Williams AFB, Chandler, ArizonaApril 1950

Insufficient Data

Summary

On a Saturday in April 1950, an Air Force officer at Williams Air Force Base in Arizona saw something unusual cross the sky in broad daylight. The man was lying on an Army cot in his backyard near Chandler, looking straight up, when he spotted a round object moving from south to north. He called his wife over, and they both watched it travel in a perfectly straight line to the horizon in about ten seconds. The object looked like a balloon or ping pong ball, dull off-white in color with sharp outlines. It moved so fast that the witness estimated its speed at 1,200 miles per hour, far faster than any balloon he had ever seen.

The Air Force investigated the sighting and concluded the object was likely a meteor, specifically a very bright fireball. The analysis noted that the object moved at an angular rate of approximately 9 degrees per second, which meant that if it was at a great distance from the observer, its actual speed would have been significantly higher than the witness's estimate. The investigators explained that daylight sightings of meteors are uncommon, but fireballs can indeed be seen during the day just as easily as planets or the moon. The dull off-white color the witness reported matched the typical appearance of such meteors in daylight. According to the Air Force, the rare brightness of this fireball accounts for why the witness never considered it might be a meteor. A search of intelligence records found no balloon releases on that date from Williams Air Force Base or Davis-Monthan Air Force Base to the south.

The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, consisting of 15 scanned pages.

Reported location

Williams AFB, Chandler, Arizona

Date of incident

April 1950

State / country

AZ / US

Page count

15 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 7

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 15

View transcribed text

[0
: a
| |
: 4 PROJECT 10073 RECORD
1. DATE « TIME GROUP 2, Y vans v : . OPN, | pi
April 1950 18552 "williams AFB, Chandler, ..cizona
: 3. SOURCE 10. CONCLUSION
| Civilian Astro (METEOR)
«« NUMBER OF OBJECTS |
tne Jitness saw a meteor, one of the rare daylight sightings of this |
s. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION |11. BRIEF SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS JTSET—— |
10 Seconds * Round similar to a balloon or ping pong ball. Dull off white
Sharp outlines. Almost zenith to horizon at North. The il
bh VIPS OF SUIRNTT— object moved at an angular rate of approximately 9 deg per
Ground=Visual second, which at the obiriously great distance results in a
7. COURSE velocity far greater than the reported 1200 mph.
t North OM}ENTS: The fact that this was a daylight observation probabl,
8. PHOTOS hccounts for this witness never considering the possibility of
: this object being a meteor. Fireballs can be seen in the dayliglt
ne ust as easily as the mocn or visible planets. The magnitudes of
— hese meteors is as brigat and usually brighter than =3 magnitudg
. PHYSICAL EVIDENCE shich is observable in daylight. Normally there is some color
8 Ves nssociated with these mzicors, havever usually this is just an
"No 10£f white" or paie color which could easily have been lost in tle
ney ei ot abut undiduiby
FORM ” . A »
J sep 63 0-329 (TDE) Previous editions of this form may be used,
d ks ol dod FOBT AN hd i .

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28937750