DA T=! TIMI OIIOUP NUM81!R OP OIJI!CTI PROJECT 10073 RECORD 2. LOCTION 11. CONCLUSION UNmBH11FIJ41 Caee ie carried ae Unidenti tied 5. LENGTH OP OISI!RVATION 11. lltii!P SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS 9 Minut..ee 6. TYPI! OP OISIRVAnON Ozourd-RAtdar t. PHYSICAL IVIDINCI See Cue File. IJNCLA~Sir:ll:tJ IIONAL CORPS !NOIN!EIINO LAIOIATORI!S ,.,..smmaRMB-5 ProJeot 1728 fOil MOl IMOUTH, I lillY SOBJIC'l'a Report ot n)'1Da Saucer Silhtiq Bq1neer1q and Teobnical D1 vieiOD Ottloe or the Chief Signal Officer Deparwent ot the Artq .ltt.Dtiona SIGGG-11 !be attached report obtained from the Massachusetts Institute ot Tecbnolog7 Weat~er Radar Research Group under Contract DA-36- 039 sc-32038 with the Signal corps FAgineerine Laboratories, is tor- warded tor 70ur information and possible transmission to interested parties within the U. s. Air Force. Massachusetts Institute ot Teolmolog7 Weather Radar Research Group bas been requested to treat thls tter as "Restricted, Securi t7 Information" in accordance with All 380-5. It is 1mderstood that this communication constitutes the fir t report Oft this occurrence. 1. C7 ot ltr ta illT 2. lilT up dtc! 21 ONCL/\ SSIFIED ccamandina Weather Radar Research (l l Massachusetts Institute ot Technolou ASS/FlED Department ot Meteorolo17 RoOIIl 24-520 'October 6, 19S2 I~ I..boratory, SCZL Bellm', Nov Jereq lttent.iont Mr. lfillia11 B. Gould Meteorological Branoh, Ste~i oa Section Dear Mr. Gould 1 We ha.e tinal]T d~ scot ered. our recorda cotering the Fl.71ng Saucer" incident ot 21 September 19SO. !mt incident came about in the folloving wa7a We lad arral1ged vi th the Air Weather Se1vice group at Otis Field on Cape Cod to track a pair ot jet aircraft (F-84s I believe) at 35 in order to provide then with an estimate of their wind drift, aai consequently winds alof't at th.:1t altitude. I have never UD:lerstood v}V' the group at Ot:i13 Field wanted us to do th18, and don't in general appro'\-e of using our radar 81Stem& for operation& complete~ disconnected with our regular line of work. Th:la instance is, I believe, the o~ tiJiae we lave had An1' such arrangement with a group at Otis Field. We had establuhed radio coummnicatioDB with tba jet aircratt on our YIF. !he first radar contact was matae with the SCR-615-B at 4S-rnile range arxl asimuth. As the aocc)Jfijallj'ing plot shows, the F-84a vel'e flying a straicht and level coune at 2SO UPR indicated air speed towards thiS nortllilest (333). About three m1 nutes after radar contact, v e noticed anotlrlr a1 rcraf't signal vhic h to be flying a closing co"Uree with tha F-84s. t-Ie notified tle F-84 pilots b7 radio to watch out tor the otb!tr aircraft which vas cl.os~ on t.h.em from their lett. At 4.0 minutoa (all timea beiJw tigm'ed from the tirat radar contact) the tvo signals near~ merged, thl "Saucer" crossing the track of the F-84 s about three m:Slea ahead of t-l1811J but the pilots of the F-84a reported that ttmy uere unab~ to see any aircraft.. They further explined t.l'Bt there vaa a base level below tml'4 am some light haze abon, eo th~t the Tiaibill~ near their flight level r.vl7 haYe been quite poor. The other aircraft die! a nry enarp tum of nearly 2700 am again approached the F-84a on an i.nteroepi.ng course a:r:l closed vit.h ther.t, ae far as ve could tell b;y radar, at S.o minutes. Again the F-84 pilots VE:re unable to eee &JV' otter aircraft. The "Plying Saucer" then carried on straight towards CambridgeJ but our radar operators, iD attemptag to track both the F-84e ani the saucer" loet track of the "Saucer, to plot the