Incident #24 Sighting Report — Weiser, Idaho, 12 June 1947

This document contains a collection of records related to Project SIGN, specifically focusing on the investigation of unidentified aerial phenomena. The primary incident detailed is Incident #24, which occurred on June 12, 1947, in Weiser, Idaho. A civilian witness reported observing an object at 6:15 PM that appeared to shoot up and down before leveling out and leaving a glistening trail. The witness initially mistook the object for smoke from an airplane. The object was described as being far away, making it difficult to determine its size or shape. The trail left behind was compared to clouds and persisted in the sky for over an hour. The official conclusion for this incident, as recorded in the Project 10073 record, is 'Other (CONTRAILS)'. However, the accompanying investigative notes provide a more nuanced analysis, suggesting that while a 'double fireball' or meteoric hypothesis is plausible, the investigator personally preferred a terrestrial explanation. The document also includes a memorandum from the Air Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, dated January 5, 1949, addressed to the Chief of the Air Weather Service. This memorandum outlines the responsibilities of Project SIGN in collecting and interpreting data on unidentified flying objects and notes that many incidents could be eliminated as routine weather balloon flights. It includes a list of incident numbers that were considered to have the greatest possibility of being balloons. Finally, the document contains an excerpt from a Project GRUDGE report, which provides an incident index categorized by Dr. Hynek, classifying various sightings as astronomical, non-astronomical but suggestive of other explanations (such as balloons or rockets), or non-astronomical with no evident explanation. This collection serves as a historical record of the early U.S. government efforts to categorize and explain aerial sightings during the late 1940s.