FOIA: UFO Sighting on Kirtland AFB Oct 21, 1949

NM_OCT_21_1949.pdf
UFO Sighting on 21st October, 1949 on Kirtland AFB
Sighting of an UFO over the Southwestern skies of Kirtland AFB. Light was likened to a small headlight, but much brighter.
Document date: 1949-11-08
Department: Air Force
Author: S/A Melvin E. Neef
Document type: Investigative Report
pages: 21


Archivist's Notes: Documents are easy to read, and the trail of reports is easy to follow. Only down side is that the pictures are so dark that they are not viewable.

While we have no photo available for this sighting, it is interesting none the less. Perhaps the foremost thing that jumps off the page is the fact that this is an event taking place at Roswell, New Mexico, where two years earlier the "crash of a flying disc" caused such a stir in America.

The person taking the photo, M/sgt Jones- from the base photography unit, returned the next day and could find nothing in the area that could account for the bright light he had seen the night before. A light so steady that he had thought it to be something mounted on a tower of water tank.

The Special agent investigating the incident could find nothing in the area where the light was photographed to account for it, even though he looked with binoculars and seemed sure of himself in the report.

There seems to have been some "fuzziness" around certain parts of the light in question, even though the camera was on a tripod and Sgt. Jones felt sure there could have been no camera movement to cause this. The base photo officer felt that the "fuzziness" was caused by heat from the object itself.

There is one photo here that shows "something", but it is basically a black background with a distorted circle in the center. With no context, it seems impossible to gain any information from this, though some of the modern methods of photo enhancement MIGHT gain some detail.

If the original photo could be located, this is a very well documented case that could turn up some evidence. It might even be worthwhile to see if anyone connected with this report is still living and could shed some light on the matter. There is the remote possibility that a descendant of someone in this case could have some information and/or the photo. ???

Edit to add: This is Roswell, New Mexico, after all. This could have some significance, and that fact alone makes this report stand out. The report generated a lot of interest, which makes a person wonder why, if the "Roswell Crash" was just a balloon.

[edit on 24-11-2007 by NGC2736]

As NGC2736 stated, there is not much to be learned from this report. I would like to point out that the sighting took place on Walker Air Force Base, and not Kirtland AFB. The report went through Kirtland because it was the location of Air Materiel Command at that time so it was written on the form. Walker AFB, previously named Roswell Army Air Field, was home to the 509th bomber squadron and was the only nuclear bomber squadron at that time.

I took a screen shot of the photo in question I believe, but since it is photocopied, it is impossible to analyze. There are other photos in the report, but as you can see, there is not much there.