Project 10073 Record Card — Delta, Colorado, April 1949

This document is an Air Intelligence Information Report (LAFB 000.9-1) dated April 15, 1949, concerning a report of a 'Flying Disc' in Delta, Colorado. The investigation was initiated following a report from a local rancher who had discovered three broken pieces of a metal ring in 1946 while on horseback. The rancher, a former USAF pilot, did not report the find until April 1949, shortly after hearing a news broadcast by Walter Winchell. The investigation was conducted by the 14th District Office of Special Investigations (OSI) at Lowry Air Force Base. The OSI investigators, after examining the physical evidence and comparing it with information in the ONI Weekly Publication (Vol. IV, No. 26, June 27, 1945), concluded that the objects were parts of a Japanese incendiary balloon used during World War II. The report notes that the object was a cast aluminum wheel-shaped device with 72 holes in the periphery, designed to hold explosive plugs. The document includes a secondary, unrelated account from the same rancher regarding a separate sighting on April 4, 1949, where he observed an object in the sky that produced a clicking sound. He described the object as a solid mass, roughly 4 to 5 feet in diameter, moving slowly in a northwesterly direction. He noted that his dog reacted to the object, suggesting the possibility of sounds on wave lengths discernible only to the animal. The OSI concluded that the physical evidence was definitely identified as a ballast ring from a Japanese balloon and that no further investigation was required. The report includes photographs of the recovered ring fragments and a map of the region.