Incident #108 Sighting Report — Bakersfield, California, 8 March 1948

This document comprises a series of reports and correspondence regarding Incident #108, a sighting of an unidentified aerial phenomenon near Bakersfield, California, on 8 March 1948. The primary report details an observation made at 0830 hours, where a witness described an orange-red ball of fire, larger than a small airplane, which remained static for approximately 30 seconds before splitting and drifting eastward. The object was observed to leave a black smoke trail in a zigzag pattern. Another report from the same period involves two informants, a secretary and a dentist, who observed a flaming object from the Haberfelde Building on 9 March 1948. They described the object as having orange-red flames and trailing black smoke, eventually disappearing behind a water tower. The Fourth Air Force conducted an investigation into these reports, noting that the Sheriff's Office in Bakersfield had received numerous calls from residents regarding peculiar objects in the sky. The official A-2 comment on the incident suggests that while there is no evidence to substantiate the claim, the activity could potentially be attributed to marker flares. The document also includes an index of evaluations from the Project Grudge report, which categorizes various incidents by their likely nature, placing Incident #108 under the category of 'Rockets, flares or falling bodies.' The correspondence confirms that the Fourth Air Force forwarded this summary to the Air Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in compliance with reporting requirements for 'Flying Discs' established in March 1948.