Project 10073 Record: Incident 409 - Darien, Georgia, 21 July 1949

This document is a Project 10073 record concerning an Unconventional Aircraft sighting reported on July 21, 1949, near Darien, Georgia. The report details an observation made by a group of individuals traveling in a car along the Coastal Highway at approximately 1950 hours. The witnesses, including Martha Marsh, Gale Dean, and Charles Lewis, described seeing a strong white light with an afterglow that streaked across the southern sky from east to west. The object then changed to the color of flame and disappeared instantaneously, as if turned off by an electrical switch. The observers noted that the night was cloudy with no visible stars, and the object appeared to be the size and shape of an aircraft light but traveled at a speed significantly greater than any aircraft they had previously seen. A second group of witnesses from South Newport also reported seeing the light. The information was initially published in the Savannah Morning News on July 24, 1949. The official conclusion reached by the Air Materiel Command for this incident was that the object was a meteor. The document was forwarded from Headquarters Third Army at Fort McPherson to the Air Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.