WEST MINSTER, MDJanuary 1954

On January 10, 1954, residents of Westminster, Maryland reported seeing unusual objects in the sky. The Air Force received multiple reports of sightings that occurred over several hours in the early morning and evening.

The first sighting involved a round, spinning ball that moved erratically with green and red fire trailing from it, lasting about 30 seconds before it appeared to explode. A second sighting described a round, white object in the western sky that blinked and remained stationary for about 25 minutes before disappearing suddenly. Witnesses reported seeing a third object flying in an arc, moving toward Baltimore before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

The 647th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron at Manassas, Virginia investigated the reports and interviewed the observers. Visibility in the area was poor due to haze and mist. The investigators noted that three active airways served the region, RED 29, RED 33, and RED 45, and that aircraft traffic was fairly heavy on all of them at the time.

The official conclusion suggested that what the witnesses saw were most likely the navigation and landing lights of routine commercial aircraft. The investigators believed poor visibility had prevented the observers from identifying the lights as normal airplane traffic. The Air Force recommended that the Civil Aeronautics Administration attempt to correlate the exact times the objects were sighted with known aircraft movements on the local airways, though the case file notes the witnesses' reliability could not be fully judged.

The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, spanning 13 pages.