AIR INTELLIGENCE INFORMATION REPORT: Unidentified Flares in Newfoundland Area

This Air Intelligence Information Report, dated December 19, 1951, details an investigation into an unidentified aerial phenomenon reported on November 3, 1951. At 0006Z, the crew of an R-5D aircraft (#542) flying at 8,000 feet observed a brilliant white flare ascending through an undercast. The location was approximately 60 miles east of St. Pierre, Pierre Island. The crew described the object as a rocket-type flare with a tail, moving from east to west with a downward path, lasting approximately two seconds. Subsequent inquiries with Cander Airport, Halifax, and the US Coast Guard at Argentia confirmed no other aircraft or surface vessels were operating in the area at the time. A search mission conducted by an SA-10 aircraft (#4058) at 5,000 feet found no evidence of the object, though the crew did observe four surface vessels and a powerful rotating white beacon at St. Pierre. The pilot of the SA-10 suggested that the St. Pierre beacon might have been mistaken for a flare when viewed over the edge of the undercast. During the investigation, the SA-10 was diverted to check a second report from a Pan American flight (No. 120) that claimed to have seen a descending green flare near Wesleyville, Newfoundland. The pilot of the SA-10 expressed doubt that the Pan American crew could have accurately identified a flare from 15,000 feet, noting that the area was unlighted and prone to visual illusions. The final assessment by Captain Harold S. Julin concluded that the extreme visibility conditions and the darkness of the unlighted surface areas likely contributed to visual illusions. The official report notes that while the St. Pierre beacon theory was plausible, there was insufficient data to definitively explain the original sighting, with a meteor being suggested as a secondary possibility.