PROJECT tn073 RECO~D ' \.OCATION Southern Oregon 4. NUMDER OF OBJECTS S. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION Not Reported 6. TYPE OF OBSERVATION Ai !'-Visual 9. PHYSICAL EVIDENCE 10. CONCLUSION UNIDENTIFl El> 11. BRIEF SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS There was no brc~ in the outlina. Objects had a solid con- figuration. Elongated oval, p3rhaps twice as long as Hide. Observer stated object could possibly have been egg-shaped an could conceivably have been perfect~ oval. Thc,y appeared definitely solid objects. 5 to 8 in file formation a t _interval of 3 to 4 times length of object for first object, balance at 1/2 to 2/3 length of object. Color of objects appeared as Wl,Inintcd metal. Obj acts had no change in alti t u e level steady !light passing out of visual range into distanc File No. 24-30 ~ent aloft in that area.. 1. ~1ere e.re no'Ordn.':)_nce, :~ave..l, .Army, or Air ~'orce Units in Lakevi~T, Ore., or al'._y other org n.r.iza.tio11s ,._micl1 could !:avt? sent ,._,e;.:: e r testi.~ devices aloft. Fortland., Oregon, '"'as i ntervie\ren a.nLi. ~cl.vis ed t::.a t s.chec.ules f o r conDer- cial, nil i t ary, [:J.n d local :fl i:~h ts i n. the Lf'..kevi ev arec::. for ? "( r:a~r 1 ?L'? woul~:. lw.v e bo be obtL:'.ined from t h e Chief Controller, Seatt l e .Air .~.-ioute Traffic Control Center, Seattle..Tacoii'la Airport, Seattle, U~.~::~ington Conte .. ct Chief Gon troller, Seattle Air Route Traffic Cont r ol Center, Seattle-Tacoma Airuort, Seattle, ,,.;ast.ir~:ton, and o'ot a i n fli.:h t schedules of col"Xlercial, milit.::.ry, and local aircrn.:ft in the vicinity of Hart Hountain, near LeJcevie,.i, Oregon, at ap. roxima tely 11~30 hours (PST), 27 Uay 1949. This information is pertinent to t e invest i gation of this case as required i n AFCSI Let~er :;o. 85, df:..ted 12 August 1949. UNCLA551F\ED HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES AIR~CE THE INSPECTOR GENERAL OffiCE OF SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS REPORT OF INVESTIGATION llJm>AAi E. MOON OFFICE OF ORIGIN r.o ,; 2o, lloGhord AFB, .;a.shin:.:,~o~:~ S ffiCI 'L 11; ;_: tiiia. REFERENCl. lions, this i!! e.11 initial report. t:lgation requested ~J District Commander, DO 1/:19, J'drfiold- Suisun ~r Forco Bsse CaJ:ffomia. This off'ice received f'r(>m OHI, 12th llaval Jiistriot, San Franc.i.eco, Calif of inves~.i- gation which set forth inomation that 8. re~tuhle l:usinesa man and pilot of LoD .l~.ncalas, Gal itornia, had ~if.ht3d ni..~ (6) or seven (7) uniC.entifil flying objects,' which ~iere not con- ventional airoro.t, in routhern Orogon on 27 lluy 1949. i~o investi- gation ia being 001Xluotod btJ this tistrict Office at this tir.la IeJ e.tive to this matter inaDmuah as all pertinent leeds are in District Q-ltioes #18 aiX1 #20. DlmiBUTION ca, ac (Action) -~o IS (info) ACTION COPY FORWARDED TO FILE STAMP 2 Commam:t ng General 2 Air .llaterl e1. Coutl!laml 2 Wright--Patterson 1 r Force 2 DqLon, Cldo JOHNG.SW PB Col oncl., tJSU lJNCLASS\ , DBrtiiBa l<J> c:BI 24-lS 1. This 1ntostigation was requested by District Conuaamer, District Otftoe /119, Fairi'ial.d-Suieun Air Force Base, upon receipt of a report of 1nvastigatio!". conducted ~J Naval Intelligence at San tiego, Californie, da.ted 2.3 June 1949, File a DlO-llliD 38-49 which is ~nmmarized as fol 1 ovTs: a. On hidq, 27 Liay 1949, ot 4575 Uorthrldge trivo, Los Angelos, C a11 fornia, was flying privately owned SNJ -tY!'e aircrai't Red Bluff, Cali forma, to Burns, Oregon. He departed Red Eluff e.t 13.32 hau.rs P. .T. and arrived at Burns at 1458 hours P.s.T. At 1425 hours, same da.te, observed the snn refleoting on an obj eat, or obj eat a, at a considerable distance ahead aDd a fe'lf points to the starboaro. He oon- tinuecl to watch the ca~e taken by the reflecting material, expeotin~ it to me.terieJ1:e