n"T~ Ill TO A'l' J C _ ,;oLOn_..:ShinJ like ahr:r' .. 1U.il . J. .H. j. I II T..l-~UG'fll OP '1'11 li 0 D!:HlV.i.J) Pllt'Jrv.; - - -:JKI7l'CHJ-:f; rt:lllpornry A'l'IC r'Ol'Ul 3~9 RD1ARKS : i\oma n s:1~-1 ovals in sky d!-o pping mate!'ial \ih ich l ooked l ike s pider web~. Ui~CtJ.SSIFI:~:-., SUMMAnf OF INFORMATION .29 October 1 91!l PREPARING OFFlCE Unidentified SUMMARY Of' INIIOAII4AT10 N rtltitude (feet ) CODE FOR USE IN INDIVIDUAL PARAGRAPH EVALUATION SOURCE. OF INFORMATION C0114f'LTELY RELIABL CONFIRMED 8Y OTHCR SOURCLS USUALLY R(LIABL FAIRLY RELIABL NOT USUALLY AWABL UNRELIABL RELIABILITY UNKNOWN Direction ( ce,~rees) Piraction (c:e:tee l'ftOBABL Y TAUt I'OSSIOLY TRUE OOUliTFULL Y TRUE IMPROBABLE TII CANNOT 8[ J UDGED Knots p er hour Knots per nour GS :-r '!:> ~!arG: n r eport of the r elt.!&se of weather bo.llons and othe1 Mat e oro1or,ica.l instruments on 27 October 1949, by the weatl":er section of Flc.~.nt "X- 10' Oak ~ic~ge, Tennessee, is forthco1ning. DISTRJIUTION Pq. 'rhir d nrmy -2 cys Tenn l il-L'i s , i"nox .)ub-dis - 1 cy rile - 1 cy ACOfo 568 UNCLASS\F\ED C:., .,. .... HEADQUARTERS THIRD ARMY ,.ORT M cPHE R SON. GEORGIA SUBJBC7 s Unconventiono.l Aircro.i't TO: Co .. uno.."l<ling Gonor o.l Air llo.tor i o l Co: .r:umd \7rir;ht-Pattor:.on Air .ti'orco Bn.Do D~on, Ohio .Attention: L~CI (Control iio. A-l'.Jl7) 1 . Reference is 1. o.do to 1ottor J-:;his hca.c.iquu.rtor ... , oo.tod 31 Octobor 1 94J, 3Ubje ct , ''Unconvontioi:.a.L Aircrru.' t . " .:i ..,} Gi.l.. : . o.r y of j ni'oroo.J-:;ion ro : lyLlt; objoct:. s icht.lu llOar iillo.:villo 1 To.l."lOG ::;eo. 2 . Inclocod hor o\;i i;.h is GU.Jrm.ry of ini'or . ~tion co, to.iui.:lc a dcli tion:ll ini'or.:1o.tion Sji dtd 1 liov 49 .v A f-fl~ f{ 12 YE AHS J ONFIOENTIAL SUMMAni OF INFORMATION l'ft[I'AIUHG OFJ'IC CODE FOR USE I N INDIVIDUAL PARAGRAPH EVALUATION SOURCE OF INFORMATION Unicentifi~d !"lying Objects sighted near Knoxville, :enn. COMPUTELY RELIABLE OY OTHER SOURCCS USUALLY RELIABLE l'lt08A 8L Y TIt U E F'AIRLY RELIABLE POSSIBLY TRUE NOT USUAUY RELIABLE 0 DOU'BTFULLY TRUE UNRELIABLE IMPROBABU: REUABILITY UNKNOWN TRUTH CANNOT BE JUDGED SUMMARY OF IHI'OitMATIOfl Refe r ence i s tr.<.ide to Par~l ruph 2 , :JUI!'mar y of In~ormution, thi~ officJ, bject. Sdme <.iS above, de1tcd -~9 Octo bur 194 9 . '!'he follov.in': c.:.oc!ition .... l in fori ... t i.)n furn ished in r .-:!p, ... rds to the intoJt'vicw ,,ith l'r s . l.'innie Lytl e : } r s . lytl c st~ted that the object s Y:e r e cmpro.Ai!' c..~teJ y tl.P.nty-:"our (.~L.) inchoJs in circwuf~r~nce; tL .. t. the n os..:.ti on of the objects in fli...,ht ' et3 in \..h~ horiz.)ntdl ''O::iition ,. it.h t.hc no..>e forv.u r d ; th ... t the r e v.os no evid~nce of pr opellers on either of th~ oujects, dCl<~ t.l!ut both objects appda:-ed to be perfect]~,. st.,..~i[)::. v;ith no tapers or curves. :r s . I..yt.l;;! expluined thCJ.t her est.ime:tte of the dir .. ensions of t.he objects ''"'..) b.:1Jed on their app~nr~nce aJoft and not thP-ir actu~l ~izu. {r- /.) On 1 1'ov.;!r'ber 1949, t is oi'fice \.C1Z info~. ~d L: c..n Of.:'icj.] 1f ..;ecucity ,.'eath1r ::>t.ation of flant. "X-lJ", Oak -:iC:c:e, Tennc ee, report~c t.h"'t onu (1) thirty-t\'.o (32) iuch \ ~""t!:er balloon \,a3 l'...!lt!<.iS:::c' c.t t!'tdt sttttion taV(1."Y } ur, ao-:>ro:d..P at ely ""n t.~e hour !ror:. OBJJ to 240J, :)n 27 lct ob:::r 1941 , Lut t hat n~ _,t~ ... r r..eteor ,;l08iCal instruments \' ~re r elec..SOd on thut cate. {L.