. As the pilot watched, the object suddenly shot out large sparks from its trailing end and then appeared to disintegrate. The co-pilot on the same flight saw a dark object streaking across the sky at 3,000 feet altitude, also with sparks shooting out behind it, before it disappeared.

A third pilot flying at 3,500 feet saw what he described as a dark object with sparks coming from it, traveling horizontally. He noted that the object seemed to be lit from inside.

The Air Force evaluation listed the incident as unknown. The file consists of 28 pages of original case documentation held by the National Archives.