Project 10073 Record Cards and Related Correspondence — Wichita, Kansas, April 1952

This document contains a series of reports and correspondence regarding an unidentified aerial phenomenon observed in Wichita, Kansas, on the night of April 15, 1952. The primary witness, a 45-year-old aeronautical engineer and president of the Swallow Airplane Company, reported observing a yellow, curved band of light at approximately 2245 hours. The object appeared to travel at a speed of 200 to 300 mph at an altitude of roughly 500 feet, moving in a south-southeast direction. The witness described the light as having the appearance of an ordinary incandescent source that did not twinkle, and noted that it appeared and disappeared with the suddenness of an electric switch. The witness, who requested anonymity to avoid publicity, provided a detailed account of the sighting, which was corroborated by a second witness, Mrs. Bloomfield. The report was forwarded by the 3520th Flying Training Wing to the Air Technical Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The investigating officer, Major John J. Ford, noted that while the witness was highly qualified and the report well-documented, the information was too fragmentary to draw a definitive conclusion, though it might contribute to a larger pattern of sightings. The file also includes a separate, unrelated letter from a Vaughn Chevrolet executive regarding a different sighting on the same date in Ottumwa, Iowa, where the witness reported seven orange lights in a V-formation. The Wichita report emphasizes the lack of exhaust, noise, or physical evidence, and notes that weather conditions were clear with no moon, ruling out common meteorological phenomena.