PROJECT 1007:; RECORD CARD 2. LOCATION 13-14 December G:t: nfi~ld, r.alifoz:cia 3. DATE.TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION ISJ Ground-Visual 0 Ground-Radar CONCLUSIONS Wos Balloon Probably Balloon Possibly Balloon Wos Aircraft Probably Aircraft GMT 14LOR4:Z-l50!1Z 0 Ai ... Visuol 0 Air-Intercept Radar Possibly Alrc:roft Was Astronomical 0 Probobl y Astronomical 0 Possibly Astronomical M]l]taJ::s,z: _JlJ_Jan LENGTH OP.OBSERVATION a. NUMBER OP OBJECTS 9. COl!RSE Insufficient Doto for Evaluation 10. BRIE II SUMMARY_ OP SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS Object wh~ch at first was believed to Considered as a weather manufacture d by civili!=~ estimate d observed by investigating policeman. this evaluation. rrlowi nc-r reports fm surrounding observations ATIC PORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52) FRID'AY~.;.OECEMBER 14 WII::''I5Ky"1) g City. The Air Force spokesman the US .. \F immediately alerted the SLate Civil De-, .:>-<u~c:, 'IIense headquarters at Sacra. menta. Defense officials in "'""1 turn ca.l/ed the 28th Combat Center of the North can Air Defense Command at. utl;cuc:utl Hamilton where the chief con. the va. troller ordered a radar sweep. .'\t the same time the Fed. ~. ~ era/ Aviation Agency at Oak-. land directed aJI civilian air- l09-day/craft in Northern California to ax. be alert for UFO or-unidenti- from I fied aircraft. and th~{ Pilots flyin" in the predawn 5:41\1'..! darkness flashed r adio rcport.s . ved the that they could see lights but it. were unable to make positive radio contacts. -. There was, however, "much activity in the area, by the pilots' r eports to the FAA to said. . about Meanwhile, radar along the wa11 unable to make a ~ositive fix on the mysterious ce Ad-lights. hal hour /al-er a second . trans-repon from the she!'Iff's office wa~ flashed to the A1r Force- ""'"'w'as saymgthe UFO was back and as ex-now orbiUng the Greenfield-. Solidad-King City area. . As radar probed for it and devJce super sonic jet interception for was being considered, the liFO "''-nuc:l"suddenly climbed straight r.;p V~nus,and dis;Jppea rcd 'o the south," "'..qf}t,:{ bnAht a tiam!lton AFB spokesman J Twenty-lhree 1\linutes later makel(at 5:20 a.m.) the sheriff's oi- Venus11nce at Solidad told HamU~on AFB officials that the UFo a/lhad returned for the third flight time. within S F nus at mog orecast TI1e Air Pollution Control HI. cA ~c-I tfcLU.D ~twtlfff~ cLiffJN~ OI:.PAnfMI; NI OF Tllr: AIH FOIICI:. HEADQUARTEI~S UNITED STATES AIR FORCE W A l:I H I NGTON THE INSPECT O R GENERAL USAF 19Tii DISTRICT OI"FICE O F SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS T O A V I 9 AIO FOilCI!: QASE. CAL.I,.ORNfA De t 1902, Cas Gle AFB, Calif R EPLY T O ATTN 0,.1 OSI Unidentified Flyin~ Object l. '1"':<1.e follmring infomation was received by Special Agent James H . Cerra, Fresno Region Office, Region 1 , 115th CIC, United States Army, and furnished to Special Agent David E . Sharrier of this office: At 0427, 14 December 1962, the King CiG;y Unit of t h e Monterey County Sheri;ff ' s Office, inquired of the crreenfield Unit \Thether o,.. n ot they saw an objecG visible in the east. The Greenfielt'i Unit ansHered t hat t hey did see an o"'.Jjcct which appeared to be changing color from a bright glo~r to a dull anpe ara.11.ce. This object ,,as drifting in a southerly direction. This \vas also observed by the i1Ionterey Unit of the IY!onterey County Sheri:'f ' s Office and they estimated the altitude t o be 10,000 feet. It was also observed at Fort Ord, Cal:i.fornia, and by Unit 115 of the i1onterey County Sheriff It \vas described as very brillianG and a pproximately 10,000 feet in altitude. The Green'ield Unit observed it at 0047, 11~ . Decer.tber 1962, and it uas described as be:Jlt; similar to a ball of fire. At 0521, the object \va:J not visible . Hamilton AFB, California, checked all stations to ascertain if it 1.re~e a Heather balloon or an extremely fast moving aircraft. There uas also observed a halo \vhich T.vas assumed to be a vapor trail. At o617 the last transmission was received by the mobile unit of the tlionterey County Sheriff KORSLUND l:ITY OF GREENFIELD POLIC DEPARTMENT GREENFIELD, MONTEREY CO., CALIF. De tail e d report of sighting UFO 1 2: 00MN 8 :00AM watch 4:30AM 12-14-62, Wh ile on routine Police patrol in the City of Green- field , Monterey County, California; I observed a brilliant glowing object 4 at an estimated 10,000 feet in t he s ky Southeast of this city. I immediately stopped my cruiser to better observe this object, which at first a ppeared to be an aircraft on fire. On closer inspection, the object appeared as a round glowing, brilliant, white or s ilver light, which remained in a fixed position in a near cloudless sky. Because this object or vehicle appeared to be in the area of King City, twelve miles South of Greenfield, I contacted the King City Police, via Police r adio, and was advised that they to were able to locate the same object I have r eferred to, however they sai d i t appeared to be in the area of Coaling~ several oile s Southeast of t heir city. At or about the time of ing Ci t y's confirmation of sighting, other Police units i n the cities o;,soledad and Gonzales, to t he North of Gr eenfield, made similar reports c of t hi s object. After n:.aking r adio r eport to t he communicat i ons c ontrol cent er i n