into a conventional aircraft as the distance lecsened between b1m and the objeot or ob eats. A3 the objects reached the long hluffs (shown on the Boise (V-2 Aeronauti Chart as Hart Mountain) which run for a number of miles along the east side of some dry lakes (Swamp, l'lagsta:t'f, Ce.inpbell and Stone Corral Lakes), he observed that instead of a single object there were several Tthich seemei to be flying in forma- tion.. At this point the objeots' appeared to have changed their course eo the.t they were pe.ral 1 e1 i ng his course and were following 'the blui's ' rim at about 1000 to 1500 feet below altitude at a distance vthich he estimates to have been 5-1/2 to 2 m1Je3. is certain that it could not have been as fez as ten ) mlles since the bluf'.fs were less than tan (10) m1 J es sq and he could e ee the o bj eats outlined against the bluffs. b. !he obj eots eaw are described br him as tollowaa "f.Pe s>t e.q_,~l ob,1 Considerably-smeller than a fighter plane, Pllf>!>ably less than 20 in length. All or the separate objects appea%'00 to be t~1e sar.1e in ei~e. Sha De of o]:>,iec:t;p: There wae no break in the outline. caz-trd.:1 he would have recop,nized convontional aircraft. They had a solid configura- tion, end no great tbia1:ne3s. They were elongated oval ps tTlica as as wide, end perhaps f1ve tines ns long as thick. l'Oints out he obsorved the obj eots trvm 8!l angle tram a bore end eouJ d not easily estimate thtd.r thie!mess; they-could possibl.7 bean egg-shaped, and could oon- ceinbl.7 have been perfeot:t;r oval. The objects soaned definitely eoJ~d objects -there wes nothin~ ethereal ebotlt them. ~-.2W?Sl.e~!l confident they were traveling at least as fast as own plane (21 2 JliR). a tai J wiDd of 15 to 18 11m em the obje.te woul4 therefore have been d over 230 air speed. The objeots were traveling south/aouthweat, oppoai te to s course. Calcu- lating the epeed o the obj eota, several dif'terent ways from the facts at hand, the apeed of the objeata yar.f.ea between 190 to 260 MPrl. oon tfi'"ed at thet:Jme ot obs~at1on that he not poaeiblJ t\l!'ned llN~LASS\f\ED a ( Ccmt ld) 19D CSI 2415 1\JNCLt\SSIFlEu around and onught up with the objects. They-were definitely traveling taster than a group of birds, end slower than jot :U.anes. No trail of r.noke or bi1a.ust was observed. '.i'he speed of the objects a to be steady. T._e~;:pjn,_ ~ye. o_ns,_ P2J:!lJ,a:tion, .etc, ;i.n a;rcaa flew at 9000' EL which nu:1 botilean 4V .. KJ r and ;uJO I above terra1 n. urine mo~t of "ihe time ot observation, the objects were 1000' possibly 1500' below SHEI.t.ts plane. 'l'o7tnrds tha end of sighting had begun to COl!la down he was elmost on e level with th~ in altitude.N -r'he val ley through whi flew north, Bl1 tho obj acts i'la"'t south, is roughly 12 miles wide. The floor ot the valley is betrleen 40001 to 50001 in elevation. The ee.st side ot the tall tq ia doan1 nated by aart Mountain (8020' in elevation). Hart Mounta:Sn stands on an elongated bluff', VThiah has an almost drop ot al'O'~ 1000'. The bluff, end all the terrain, against which aaw the objeets ill quite dark in color. The objeots stood aut in contrast to the dark calor. The obJ eots appearod to be un- 'The rim of the bluff on the east side of the valley is about 70001 in elevation. From where aw the objects (at 90001 elevation) the-.r w~re roucllly in Jine with the rim of the bluff (7000' ). asum1ncr the objects were one (1) to three (3) miles awa:ys from the blui'f'-rim, they were ptcobabl.y nJing at about 80001 IISL, end about 35001 above the valley floor. -rhe valley sighted the obj eota is sparsely poyW.ated; hoW- eYer, thP.re are a nU!nber of re.nches there -more than are irc3icated on the Boise (V .. 