Air Intelligence Evaluation Record: Radar Sighting of Unidentified Returns, 3 July 1954

This document collection details an incident occurring on 3 July 1954, involving a B-36 aircraft (serial 9179) of the 11th Bombardment Wing, which was en route from Nouasseur Air Base, French Morocco, to Carswell Air Force Base, Texas. While flying over the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 670 nautical miles west-southwest of Lajes Airfield in the Azores, the aircraft's radar observer, Captain Charles C. Spahn, detected unusual radar returns on his APS-23 radar set. Captain Spahn, an experienced radar-photo interpreter, observed a symmetrical group of seven circular objects arranged in a circle around a center object. These objects remained stationary for 14 minutes, and at times, an eighth object appeared in the trail. Captain Spahn tracked the objects for a total of 19 minutes. He ruled out interference, cloud returns, or sea returns, noting that the stability of the pattern and the nature of the returns suggested a metallic object between 20 and 200 feet in diameter. The incident was documented through radar scope photography, with six prints and one roll of radar film submitted to the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The intelligence evaluation, prepared by Major Robert F. Nelson, emphasizes the reliability of the observer and the unusual nature of the returns, which the reporting officer compared to a World War II convoy pattern but ultimately could not explain. The documentation includes various internal military communications, shipping tickets for the radar evidence, and endorsements from the 19th Air Division and Strategic Air Command, all confirming the transmission of the data for further evaluation. The incident was also cross-referenced with naval intelligence to determine if any surface vessels were in the vicinity, leading to a clarification that the USS Mindora and its escort were in the area, though the radar returns remained unexplained by the reporting officers.