F-84a up to 9 minutes u illiicated. .. .. !ba eigDal atrezwt.h trom the t.uo F-84 :1D clof;e fomation vas approxi- te~ tvo-tbirds saturation. The eipal trom the saucer" vas saturated. UNCLASSIFIED ry, SCEL OUt bolt eetbate ot tho ot tt. Sauoor" 22 lllllo1 por m.nuto. Por W7 hD't ot tld.8 o d~ vhiob ve wen &racldng it, it vu ncaced 1D ita a!aJ1) 'l'bo acoolorat.t.on in th:18 tum oonoe out to be U or 12 a u well u ve au t~uro :lt. tater on that eama dq (21 8eptell1ber 19SO) w reoeived a tolephone oaU fn:11 t l.e Weathor Of.'tiov at OtJ.a F1Atld {!4Bjor Tuttle) 111qu:hi about our oblorntione. After a brief oonvereation h8 askocl \18 to treat thl nuatter as "cont'idential" ae tar u &l\Y general public:lt7 wr&e conceznecl. Thtt tollov1nr: dq ve had a Yiait tron tuo ran(flV~ t~ Boatoa ottioe of Speo1~1 IliWJsticlltione, be11ne) and w to t.ha vba t vo ot.ez.,Gd oeeent1a1]1' u :l t 1a dea- oribad a We haft DO\ tb1a obllonatioD to &JV' othlsr IJ'Oup up to th1a date. . . UNCL/\ :-=-~tF'JED WEATHER RADAR RESEARCH MIT CAMBRIDGE, MASS. 'rt .r ~'=-JFIED lAS-250 KNOTS EUtUn cyft1FICA1 ~ (lie., uNCLASSif-IED DISPOSinON FORM. nu IIIJICT IIGGGM-1 Report ot F17iDc lauoer llptille '8_.DcliDC Ottloer ROM Cll&() lUI a lOT 18G2 COMMEMT IO. I licl Corp Intelllco Apno;y 11bedoa/7S909 Roca 10&2, J-.ln RaT)' lllclc, llaahlD&toD., D. c 1. ~ attaohecl report la tOI'ftl'cle4 tor ;your intonation and tor forwarding to Air rcroe Inte11iceaoe .&co7 I. It la uncleratoocl tbat the Air Foroe trt lD.ton.tlon ot thia t,pe with a hieh olaaaiftoation. It it 11 4ea1re4 that 11. I. 1'., ander Sicrw.l Corpa contract, oon1lcler thia SnfonatiOil U hiper than Reatrloted Seourliif Inton&tlOD., thia offioe ahoulcl be a4v1ae4 ill order that approFlate dlreotivea 'M7 be prepared POR ms CIIIBF, llfGDtBBRING AJD DCHHICAI DIVIS lOla Ltr fa Bq, SCBL, 21 lov 62, w/2 Inol U'lHER E. JOHBSOll, Lt Col, SlgC Chief, Special Proj eota Branch lJNCLASSIFIED 1 Report ot P171D& Sauoer 81sht1D8 AJPOII-2A2 PRCih SOIA DA'l'Ba Pentaaon Annex ' fOa Air 'l'eobDioal lntell Center Vrtsht 1el4, Ohio 1. Porvar4e4 2. Charaoter1at1oa ot the SCR-615-B radar aet (trequenor range 275o-2850 me) are tabulated on page 404 ot ATIC report Electromagnetic Ra41atiOD Data (Ko. TR-BL-20-2). ' Your advioe ia requested aa to iaaue raised 1n paragraph 2 ot C nt Bo. 1. .n.11 V. MIJ.I.S Colonel, Sig C Connna nd1ng . UNCL/\~SIFIED Ltr, DO 11, tle lo. 1D-OSI at-o, dated e oot eo, Ift'a11laenoe Rp,, aubJ 1 Vnoonftntlonal Alroratt I Inola I "' . AIIO Routtna and 1tqd Sheet; aabJa 11Shtifts ot Un1dent1tled AlrborDe ObJeot Rpt; ot Slght~g ot Un1dent1t1ed Alrbor.ne ObJect I b7 JOSBPB v. CO!UIBLLY .. .. UNCLASSIFIED CLA5~1r lt.URsB/~t~J/u SUBJECTs Uiloonnnt1onal Airoratt a Ootober 19~0 TO a D1reotor ot Speo1al lnveatisat1ona Readq era USfP Washington 25, c 1. SlNOPSISt Unconventional aircratt reported aighted by Maas. Insti~ute or Technology radar observer 'on\ 21 September 1950 between Provincetown, Maas. ~a-Isle or Shoals. (Evaluation P2) . : On 29 September 1950, Mr. =:R::searCh Associate~ "Weath&r Radar Project" Corps Contract), Mass. Institute ot TeChnol ogr, advised thia District that while tracking F-86 .a1rcratt b7 means ot radar, that an unidentified object wns also tracked on the radar screen at approximatel7 0945 hours,.21 Sept r 1960. In view or the apparent quallticat1ona ot server, it was deomed advisable to interview and two other witnesses to obtain tirsthand intorma aa to the sighting. Report ot interview conducted on 3 October 1950 by S/A THOMAS R. YA.