Valdosta, GeorgiaJuly 1949

On the night of July 20, 1949, a man in Valdosta, Georgia reported seeing a strange flaming object in the sky. The witness was a World War II veteran and local engraver who first spotted the object from his bed while lying down. He woke his wife, who also saw it, and then grabbed his field glasses to get a better look. He dressed quickly and stepped into his yard to observe the phenomenon.

The object appeared as a reddish-orange flame. It moved rapidly at first, seeming to climb from the ground into the air, then slowed down as it rose higher. The witness said it looked like a V-2 rocket being launched, a comparison he could make because he had actually seen two V-2 rockets fired by the Germans during his service in Europe in World War II. He watched the object for at least seven minutes before losing sight of it, even with his field glasses.

Someone else in town called the local newspaper around midnight that same evening, excited and asking the staff member on duty to look outside at a fiery object in the sky. The reporter rushed out but could not see anything. Local and federal agencies in the area were checked, and no one reported any knowledge of unusual flying objects in the region.

The Air Force investigated the report but concluded there was insufficient data for evaluation. The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives across 6 pages of microfilm.