Chilean Navy Reports 7-Inch Flying Saucer / Project 10073 Record

This document, dated 30 March 1950, is a field report from the Air Attache in Chile regarding a series of 'flying disc' sightings reported across the country. The report details three specific instances: a sighting in Punta Arenas on 11 March, sightings in the Santiago, San Bernardo, and Valparaiso areas on 24 and 25 March, and a third sighting over Santiago on 28 March. The initial reports described the objects as silver-colored, spheroid, and shaped like a ping-pong ball, appearing at extreme altitudes. Professor Frederico Rutland, Director of the Observatorio Astronomico at the University of Chile, publicly stated that the phenomena reported by the populace were actually the planet Venus, which was highly visible at that latitude during that time of year. This conclusion was supported by an observer from the Air Attache office, M/Sgt. Patterson, who, after witnessing a stationary silver object on 29 March, concluded it was the planet Venus rather than a flying disc. The report notes that the local press in Chile had been actively headlining 'flying disc' dispatches from various countries, contributing to the public interest in the sightings. The document includes a reference to an attached statement and diagram provided by M/Sgt. Patterson.