Incident #401 Sighting Report — Fairfield-Suisun AFB, California, 16 July 1949

This document details Incident #401, a sighting of an unidentified aerial object reported by military personnel at Fairfield-Suisun Air Force Base, California, on 16 July 1949. The observation began at approximately 0500 hours and lasted for 1.5 hours. Witnesses, including Captain Robert F. McCabe, T/Sgt A. A. Vita, Pfc Troy Chapman, and S/Sgt Eugene Zimmerman, observed a stationary, round, sphere-like object at an estimated altitude of 35,000 to 40,000 feet. The object was described as having an aluminum-like appearance, reflecting sunlight, and occasionally glowing like a fluorescent lamp. It remained motionless until it was obscured by a layer of haze over the Vallejo area at 0520 hours. The report includes individual eyewitness accounts, a control tower log extract from 13 July 1949 regarding a similar sighting, and a formal evaluation by Project Grudge. The official conclusion provided by Project Grudge suggests the object was likely the planet Jupiter, noting its position relative to the sun. However, the report explicitly acknowledges a contradiction: if the object were indeed Jupiter, it should have exhibited a measurable deviation of 22.5 degrees during the 1.5-hour observation window, which the witnesses did not report. The document serves as a record of the military's attempt to categorize the sighting under SAC Regulation 200-5.