~DOH d aa inclosure #1. Inclosure #2 waa provided S/A YANDOB. It waa delivered to YAlJDOH by OSEPH V. CON NELLY b:y whom written. In view ot technical detail contained 1n inclosures /11 and #2, - it 1a not considered neceaaarr to summarize such lntor- atlon 1n this paragraph. . 3. AC'riOB s In accordance with AFCSI Letter #95, . dated 8 Fe6 5o, no turther 1nveatigat1on ia belng con- ducted bJ thia District Ottice. DOWNGRADE D AT 3 YEAR INTERVALS: UIJCLASSJFJD DECLASSIFIP.D AfTER 12 YEARS. R. S. BOWER Colonel, USAP District Commander .... IIJIIP11 IITJPIIIIII,._ Sightin~ ot UnidentH'ied Airborne Qljeot lD-OSI 24- District CCJMJnO.nder Deta.ohnont Ccmmnnder IA!I 3 October 50 let Dietriot an ( IG) USAF Westover AFB, U&lle Detachment "B", 1st District OOI (IG) Rm. 826, 56 Tremont Street Boston, Haas 1. search Associate, ~Bssach~setts Institute ot Technology, dge; Uass ., was intet=vimted 2 October 1950 concerninc; hie reported sightine; of an unidentified airborne object on 21 September 1950. He has been vd th Uassaohusetta Institute of Toohnology as a Research Associate s:tnoe 1946. also holds the position of Staff Yfeather Otf'ioer with tho 67th Fi&}tter Massachusetts Air ~Jational Guard, and has vrorked with radar since 1943. His rank the Air National Guard is that or Hajor and his serial number is 2. The following is an extro.ct or a letter written 27 September 1950 to a 1!.ajor TUTTLE, Staff Weather Office~, Wine;, Otis Air Force Base, Uass: 33rd Fighter "An exceedingly puzzlinz event occured during the 3rd ~ \J run when the planes were heading northvtest at 30 (see attached sketch). :ie picked up another plane ( ?) in the ttt ~ ~ radar beam traveling about due north on a convercJ.ng course ~ ~j ~ toward the F 86's. It was moving very rapidly and I told tho cr. ~ ~ 1--f pilots about it, its range and direction from them. The echo ~ ~3 ~ caught up with, passed, and then crossed the course or the 86' s ~ t- ,. . ,/ suddenly went into a very tight (for the. speed) turn. to the E:' g ; a ri. t, headed back toward Boston and passed directly over our ..... -i _, t. (perhaps went under). The sketch represents a.s closelJoL--1 ~-5 ~ ~ 1--t as we can remember, the relative positions or the two planes. lf. ~ .J Two other observers v1ere TTi th m at the time and lve havo cheoke i ~ H ~ over the facts rather closely. Tho pilots \nll \Uldoubtedly ::? :; ~ recall the incident. They oa.id they didn't see an!rthl.r.e vrhich ! -~ " is not too surprisin~ considerinz the speed.of the object and ! \ ~e fact that it may ho.ve po.ssed several thot\sand feet above or'. _ below them and still looked like coincidence to the radar. Figuring c,onservati~rely, t."le speed or the object was approxi1!Ultely ~200 m2h, and the centrifu~al force exerted on the ship during the tum aJTlounted to something more than five &' s. It gave an ex- cellent radar echo which could not be mistaken for anything else and in all respects except for the veloci eemed a normal rada.r tarzet. It passed out or the beamwhile '~continued to track our fli~t, but we focussed on _it ae;ain for a few seconds shortly after and it v~as rapidly approaching Boston. \'Te went back to the 86' 1 since we hesi to. ted to leave them for toG lone, but now I wish we had taken some accurate velocity measurements when we ho.d the ; . Ut~Cu\SSlFIED ROUTING AND REcr ' "BRRBL COMMAND Si~htiD ot t'n1dent11'1ed M.rbome Objeot lU-OOI 24- Diatrict Detaclment CCIDr.Wlder Deto.chment "B" Mil 3 Oct 50 let Diatrict CBI "chance and taken the risk or losin~ the tlicht. "The whole thine doesn't seem to make sense o.s you ~11 discover when you reflect a moment about it. It .was vory