-~) UNCLASSIFIED OISTitiiUT~ CC, J!q. Third ... r r.y-2 cys CO, Tenn t il-Dis, Kn ox . .)ub-dis -1 c.v AGOfOaM 568 I JUII 4 7 Ountom, J.11es1sa1pp1 Your letter ot 3 Nowember l<.U}, is hereby acknowlecfcod The int'or:nation you provieed has been included in our stud.r ot aerial phenomena. lour action 1n writing this ConD&nd is appreciated. S1ncereq ,.ours, CARL B. LI'. tsTIWl D Lt Colonel, USAF Actg v1liet, Technical Analysis DiY Intelliccnco LcpartQent Technical Intellieence Division Air Materiel Command Headquarters t-Patterson Air Force Base Dlyton, Ohio Gentlemen a Omtotm, Jlis~. . On Oct 27, about 12130 o clock P.M. I was in my yard lrl en I happened to look up and saw sor.lething in the sky c oming from the north. There ware two of t hem-each one or thet'\ ms two oval s hape d objects. The ovals were fastened t oeether with a fastene r that s eemed t o bo flexlble. T:1ey were high and t;oing fast. '!hey shined br ic;htly 11 ke new a.lumi num woul d in the sunli._;ht. The f astener shi.."'led like t he oval ob,jects. I could see the fastener sag between the ovals wl ~en they changed p oei tion. They would ny. Cne oval over t he otl".er one a few secon ds with the fastener in a vertical posit i on b etween the onls. '!hen they vrould chmce a gain. The fasten e r would be in a horozontal position. The ovals appe~red to bo about one foot in size to me. 'lbe f astener seemed t o be a bout one inch I could see them plainly as it was clear an d bri~1t in the north, east, and s outh that my. !hey mada no sound. I had been looking at them a minute or two When one of t hem seemed to jar or jerk then it vanished; t h e other c~e went on south. In a Iilinute, or a hal r r:rlnute something resembli~ pieces of ashes came down. I t ms drif'tinc liehtly in the wind. j:-t. seemed to be liehter in weir;ht th.:n aiJhes from the my tt floated in the wind. It was a whitcsh c olor. It Yas c oming from t he north t owards the south; some o r the pieces were half as larr;e as a feather. !.1ost of them wore much S!"'k'lller. I saw one piece s i x or seven inches lone. I started to g~t the l~ree piece. It was about ten feet highJ i t l ooked like it would cane on down in a r:dnute. I TtaS follO'vrlng t he large piece 1'1tending t o eet it when it cn.:ne dcnm. I ha ppened to l ock towards nw barn which was north of ,,'here I was stanct_:.ng. The e was s omethine like spicer web cor.ting down. I t was c oMing dmm from t h e n orth . They were conin g dom1 f ast and think t hey were catching on the leeves of the trees. Uneopin Places were t hick \rlth thern. Thor e YTCre millions of them, the air seene d to be f ull or them. Single strands shining in the sunli(tlt. They had a Ooloon tint. There ,.,.crt! SC>r!le pieces that seemed to bo large pieces of spi der webb that had tan~led t oGether. So~e of the pieces ha d a long tail of sinele strands with heavy pieces at one end. Thehcavy end would lift t h e piece up, and let it dom1. It seemed to be controling it. 'tho large pieces were gray-white, like COI!I:ton spider web. They seemed to be much li[;hter in wei~ht from the -.y they floated in the wind. Some o! tho pieces TIOre fairly largo to stay up 11 ke they did. In about ten min .tcs 1 saw another oval coodng fr0t:1 the east. It a a single oval. It sa only an ovnl s haped object . I t was going taster th~n the ovals I hnd seen fastened t ogether. It s eemed a bout a root in size. I t would tum the end in the direction i t 1ms ~oing. In 3 or 1, seconds the side would t urn in tln t direction. I t did not turn all