Declassified UFO / UAP Document
Report of Incident — McClellan AFB, California, 13 March 1951
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AI-Generated Summary
A 1st Lieutenant and his passenger reported a large, cylindrical, white object hovering near McClellan AFB on 13 March 1951. Despite the suggestion that it may have been a balloon, the case was officially classified as 'UNIDENTIFIED' due to a lack of supporting launch data.
On 13 March 1951, at approximately 1520 hours PST, a 1st Lieutenant from the 1st Communications Squadron at Griffis Air Force Base, New York, while on duty at the Sacramento Air Materiel Area, reported observing an unidentified aerial object. The witness was driving in a westerly direction on the main road adjacent to McClellan Air Force Base in California, accompanied by his wife. The witness observed a large, cylindrical object, estimated to be 200 feet in diameter and 90 feet deep, hovering at an altitude of approximately 2,000 feet. The object was described as white in color with two tails attached. The witness stopped his vehicle to observe the object more closely. After a period of hovering, the object turned in a northerly direction and moved away at what the witness described as 'incredible speed,' without sound or trails, before disappearing from view in less than a minute. The total duration of the sighting was approximately two minutes. The witness noted that there were no other aircraft in the vicinity and that there were no solar reflections from the object. The weather conditions at the time were reported as clear and cloudless with unlimited visibility. Subsequent investigation by the Intelligence Section of the Sacramento Air Materiel Area confirmed that no other persons reported the object, no articles appeared in local newspapers, and no meteorological phenomena were reported for that day. While the official conclusion suggests the possibility that the object was a balloon, the lack of specific launch data from the nearby Air Base led the investigators to classify the case as 'UNIDENTIFIED.' A handwritten note on the document suggests the investigator's personal opinion that it 'sounds like meteorological balloon again.'
The overall time he witnessed the operation was a duration of approximately two (2) minutes. No other aircraft were in the vicinity of the reported object.
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Official Assessment
Possibility exists that object was a balloon, however the report did not contain launch data from the Air Base adjacent to sighting. All other data indicates that this was a balloon observation. However since the duration was short and launch data not included the case is carried as UNIDENTIFIED.
The object was observed by a 1st Lieutenant and his passenger while driving. It was described as a large, cylindrical, white object with two tails. It hovered before moving at high speed. No other reports were received, and no meteorological phenomena were reported.
Witnesses
- [illegible]1st Lieutenant1st Communications Squadron, Griffis Air Force Base, Rome, New York
- [illegible]