evidentally an intet'oeption ot some sort on our flight, but what? The turn was utterly fantastic, I don't tr..ink the hUJJan frame oould absorb it, but if the object was radio con- trolled, 1 t had no particular business flying on such courses on planea occupied on legitimate business. A few rough calcu- lations concerning control surfaces, aneleo, etc. only adds to the puzzle that this object muat have been entirel~' \Ulconvention in many and baoic respects. Perhaps the thing that botherc me the most is that it gll.ve a very good radar echo, whtch implies irregular surfaces and conparitivcly larce size, larc e enough so the pilots ridght have ho.d a c ood chance to see it "It seems highly !?robable 1:ho.t I may ':>e pold.ne; into some- thing that is none of ~' business, but on the other hand, it rm.y be something that the Air Force vtould like to know about if it doesri' t already. I wish !'OU would take the matter up vri th your intelligence officer or c.o. and ~t their reactions. The whole thing has us goinc nuts here and we don't lmow whether to talk about it or keep our mouths shut. Unti 1 I hoar from you VM wi 11 do the latter "Perhaps we could run another mission for .the purpose ot luring 1 t out again and this tf..me traok it, or at least get your pilots close enou~ for a look-they'd never catch it I'm sure. "There are nany more 11 ttle c\etai ls whioh I }'!.avon' t bothered to inolude conoeminr; this--mostly scope indications and such. "Please let rne hoar from you soon. orted that he later discussed thia matter with TUTTLE by telephone and TUTTLE advised him that the matter wus to -bo oonsiderod confidential and that in all probability someone from otis Air Force Base would conta.ct him conoernin~ it. To date, he has not been approached by anyone from the 33rd Fi~hter Wine. advised further that the informntion hns not been released to the nnapo.pors. UNCLASSH.:lEO Ala ~,.RIBL COIOIAND IIIII 11al1111 Si~htiRr; or Unidentified Airbome CbjUWCLASS1 l D-CCI 2~ Diatriot Commander lat D1atriot OS! (IG) Detachment Conrnander Deta.ohmont "B" ( Cont' d) S advieod that the r.Uss' on rai'erred to in the oxtrc~.ot set forth abovo consisted or ooo F-86 aircraft rlyi.nz hot\;een Prcvir.cetrnm, !:7nso., to the Isle or Shoals. These o.ircrnrt vtere tracked and guided two associates who were opor~ti.ng an SCR 615-B Signal Corps Ra.dar Unit at Bld;;. 24 on 'the Uo.ssaohusotta Institute or Tochnolor;y campus. The purpose or this mission vro.s to attempt to tnblish wind velocity and waa dono aa a porsono.l favor for TUTTLE. ectill1.Ated the speed or the object sighted on both the 'R Scope' and 'the 'PFI Scope' at approxlJ!'B.tGly 1320 miles por hour. The object ' 'IllS sighted at 0952 Eo.storn Standard Time at an altitude that could only be estimated to be betrreen ~lying at 30 000 i'eet, f\nd ~ t could not be determined on the en whether the ooject wus above or below the !'light oi' F-86, s. acribed the object's maneuvers as boine a pori'oct interceptor pnss. Tho attached Winds Aloi't Computation Chart' indicates the course or the object , o.s out- lined in ink. It \rlll be noted that the object was lo.st knorm to be head:tnt; towards the shore line in a direction that would permit it to paso over Snlam, Mass. In connection w.i th the 'iiinds Aloi't Computation Cho.rt', the rollCT;.'in~; infornntion was r;iven by LHiDA concerni~c; his observations, o.s rolo.tod to this charta "1. Object first detected nt about point A when F-86 were about at A, on conver&ing course o.nd rapidly overtaking F-86's 2. Object crossed track oi' F-86's about ~vo mile