PROJECT 1C073 R.=c:~o iO. CO~CL~SION 111. &~II:F SU.V.:.\ARY ANO ANALYSIS o.-c.x."l::.t:.st. \re:-e obzcrved. 'i'h(} possibility th:.-;. a b :.l2.oo:-. f~o.-.~ the US w~ther bu:-eQ~ in Dcnvor w~s in the ;.:-ea ~t th:.t ti~o : l.J vory good. J'rel- ecliUona of th! fona _, be ued. UNITED STATES AIR FORCE THIE INSPECTOR GE N ERAL O .... ICIE 0 .. SPECIAL INVESTIGATIO N S REPORT OF INVESTIGATION ttLPORT MADE IV JOilt: :r 16 Aue;ust REI'OIH MADE AT Lanr y .\ FB INVE!JTIJ ATIOU OF UiiiJz r; I:.'Ir:l> .. Ui!R.IAL O~JZCT Iii VI CI!:ITY OF II OfFICE O F ORIGI N DISTRIBUTION &PSC !1~ Ii.iQ\. I RY Teleohono oc.ll, F I O Office, liq , 1 5t h Air i orce, 8 Aug us t 1019 InveRti sation initiated u pon r ece) t of informction : r or.l ;:r. Fran~: R. ,:addell, ~IO 3ect i on, Hq lSAF', thnt he h!\d been telepho1~ico.lly c.dvis ed b y a :X. , :load, ~:o.ni t ou J prih --:s , Color c.do, of t he observation of an uni dentified !l.er ial ob j e"ct-0.9~ro~:i:.a.tel:r 20'J feet ov or id::;o bet->Jeon C~noron' s Cone end :_t .'.rthu r ( a.pFrn~::...-;a.toly 1 "- l E niles wact aout hr1est of ~oloro.co 3pr i n : s , Col or ndo) . :Io Gi_::;hted t~o ob~oct c.t 0758 on e AU!;USt 1049. i.io ;a,s able to ob :CtMO t ha o":.>joct f or a:'~ro:r:i"":ately threo r.inutoa. ;:o ~ost si..;ht of i t n;hen he turnod to co.ll hi~ '\''ife. T:le ob ject --- iS d e s c ribed a.J beinG b~lloon sha~ed and Gil 1er in cclor. It appeared t o be ne a.nd one half feet in dia..."'1eter. ::r. ul:J un='-ble to ce temine t~e mo.terio.l frcm \1~lich t h e object ''!RS r...:lde. ?hor e Tiero n o n cn ouvor a-- the object see:nin~ to ;:;to.y i n o:1.e S?ot. :::,tensi! e i n\est: GO.tion in 1:he immedi~te area of sightin~ and the sarrcuncinG o.roa f a i lee t o r ev eal the bject or nnyono else who had seen i t . ~. G30RG3 ~. .L:Y, Jr., of :'r oject GRrJGE( f omor l y SIGH) at :_t ~vans, n enr !da h o ...;prin:;s, Color a do , tele!_)honically o.civisod e.t 081 5 l:ourc, e ..'1U-u:t 1 94 9 ~l,j. Di.R u~uO.lO 'i'lrig~1t-~atterson ACTION COfiY FORWARDED TO flU STAI\41' CG, 15th AF CG, X~C, ~right-ratterson ALR FORCE BASE DA.YT01~, OHIO Director of Intel licence, Al'l'.-ovm .. ~jor' u ; !\F UNCLASSIFlEO AfMQfOIM 0-208 ltev:ace~ A FC$ 1 orm 23 Jul e . wbleh ma1 bel UMJ. UNCLASSIF1ED 1. this investigation was initiated upon the receipt of infonna- tion from :.u-. Frank R. Vfaddell, PI O Office, Bnt Air Force Base, Colorado Springs, Colorado, \~oat approximately 0845 hours, 8 Au~ust 1949 , in- formed the writer that he had received a telephone call from a lt:r. Road, J.:a.ni tou Springs, Col orado, that he had ob- served an wrl.denti. fi ed aerial object in the vicinity of Cameron's Cone at approximately 0758 hours 8 Aue;ust 19 49 , at Colorado Spring s , Colorado AT i.~NITOU SPRil~S, COLOR-\DO ro~:J.mately 0915 hours 8 Au~st 1949, r.:r. , , ;,:anitou Springs, Colorado , vtas contacted reference his sigh tine an unidentified aerial o bject. ~.:r. info nned tJ1e '\Vri.ter tho.t he sighted tho object at 0758 hours (;.sT) (0258Z). :le ex- plained that he had been vripine; off t~e clothesline prior to han,E;int o..1t clothes, and because they "rere over his hes.d, it vras necessary for him to look u p directly at the rid go between Cameron's Cone and :..;t. Arthur. It was at this time that he noticed a light silver colo:-ed object approxi- mately 200 feet above the ridge connectinr, the aforementioned peaks. TI1e object se<3!1led to hang in the air in one spot. He estinated its siz e to be one and one-half feet in diameter. He was able to observe the object for a.pproxim.tely three minutes, and durill the time of his observation, he turned away to call his wife three different times. 'I'he object rer:w.ined in the sEl!!le spot during this action. Se turned to call his wife a fourth time and when he looked for the object again, it hnd disappeared com- pletely. !te was unable to determine froo where it had come. Also he could not tell the rnnteria.l fro~ which t~e object was constructed. However, he stated that he felt i t was a balloon. Ther e '\?as no smoke, odor, sound, lights, means of propulsion, means of support ( other than it being a bal- loon), fins, stabi li z ars or opening s on the object. The res. son he was unable to detemine any of these factors W9.s due to the distance of the object from the observer. :Ie was unable to tell