Incident #291 Sighting Report — Fort Worth, Texas, 13 April 1949

On 13 April 1949, at approximately 2105C, two officers from the Carswell Flight Service Center at Carswell Air Force Base, Texas—1st Lt. Robert A. Francis and Captain Stanley Borowski—observed an unidentified flying object. The officers had just returned from a local flight and were standing on the ramp in the parking area when the sighting occurred. They described the object as a bright, illuminated silver round ball or egg-shaped object. It appeared as a pinpoint of light at first, reaching the size of a half-dollar or quarter held at arm's length. The object was observed traveling horizontally from the north-northwest toward the south-southeast at a speed estimated to be over 1000 miles per hour, which the observers noted was far in excess of any jet aircraft they had witnessed. The object left a whitish exhaust trail approximately three times its own length, which appeared to originate from a perfect circle at the rear of the object. The entire observation lasted approximately eight seconds before the object disappeared suddenly. The weather was clear with eight miles of visibility. No sound or odor was detected. Following the report, the Carswell Flight Service Center checked flight logs and confirmed that no jet aircraft were in the area at the time of the sighting. The report was forwarded to the Air Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The official conclusion reached by the investigating authorities was that the object was an 'Astro (METEOR).' The interrogating officers noted that both witnesses were of above-average intelligence and sound character, and their accounts were consistent with one another.