Project 10073 Record Card and Related Intelligence Reports — 7 April 1952

This document collection contains reports and intelligence summaries regarding an Unidentified Flying Object sighting that occurred on the morning of 7 April 1952. The primary incident involved a CID agent from the Naval Air Station in Millington, Tennessee, and his daughter, who were driving northwest on Highway 72 near Walnut, Mississippi, at daybreak. They observed a very bright, greenish-colored object that appeared to have the brilliance of a large arc light. The object was described as solid, smaller than the full moon, and moving at a speed that made it impossible to estimate. The witnesses initially believed the object was a meteor about to crash, causing the driver to stop the car and cut the engine. The object disappeared behind pine trees without making a sound and without leaving a trail or exhaust. A second, related report from Memphis, Tennessee, describes a similar sighting by a woman at the Parkview Hotel. She observed a dazzling blue-white object with a reddish glow near the top, shaped like a 'cotton basket,' which was much larger than an aircraft at the same distance. The Memphis report notes that the object was traveling at a speed many times that of a commercial aircraft. Intelligence officers from the 516th Troop Carrier Wing at Memphis Municipal Airport interviewed both sets of witnesses. The investigators concluded that the witnesses were reliable and their accounts were consistent. The reports were correlated with a news release from the International News Service regarding a 'fireball' sighted in Macom, Missouri, on the same morning. The official conclusion reached by the Air Force intelligence personnel was that the object was likely a large meteor or fireball. The documents include official Air Force staff messages and Air Intelligence Information Reports (IR-166-52 and 2-52) documenting the investigation and the subsequent assessment that the sightings were likely astronomical in nature.