how the object disappea.red because he was not looking at it at the time of its disappearance. AT COLORADO SPRINGS, COI.Oitl\00 3. A check of the weather conditions revealed that ceiling and viaibili~ were unlimited be~veen the hours of 0730 and 0830 on 8 Aubust 1949. The winds aloft were as foll~s: At 10 ,000 feet, 10 knots per hour from a northerly direction; 12,000 feet, sace; 14,000 feet, 12 to 15 knots per hour fro~ a north northeasterly direction; 16 , 000 feet, s~me from a northeasterly direction; 20, 006 feet, 15 knots from an easterly di- rection. There were no observable celestial pheno~ena or planets in the vicinity at thnt time according to Captain Earl L. Kuehnest, 't;eather Of- ficer for ~nt Air Force Base. 2 UNCLASSIFlEO UNCLASSIFlED 4. Description of Terrain. The place of sighting was a mately one quarte!" of a mile south of US Hiehway 24 on the Highway, ::ani tou Springs, Colorado. The map coordina tea of this cation a r e approximately 38 47' north latitude and 104 59' west loneituda. The terrnin is extremely mountainous, boing in the foot- hills of the Front Range of the Rocky : .. ountai.ns. The altitude at the placo of sighting is appr oxirre. tel y 6 , 5 0 0 feet and the raci on over whic h he object was si(jlted is approxirrntely 10 ,500 feet. The writer was able to observe the ridge between Cameron' 3 Cone and : .. t . Arthu r from t:ie sa."lle point f rom which the object was si e;hted by t.:r. Des- pite the fact that this is extremely mountainous countr y , n clear view wa:s had of this ridge. 5. Tne altitude of the object would be approximately 10 , 700 feet above sea level and the observer sighted it at an approximate 50 to 600 horizontal angle. His posi tio!l was facing the object at the tlme of sighting . 6. Concemine: the observer. !ir. is p resently unen:p loyed, having been released from Civil Service on 3 0 June 19 49 , due t o reductio!l in force. He was a pipe fi. tte r at Camp Carson, Colorad o . Prior to this elnploy:;tent, he was wo rki.ng for the :S.dland Railroad Company as a track employee. This employment Yras terminated due to the c losins dovr.l of the railroad. !.:r. is 57 years o l d . It is necessary for hi n to wear bi-focal glasses, and he claims to be far sighted, hence the gla3sea. He claims that he has n ev e r had any troubl e with his ability to discern colors and objects. Interviews were held with friends, fonner er.:ployers and former fellow employees of l.ir. anc! they coulC. throw no further light on his abilities for observation. The writer ~us unable to observe I.:r to fonnulate any opinions of his ovm. In talkinG with his f ends, it was ascertained that wr. is considered to be a very reliable person. However, it is knovm that he is a very talk- ative individual. 7. An ~tensive investigation was conducted by the writer in an attempt to locate other indi vi<iuals who might have observed this object; however, these attempts met with nee;ative result s . r u rther, the vrriter personally observed the terrain and talked to individual s who had oppor- twU. ty to observe this terrain in their everyday wor k with the thou(;ht in mind that the object could have possibly been weather equipnent and could have c;one dovm i n this vicinity. This also met with negative re- sults. It is known that the US Vfeather Bureau in Denver very frequently sends up various types of weather balloons, and inasmuch as the winds aloft at this time were f rnm the north and n ortheast, i:h a possi.bi.li ties of one of those balloons entering this area are very cood. - 8. A check of operations at Peterson Field revealed that there were no aircraft, t o their knowledge, in flight at the tice of this si&hting. UNCLASSIFlED DE~ARTMENT OfF THE: AIR fi'ORCE HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES AIR FORCE WASHINGTON STH D I S TIUCT O,.,.IC I[ 0,. SI'(CIAI. I HVCSTIOATIOHS WIUOHTI'4TTI"SOH "'' " ,.O..CI e4SI, D4YTOH OHIO SUBJH:T a PROJECT GRJDGE SPECIAl INQ.UIRY UNCLASSfF1ED TOa Cozari8.nd1ng General Air Materiel Comma.r1 Wrl.ght-Fa.tterso:l Air Foroe Base Dayton, Ohio ~Na l.tCIAXS 31 August 1949 August 1~9, a.ttaohed repcr t of investigo.tion fro:n DO ~lh, dated 16 is torvro.rded for your ini'orm.o.t!.on. 2. This investigation wa.s not requested by or throu~h this offioe R/I dtd l6 Aug 49 ting Vi.striot Com.-ne.Dd~r UNCLASSIFlED