the my around. It just seemed t o swine half way around. It ha c passed overhead. I saw it jar, seemed like i t stopped . I t hought it was going to chance its course, but it did not. A small brigh t some- thing shot froo the oval. It went southeAst. It went uruch faster than the oval. It 1ns about the size of a large star. It was bright like a star. It was not lnrge enou,;h for me to sea t he s lL&pe it was I looked from the star-like object back to where the oval was. It had vanished. I did not s ee it again In a minute the stuff like ashes was driftinG among the trees. It seemed to be c orning down. I did not see ~ piece co~e t o the cro~1c. I thought it was lancine on the le~ves. Then the something like sp e~ web c:tne down vlhen i t came dmm i n the open I c ould s e e it t;o t o the groundJ in the trees it caueht on the leave s and shined. I could s e e it haneine in the trees. looked up again there was another one of the ovals; i~ was goinc in a southwest direct i on. I did not see what direction i t came from. It was o verhead when I saw it I ~tched it. It too wei:: Wing half way 3-round and then back . I s aw it jnr and jerk like t h e ne did. Then the sta~like object shot from the oval. It 'We:l: in a southe-'lst d1rectionJ very fast. It ms s ome distar.ce from the lArge onl. Bright thinr s no l ;trger than single str'lnds at s pi der m : came from each side of the laree oval. They cane fro~ t he oval in a curve. Tiley were s o bri(1lt and so nany of then it hurt rrry eyes to -~ at them. There seemed to be rnilliono c omine from the ow11. They :::1::..1.- !ci ljke spide r web in sunlight. In a minute or less the ashes, or l\'ha:, looked like fiakes of ashes 17erc ccr.rl.ne domt. ~ey were like the c t --c~ pieces I h~c seen. Then the s pi de r r.eb stuff came down. It lookec l~-a Xmas decoration on the trees where it cane dcwn in t he open. I co~c . .,t eee it 1fter it got to t."le eround. It seeoed like i t c overed ever:.-:.:-. as tar as I cou1d see there W'lS as much s~i:1ing web a s there 'mul a c~ rain i n a big rain. All the afternoon the sLr.le ovals ,;ent over. I would see one every ten or fifteen ::rl.:1utes. They were sinc;le ova . I did not see any more f~stened together. They c:une from the east an While I was watching it a pl."lne was c omine f r om tho west. -;;n~l the plane was n ot very far f r om t he oval, I saw t he oval j~r or je!"'~ the star-like object s hot fro:-1 the ovalJ it went west. I l ookccl at .., plane to see it it would ch 'lne e course or speed as it was not very :i"'.-. the oval. I hoped the pilot would see the ov:ll, but the plane did ::r change speed. I looked back to where t he oval ns but did not see i l At ; o 'clock I l"ok .. w up a.~;:.1ln. T:tarc lre:-c tm of the '">V'l.l:J ".ost overhead . F'lch one of tnen !"..:ld n. tail not fl-:!J hin~ lik-D a pl:l:l. .... J ju:;t a Ghl.Ylinz .;omething t.h'lt looked t o b<3 about one Lr~h ui<!e to J>te It "mlS f lexibl e . I coulJ sea it plainly. 1'1e oV'\ls v;oro t r .L13 ovar e ach other, then aronn d n'lch oljher; th"!'l one of the::t wculd L>o unc.er the other one a~ they noved I c ould plainly 3tl~ t h .t Cdch Oltl c,f them hnu a t ail. I vntched thorn :;-aybe 3 m.i:mte::s, '\mllo I n.t.ch~d, : ~ci ... ~od the-J ing to ~et i .1 nosi~i,.n to hi'tch to ether . If t.boJe ':.ail3 'h.a d bt! n \;Jtened to?e"t'1e r t~e7 woula bo e:r'lc~ly lik~ ~'e firs:. cne'l I ::;a-..,. c .... !"ling from tr.e Jorth. I di(l :1ot ;ntch ~o so-c -,~:l.:..c'l .. 