U.S. Air Force Technical Information Sheet — Sighting Report 31 March 1953

On March 31, 1953, at approximately 1400 MST, a civilian pilot flying an aircraft over open country 16 miles west of Williams AFB, Arizona, observed an unidentified aerial phenomenon. The witness, a pilot employed by Stansbury Inc. with significant flight experience, reported seeing a silver, disc-shaped object approximately 23 feet in diameter. The object was observed for 10 seconds, traveling at a high rate of speed in a southerly direction at an altitude of 5,000 feet. The witness noted that the object had no wings, emitted no sound, and did not appear to flicker or change shape. The witness was accompanied by a passenger, Tom Remp, a drilling superintendent, who also observed the object. The pilot was performing a 500-foot-per-minute letdown toward Phoenix at the time of the sighting. Following the event, the witness reported the sighting to the Phoenix CAA Control Tower. In his questionnaire, the witness speculated that the object could have been a radar foil weather balloon, noting that it appeared very fast, though he also acknowledged hearing that a jet pilot had spotted an object in the same area at the same time. The official Air Force conclusion, documented by Captain Harry B. Smith for ATIC-5, suggested that the description was consistent with an airborne weather balloon, noting that a piball weather balloon was scheduled to be launched from Phoenix approximately 15 minutes prior to the sighting.