Project 10073 Record Card and Related Correspondence — Port Lyautey, French Morocco, August 1952

This document collection centers on a series of reports and correspondence regarding Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) sightings in August 1952, specifically involving personnel from Air Transport Squadron Twenty Four (VR-24) at Port Lyautey, French Morocco. On the nights of 6 and 7 August 1952, experienced naval pilots observed a brilliant white, globular object moving at high speeds, exhibiting intense incandescence, and performing maneuvers described as 'terrific.' The witnesses, including LTs C.B. Green, D.M. Dobos, and M.R. Foster, reported that the object left a smoke-like trail and displayed blinking red lights. The reports were forwarded to the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) for evaluation. The official conclusion reached by the military was that the sightings were of known aircraft, and maneuvers observed were not indicative of astronomical phenomena.

Additionally, the document includes correspondence between Commander Alvin Edward Moore, USNR, and Captain E.J. Ruppelt of the Air Technical Intelligence Center. Commander Moore had submitted a 'stone-like object' that he believed had fallen from the air near Washington, D.C., for analysis. The ATIC laboratory, through Howard C. Cross, examined the specimen and concluded that it was not of meteoric origin but rather 'very basic slag from an open-hearth furnace.' The correspondence details the frustration of Commander Moore regarding the lack of acknowledgment of his submission and the eventual return of the material. The collection also contains a separate, unrelated incident report from 8 August 1952 involving a sighting by the 347th Student Squadron at Francis E. Warren AFB, Wyoming, where a globular object with intense white incandescence was observed hovering and then accelerating rapidly. This report also concluded that no electronic equipment was used and that the object was not an airplane, helicopter, or balloon, though the final evaluation in the provided forms suggests 'Possibly Aircraft.' The documents collectively illustrate the military's process for handling both visual reports of UAP and physical samples submitted by the public or military personnel during the early 1950s.