Incident #126 Sighting Report — Anacostia Naval Air Station, 30 April 1948

This document contains a collection of records regarding Incident #126, a sighting of an unidentified aerial object reported by a U.S. Navy pilot, Lieutenant Commander Marcus L. Lowe, on 30 April 1948. While flying a local mission in a Navy aircraft near Anacostia Naval Air Station at an altitude of 5,500 feet, the pilot observed a yellow, spherical object approximately 25 to 40 feet in diameter. The object was sighted at a distance of about one mile, traveling at an estimated speed of 100 mph in a south-to-north direction. The pilot noted that the object maintained a constant altitude and lacked any visible external fittings or attachments. The pilot did not pursue the object further because it was heading toward the prohibited airspace over the U.S. Capitol and the White House. The documentation includes a formal check-list for the incident, a memorandum from the pilot, and correspondence from the Air Materiel Command and the Air Weather Service. The Air Weather Service, which assisted in the investigation of Project SIGN, concluded that the object was likely a weather balloon, noting that synoptic weather balloons were often released in the area and that their flight paths were influenced by wind conditions. The incident was subsequently categorized as a balloon sighting in the Project SIGN and Project GRUDGE reports, as there was no evidence to suggest an astronomical or other exotic origin for the object.