2) Aeronautical Chart. believes that if persons living in the vaJJ.oy-ware questioned, chances are several might be oWld who saw the obj eats from the r:rou.nd. has flown through this va1 1 ey many times in going between Cal 1 fornia and Oregon and does not recall ever having sean another e:1 rpJ ane in the valley where he sighted the objects. The valley :le a commercial Bizwa.v route, and is seldomused by private planes. deo:; not recall ever seeing any fltltomobJJ es on the dirt ro~s in the talJ ey, sho~ as st!ah on the Boise (V-2) oeotion of AeronEI!ltioal Chart. ~tq.;l}12or AWfi. to_f'r.!e:tion ot objeats.t At the beginni".g of observa when th~ obj e.ts were a i:ew degrees to the atarboam of deed ehe&d, eaul4 not distinguish serarate obj eata -el 1 he saw were ret~ectionsJ how- ever, as he came closer and passed them by 5-1/2 to 7-1/2 miles he definitely six (6) or seven (7) separate objects. To be an the safe side etates with positi a that there were no less than five (5) objects and 110 more than eight (8). llfh objeate weft alw8111 1n tlle tox,.atiOil (one beh~n! the other) and there appealed to be no change in altitude ot the formation. The space htween the lead objeot and the next one was three or .f'our times the length ot cme of the objects. The distance between the second end the fol 1 owing objects was between an and tw6-th:Uds the length ot the objeots. ccorclingl,-, if' the objeots were 20' in length, the distance between f/1 ron #2 was 60 to 80 teet, nnd the distance between #2 and the others wae between 10 end 17 feet. The dis~ance betw (5t~fP'reDappeared 'Ye%7 constant. !he objects were co close and appearod to koep their romation epacing in a mnnner which indicated they m:lght ho.ve been under tow by the l eading obj oct. At the distance of s , no connection, if there wos nny, could po3s11uy have been ob3ervfld. is pooitivo thc.t the objects '\':oro soparatg object s because he u a s able o see terre1n ootween them. 1'he fomation did nnt tluctuate in flig,.t; the obj eats fle-w ver.; evenly and ateadily. ' .. hen la~tsa"N the objects t hey wera going out of visual ran~o on the horizon. . o ~ 3 VifiibiJ.ity u an excep- tionally e ood. co~tld eeo Horney Luke, 60 miles distant, and could see 8'.:1oke rising fro~..- th~ sau mil J s c:t. F.urnc, Oregon, 75 miles dietant. ~rhare were a row soottered cloud~ at btJt71Gen 14,000' and lS,ooor. 'I'he weathe1, report nt the time indicated acattered clouds at lB,ooo. The air was V817 SJZlt;)oth. No r in the aroa is light to mildly turbJl ent. The sun was west of that is, plane was between t..'le sun end the objects. (Refer to Boiee (V-2) Sectional Aeronautioul tJ'lart oaation when obj eats were first !ightai w::.ts This point was not definitely establ :t shod rut was cootpr.1ted tram the known grotun speed and the estiruatoo time interval rluri.'l~ vhich SHEIJ. observed t~e obj eots . This positio.!l possibly bo a s 1m.1oh a s 1'1ve (5) m11 es SS"~i ot the position dven. cation 't'rhen obj eota left h'e visual ~qa was 42~41'H, ll949'1' ew in a straight 1 i ne between these coordinata3. Location of objects when t:l.rst observeda 42JStN, 11943'il Location of objecta whon last seena 4228'll, ll948'ii The me.de a slieht chan~e ot course f'rom quartering to peralla11ng trnigbt line of flight. c. a a Lt JG 1n AS(L) usrm (inactive), ~erial No. 3/J3J75. Be was oosnm1 ssioned mf'ign 5 J enuary 1944, served at s Christi t.