1M-7 L' J"".f w~nt. I h 'ld to J!:a'3t the Schoo~ bu3. lfy Cau_;h ~c:-C'l:le r.o=.e "l.'..J'.'J J o ' c l oc:<. ~:a mtche d for O""T'\lS 1..~ ~ $\ ,'f 3 or h 'It'Jr 3 le cot h one. All 0. tt"e!'l cn:ne T as" >s n J .Pi icier v .. 'J stu.:: of V\e:t p ;t3::3Bd , it '' nt <m Wlt..il aoo tt c o'!r:lon S""Ji .t~hs ;rcro aonA from tlw l..!'E-'3.1. It \"liS j t.;t ..li'<..~ n )th.:..'1~ ln }" ~')nened. t tol d "W d \ 1 rhtar to li:;ten ~t S\:-:Of)l to ,:-J d o,1t f ny one else S<\W t h e ov"'l..ls. She S:lid there wao no t"'l.L"'< o f :lnyonP. s eeing anytbing. '1pi.tl r ;rob cane <ri. fti.n ~ ~c m t rcrn t:1o no-=-th. It .j ~e;,ad li!.e I coul d t a st.a n bitt.er t"\'ite i:-1 rry nc:A.~hJ .. he h.i.:-.-~r t."'l.s t e e')"'lP.d t o :o on ~O.""lt Gn Cct 27th ''rl' n I GL'\1f the ovals, I ta3ted t!1at. bitt~r t!ls t e 1..'1 !~/' nm th. !l1a t d"\7 .l thoue}lt pe::-~aps I i.ra y,ine d the !:>itter ~ste, bec se 1e on ls, a3hes n '1d ~eb3 .rr:.(:h tensd me . Dut aft~r I aa,r th 1.t one on Hov l 3t , a.."ld t1.sted t~c bit-ter t aste ~0\in, 1 kne-;y I h~d not ir1agi "led it. I live i.~ no:-t:-t~'l:rt :issi!33ippi ~bout 2 5 ':'Iile s n~r7.he!\3t ol.' 1\tp~lo, :. is~>. I f i t nll not te a lo~ of t, turn thl::: O'f'"'r t o th3 papers. I d~ not. .li3:~ to le'ld '"\.'"'O'~hn:-n.y~n~ :::~:lC"'r :JC"\ro. :J lruJ.:r UNCLASS\F\ED HEADQUARTERS THIRD ARMY ,.ORT McPHERSON, GEORGIA SU9JE0T a Unconventiono.l Aircro.ft Commo.ndin~ General Air lia.toriol Commo.nd ,7risht-Pa tterson .\ i r F orce Base Dayton, Ohio Attention: t:CI (Con"':roll:o. A-1917) J 7 o-c,J-t/j 31 October 1!:149 Inclosed herowi th is Stlznt'l:l.ry o f infor r.n t i on r a flyi'1 o) jcc t s sighted neo.r Knoxville, Tenno~see. FO~ T!iE cot::\lmnm G~TE.u\L s S/I dtd 29 Oct 4:9 JOHN 1 :E~D~ r Colonel, GJC ..-..-lN." t\SSIFIED SUMMAn1 OF INFORMATION PREPARING OffiCE l"no:vviJ J e . 'l'enness.~e 29 OctolJ ~r 1 L..C'J COD( FOR U SC IN INDIVIDUAL PAR AGRAPH EVALUATION Unidentifi~d Flyin Objects sighted ne.; r Knoxvi) l e , rcnn. SUMMARY OF INPORMATlOft OF SOURCE: COMPLETELY RELIABLE USUALL V RCLIABLE FAIRLY RELIABLE NOT USUALLY RCUABLE UNRCLIABLE RELIABILITY UNKNOWN OF INFORMATIO N CONF'IRMCO BY OTHCR SOURC$ PROBABL V TRUE . POSSIBLY TRUE OOUOTFULLV TRUE IMPROBABLE . UTH CANNOT DC JUOGCO On 28 Octobe r 1949 , Til~ K!'Io~:JILL : ~;; s- S .:r!'nr:<.L carried a n articl e ,.h ich stated that a . :r s . ~.'innie Lytle , Ol d ! ur\rvi_!..~.~. _f.i~J-JS129~ville., Tenne3s e e , .. "epo1t~d t hat about l 5JO hours on 27 Octob3r 194<-J, she s i t;h ted two (2) br it.;ht lookin.s ouj .cts flyin~; hi1-_:h e:md fast overne r -holte .-The nev.spapcr quoted }.'rs. Lytle as sayinu t la t the oojects , .ere tube shi:iped, noisless and about a yc.rc! in l enc:;th, and that. they l ooked like i:iirplanes \'lhen the sun shined on t hem. ( C-2) On 28 Octobe r 1949, l.~rs. t:inni e Lytle, P.ouse\Jife, Ol d ~.~Ciryville Pike, "toute #3, Knoxville, ':'ennessee, v.as interviewed and s t ated that while st.unc L"lg in h13r back yard ~t a pproxi1ately 1 530 hours, 27 Octobe r 1949 , s!: e s i ghted tv:o (2) ob~ects which were flying toward the ..3outh ( 180 decrees) at approxi: a t ely the 3ame altitud e speed ~s co e~cial type rlircruft. She said that shd s i gh ted tbe first obj 0ct by coi:1cid~nce v1hile looking up a t the sky. : .nen ~he first s iehted the object it was directly overhead, a n d was flying in a l evel f l icht . !Jhe saic t hat t r e ob j ect was shaped like ~. straizht tube, and that no op en j.ng s eith e r in t h e s ide or l''" r