Incident #53 Sighting Report — Lake Meade, Nevada, 28 June 1947

This document details Incident #53, a sighting of unidentified aerial objects reported on 28 June 1947, approximately 30 miles northwest of Lake Meade, Nevada. The witness, a 1st Lieutenant from the 170th AAF Base Unit, was piloting a P-51 aircraft bound for Portland, Oregon, at an altitude of 10,000 feet. At 1515 CST, he observed five or six white, circular objects flying in a close formation at an altitude of approximately 6,000 feet. The objects were estimated to be 36 inches in diameter and were traveling on a course of 120 degrees at an estimated speed of 285 MPH. The witness, who had experience flying both jets and conventional aircraft, was certain the objects were not birds or conventional aircraft, noting that the rate of closure was very fast. The investigating officer, Lawrence B. King, Jr., noted that the witness appeared sincere and did not attempt to draw conclusions about the nature of the objects. Subsequent analysis, as recorded in the Project 10073 and Project Grudge records, concluded that the objects were likely a cluster of balloons, possibly used for cosmic ray research. The analysis suggests that because the witness was flying at 285 MPH on a course of 300 degrees, the observed motion of the objects—which were on a course of 120 degrees at the same speed—was merely an apparent motion caused by the reflection of the plane's own movement.