&11 rty (30 )do:rs ~V (T), i.11 D ru J a::J tvro (2) months VRI-2 (D ) errled SriJ t s from North American com..,on:r plnnts, ~as at :,iJJow Grove, Pennsylverj a, thirty (3~) days, served at check out base for ferry Squadron Vht(2) a t Columbu~, eril served at Columb't!s tu1tU J,ugust 1945. He was then \71th VRF(J) at Terminal Islend, Cal:tforuia, uhero he became legal and. personnel officer. lla was disohareed !'rom the lJo.vy in Januaey 1946 as Lt JG. s NaveJ. Aviator's Certit.l.oate No. 0..1794,, plus a senior pilot's grade in the Ferry ~d.ng of the NaT.f .Air Transport ColiQand. He also holds a commercial license, sine,le am nDJ]ti-engine, end f'light instmotor's ratings. His f'light time began 1n 1934 and now totals over 000 hours, of which time ]300 hours were in United States lia~. secured a private license in 1935, a trensport 11 e in 1937, a canmercial pilot's license in 1938, and was re-issued ra1.al. pilot' license in 1945. Mat-ch 1942 to September 1943 he Wa8 a flight instructor for the A1 r Force (1 Te aontha a a prim8.1'7 :Jntmctor at oater, California Septber 1943 to J'anua17 191.4 4 UNCLASS\F\ED DRATIBa (Cantld) 19D CSI 24-15 tJ f\] CLt\: ~Ti-l ED he tor the Slperlor OU Can~ of Cal1forxda. Since 1940 bas been Vice PrE)sident of the Roy-al Petroleum CO!Dpany of Cal:2 forn:i2 , Lang Beach, a concmwn in wldch he end his relations own al J of the stock; he also ia part owner of (3) other oil producing concerns in Southem Cal :2 fornia. married ti%ld hao three (3) chi ]dren. He has a BS and aDA da~:3 tram the University of Southam CaJ:2f'ornia, he had tTTo (2) y-ears ot law at tho University of' ~outhern Cslifornia. thirt7 (30) :reezs ot age, but appears to have a backf.round o experience tew men his ega poseesa. He is believed to be conservetivo, einoere, absolutely reliable, and very co:npetent." ION TO THE! otFICE or OBIC'IN - UNC!...t\SSIFIED lllTRI( OfFJ~ g}. Mf.l;.VP~ a CALIFORJ~IA. GEIJS , . CAJJFO&,IA P-ill interv!Er.v rive, Los Jl.ngels California, and obtain .from him all of essential elements or in- toDation in regarJs to hie sighting the unidentified aerial objects 1n Southern Oregon on 27 14q 1949. . W1Jl interview residents 1n the v1afn1ty or attpt to Terity the aerial bje.ts obseryed by UNCLASSIFIED """'-ltlauntain in an ~Jl\ICLA_5S~F\:D 5D 24-21 2nd ind 5D-OSI/JE:L~/rmn SUBJa "PROJECT SIGN'' UUCONVENTIONAL AIRCRAFT SIGH'JED IN Southern Oregon on 27 May '1949, SPECIAL INQUIRY . 51h District OSI (IG), Vlri~t-Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio. 2 August 1949 Ca~wending General, Air Materiel Couuuand, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio, A~Ua :t.~CIAXS 1. Reference is made to previous correspondence. 2. Inclosed tor your information and file is one copy of the Report ot Irneatigation described in paragraph 1, basic oa,ununieation. R/L dtd g Jul 1$) Acting District Caunander UNCLA55\F\ED coNTROL NO eua.1c:Gnd Ind DECIMAL I'ILK No. _ _.,. I'OLLOW U .. ON B-296 Proje~t.SIGN ROUTED TO SUSPENSE DATil OP' ftUL.Y OTHER Dl::i .. OSITION: No. INCLS. ) ESTABLISH=O BY t 1HITI4LS DATE TAANBMITTAL .EE OTHER SlOE I"OR REMARKS HEAD~UARTER3 UNiTE T ES AIR FORCE FILE NO. OA;"E OFFICE OF SPECIAL INVESTIGATION RE OF IN ES AT ON "PROJ:XT ::>IG!~" UNCOT,iV3IJTIONAL AlrtC;LAl''T Si~hted in s t hern Or 8eon REP:lRT MADE BY REPORT MADE AT D0 '20 t:cChord AiE OFFICE OF ORIGIN REFERENCE npt of 5 ~ l:.C.!,'de!~ ~!., It was l enrned that reco:ds o f the Seat tlP .-1.ir ,~.{cute-Traffic Control Center, ~eattle-Tacoma /\irport, Bo~J L:.ke, .. ash~n~tor!, are retaineri for only ninety days; wilereu;>on, if nothin5 unusual has occ'-!rred, the records :ire aestroyed. HovenLber 1 L~E~S~T~A~W ~G, ;u.c, ;~-PAFE 2 Conunsnding G~neral AT'rN: CI..U0-.3 Air l~ateriel Con:m~r.rl (Action Copies) ~iright-Patterson AFB AFCSI FORW .. Dayton, Ohio ATT~NTION: lJlCIAX0-.3 Act D 1 srR 1 cT cowwuDER UNCLASSlFlED DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES AIR FORCE WASHINGTON THE INSPECTOR GENERAL USAr 5TH DISTRIC T O F riCE OF S P ECIA L I NV!>TIGA r t ONS WRIGHT-PArrE RSON A I R rORCt: 8A-,t;. OAVTI)N 0"10 llilo.. ' IN RE~LY REFER TO. 5D 24-21 WPO-S OCJ .. ISM SUBJ'SC: ' : .SP~IAL IllC~1!IHY .L C ontuanding General Air 1:o.teriel CorruTU.nd Vtrieht-i:o~a.tterson A:l. r Force Eo.. so Dayton, Ohio J.:r'l N 1 1-.:C IAXS 1. This DistricJ~ Office i s in reoe ipt; of 2 cop i e s of t.'l re;_x>r t of