Project 1C073 Record — Bradford, Illinois, 18 March 1950

This document is an Air Intelligence Information Report (IR-88-50) issued by the Intelligence Division of Headquarters MATS on 11 April 1950. It details a sighting of an unidentified flying object that occurred on 18 March 1950 at 0805C over Bradford, Illinois. The report is part of a larger compilation of seven alleged sightings forwarded by various MATS Flight Service Center units during March 1950. The primary witness was the civilian pilot of aircraft N505B. While the pilot's identity remained unknown to the reporting agency, the aircraft was reportedly owned by an individual associated with the Hubinger Company in Keokuk, Iowa. The pilot reported the sighting via the Burlington (Iowa) radio, and the information was subsequently relayed to the Wright-Patterson Flight Service Center through the Chicago Air Route Traffic Control Center at 0833C on the same day. The pilot described the object as saucer-shaped, traveling southeast at an estimated speed of 200 miles per hour and an altitude of 8,000 feet. No photographs or sketches were provided, and no information regarding the object's size, color, maneuverability, sound, or exhaust trails was available. The Wright-Patterson Flight Service Center noted that weather conditions at the time of the sighting were clear, with 12 miles of visibility and broken clouds at 25,000 feet and scattered clouds at 12,000 feet. The official conclusion reached by the intelligence evaluators was that the object was a 'Possible A/C' (aircraft), noting that there was no data to suggest an aircraft could not have been the cause, and that the observed speed and flight path were consistent with such an evaluation.