FOIA: Incident #225 Near Vaughn New Mexico

NM_3_OR_4_AUG_1948.pdf
Incident #225 Near Vaughn New Mexico
This document contains the Investigation of multiple sightings of unidentified aerial objects, near Vaughn New mexico, during November 1948.
Document date: 1949-05-11
Department: USAF
Author: Eustis Poland, Colonel USAF
Document type: Report
pages: 22


Archivist's Notes: Investigative report on multiple objects observed near Vaughn New Mexico, in November of 1948. The objects were seen as bright white balls, of roughly a foot in diameter, falling from 500 feet and exploding into red “Miniature Suns” at 100 feet. The document includes eyewitness reports, and correlations to known balloon launches. The document quality is poor, with entire pages faded to the point of being illegible.

This is an interesting report of an incident where the unidentified object was reported by a Col. Hayes as being a bright basket ball sized object that fell veritally, then exploded into a shower of red sparks. There were three separate identical incidences, but I only see several copies of the same incident.

What I found interesting on the first summary page was the reference to the "New Mexico Green Flashes", which I took as the Green Fireballs Mystery. The conclusion was that it was an astronomical phenomenon.

Related FIOA Documents:
FOIA: Green fireball over TX, NM, AZ causes investigation for impact point

Related ATS Discussions:
The Green Fireball Mystery of New Mexico

Related Links:
TinWiki article: Green Fireballs

Reading here I can't help but think of the inventing craze that was so much a part of those days right after WWII. So many new ideas had worked out during the war, that people were willing to give almost any idea a shot. And the one or two man plan of the day was invent it, test it a few times, sell it.

What I'm leading up to here is that I think these could have been early attempts at large battle flares. Maybe even the brainchild of some pilot and his buddy. They couldn't very well test them on the ground, and if they gave them to the Army to test, they don't ever see a dime for their idea.

I think that we need to always factor in the human element when we view these events. A high flying plane, dropping some type of sparkling light on a parachute, is very likely to have caused at least some of these strange reports.

Others, like this one could have been a flare rigged to some altitude/pressure device to explode and dazzle the landscape with light.

In any event, I think it is prudent to look at what could have been an Earthly explanation, though these are, in the truest sense of the term, UFOs.