Air Intelligence Information Report: Sighting by Flight Observer R.P. Colgan, 12 January 1955

This Air Intelligence Information Report details a UFO sighting reported by R.P. Colgan, a flight electronics engineer with the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, on 12 January 1955. While flying as an observer on a B-47 aircraft at 20,000 feet, approximately 30 miles southeast of Atlanta, Georgia, Colgan observed an oval-shaped object with a chrome lustre that appeared to change to a pink hue. He estimated the object to be 50 feet in diameter and traveling at 350 knots. The object was observed for approximately two minutes before it accelerated and disappeared from sight. Colgan reported the sighting to the 35th Air Division at Dobbins Air Force Base. The subsequent investigation involved checking with local weather stations, the Ground Observer Corps, and the Atlanta Control Tower to rule out balloons, aircraft, or other conventional explanations. No radar contact was reported by the electronics engineer at the Atlanta Municipal Airport. The investigating officer, M/Sgt Carl G. Schuller, and the approving officer, First Lieutenant Richard C. Vaughn, concluded that the sighting was likely an optical illusion caused by reflections within the cockpit. This conclusion was supported by the fact that no other crew members on the B-47 observed the object and that the observer's size estimates were mathematically inconsistent. The report includes a statement from the observer and a memory sketch of the flight pattern.