Reporting of Information on Flying Discs - 25 April 1950

This document collection details a series of reports regarding an unidentified aerial object observed on the night of 24 April 1950 over South Carolina. The primary report, issued by the Weather Detachment 25-9L at Shaw Air Force Base, describes a sighting over the suburbs of Sumter at approximately 7:50 P.M. The witness, a weather observer, described the object as a large, firing-red, cylinder-shaped entity, approximately 50 feet in length and 5 feet in diameter. It was observed moving from west to east in a straight line at an altitude between 1,000 and 1,500 feet, traveling at an estimated speed of 140 miles per hour. The object emitted a long stream of sparks but produced no audible sound. The observer remarked on their astonishment, noting that the object did not resemble any known aircraft. Accompanying the military report is a newspaper clipping from The Columbia Record, dated 25 April 1950, which corroborates that observers in Charleston, Columbia, and Greenville also reported seeing a large, bright object shooting across the heavens. Civilian witnesses in Charleston described the object as having a tail of sparks, with one witness comparing its size to a 10-quart bucket and another estimating its diameter at 19 inches. The military correspondence, dated 28 April 1950, from Headquarters Third Army to the Air Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, formally transmits these reports for further evaluation under Control No. A-1917.