Correspondence Regarding Unidentified Aerial Object Sighting in Hertford, North Carolina

This document is a memorandum from the Headquarters Third Army at Fort McPherson, Georgia, dated 10 April 1950, addressed to the Commanding General of the Air Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The memorandum serves as a transmittal for a newspaper clipping from the Raleigh, North Carolina, News and Observer, dated 6 April 1950. The clipping details a sighting of an unidentified aerial object in Hertford, North Carolina, and a similar sighting in Woodland, North Carolina. According to the report, the object was first observed by a group of people in front of a market on Rhue Street in Ahoskie. Witnesses described the object as an elongated, brilliantly red, soundless, and rectangular shape, resembling a short neon tube. It was observed moving from south to north at an angle of approximately 25 degrees above the western horizon. Witnesses included local figures such as Fred Wright, W. L. Hopkins of the Ahoskie Town Council, and former legislator J. N. Vann. One witness, identified as an Army veteran, explicitly stated that the object was not a balloon or conventional aircraft, noting that the setting sun reflected on a cloud, but the object itself remained distinct. A second sighting occurred simultaneously in Woodland, where witnesses described the object as much larger, white in color, and cigar-shaped, tapering at the trailing end. These witnesses also reported the object to be soundless and estimated its length at approximately 18 feet. The memorandum is signed by Colonel John Meade of the G-2 section.