Sighting Report — Weimar, California, 18 August 1949

On August 18, 1949, at approximately 0500 hours, a male civilian witness in Weimar, California, observed a formation of approximately 12 objects while walking to his place of employment near US Highway 40. The witness described the objects as black, disc-shaped, and measuring between 50 and 100 feet in diameter. The formation was traveling at an estimated speed of 500 to 600 MPH at an altitude of 5,000 to 6,000 feet. The witness noted that the objects moved in a 'hazy mist' and produced no audible sound. A particularly unusual behavior was reported when the formation changed altitude; the objects on the opposite sides of the half-circle formation were observed 'bobbing up and down' for three to four seconds before a 'guiding force' appeared to pull them back into line as they disappeared into the distance. The witness reported the incident to the Placer County Sheriff at 0800 hours that same morning. He subsequently wrote to the Technical Intelligence Division at Wright-Patterson Field on August 22, 1949, providing a detailed account and a sketch of the formation. The Air Materiel Command acknowledged receipt of the letter on August 29, 1949, via a response from Lt. Colonel A. J. Hemstreet, Jr., who confirmed that the sighting had been made a matter of record and was being incorporated into the ongoing study of unidentified aerial phenomena.