Salinas, I continued t o observe this brightly, gl owing, o b ject . at frequent intervals through binoculars . When compared to the brig~test . stars v i s ible, the object under observa t ion looked much large r and brighter. . t han any of them. I observed the Russian "Sputnik" on two or"tlits over San Francisco and Oakland, but t he object I saw this morning appeared . much larger and brighter than "Sputnik", however, unlike "Sputnik" this : object's movement appeared to be one of vertical climb only, moving from 1 an estimated 10,000 feet on f i r s t sighting at 4:30AM to 6o, ooo f eet on my las t observation at 7a05AM. Patrolman Charles CRISP a Police Officer of the K City Police Depart- : ment and an off duty Military Police Sargeant, and I ma de a fifteen minute observation of this glowing objec , using 7X50 powered binoculars. We observed from 5s45AK to 6:0oAM from El Camino Real at . Maple Av., Greenfield, and are in agreement that the thing we viewed ) shone with a constant, brilliant, white or silve r light, which appe ared to climbvertically nn estimated 20 000 feet i n the time we watched. At no time after sighting this bright object wa s I able to detect the slightest ~ig-Zag or erratic mot1on and I did not s e e any streamers or comet-like appearance to the thing I viewed. My last observation o s ~ object was made at the home of Constable a nd Mrs. of St., Greenfield, who agree with me, the object, we watched at 7s0 / ma s mu cn br ighter than the moon which was clear l y v isible i n t he e arly morni n g light. It i s the opinion of the writer t ha t any repor t of e r r atic movement or ange of course in flight, or any a t t empt to describe this object a s auc er shaped, missile shaped , or of conventiona l aircraft desi gn is erroneous, and the product of a Hype r -active i ma gination. Nick Hienz, atrolman G. P.D. HEADQUARTERS 930 BOMBARDMENT WING UNITEO STATES AIR FORCI! CASTLE AIR FORCE BASE, CALIFORNIA sus J E c r : Unidentified Flying Object TO: AFSC (FI'D) 1. An investigation of an unidentified flying object was made on 19, 20, and 21 December 1962, on t he basis of attachment 1 to this report. Prior to making this investigation, calls were made to Hamilton and Beale Air Force Bases to determine if action had been taken by either 2 . The following military and civilian organizations were contacted during the course of the investigation, and all willingly cooperated, and provided as much assistance as possible. Provost Marshal' s Office, Fort Ord, California. b . Detachment 7, 16th Weather Sqdn. USAF, Fritzsche Field, Fort Ord, California. c . US Naval Air Fac i 1 j ty, l.fonterey, California. d. Monterey County Sheriff's Office, Salinas, California, and Sub- Units at ~1onterey and King City. e . Police Departments of King City, Greenfield, Soledad and Gonzales, California. f. FAA \-leather Station, Sa.li nas, California Airport. g . California State Division of Forestry, 480 Calle Princ-ipa..l.e, Monterey, California. 3 Description of the object was consistent, except for some minor var- iations, The object was round, varied in size from a large grapefruit to the size of a dinner plate ( 10 -12 inches). There was only one object, white in color , and very bright. There ..re::-e no trails or ex..."lB.ust, bu-c ground f'og a nd some traces of clouds w-ere present. A halo t:!i'tect was attributed to g round fog. There was no sound. One observer in Soledad stated he was receivjng squelch on the police rado shortly after he saw the object at 0930Z 14 December, and believed object could have been causjng squelch. No other observers reported squelch on the police radio. l~. Obs~rrers t'irst noted t':le ooject .., ec:1,us~ o.r.' tl:e rer-J o:-ie;.o.t T:ro observers at Fort Ord believed it to be a ver;~ brig~t star. uhen first observed '-ras approximately 15 to 20, altitude estimated at 10,000 feet. Object appeared to the southeast of'all observers. Three observers placed the object over the city of Coalinga, California. Angle at disappearance was approximately 50 to 55, and altitude esti- mates varied betw-een 25, 000 and 60, 000 feet. There was very little horizontal or diagonal movement, and there 'WaS no rapid movement in an:y direction. There was a gradual rising movement while the object drifted to the south and finally disappeared as daylight came to the area. Two observers described the disappearance of the object as being similar to the light in a television set when the set is turned off. The object was visible for s lightly more than 6 hours; however, no one observed it for the entire time, but rather at intervals. Also, to some observers the light disappeared and then reappeared. The manner of observation was ground-visual, and one observer used binocul are ( 7 X 50), the object was not reported by USAF radar sites in 6. Time of sighting was o847Z through 1505Z, 14 ~cember 1962. Light conditions were night for most of the time, and dawn for a brief period. 7. Three observers were located near the main gate to Fort Ord, Calif. on State Highway l. Two observers were located in King City and Green- field, and one observer was located in Soledad. 8. Personnel observing the object are as follows: a. Patrolman IARRY SCHUMACHER, age 25 Monterey Unit of Monterey County Sheriff' s Office. No previous military service, but a fairly rel:La.ble observer. b . Privarte First Clas s ROBERT E . IASSEN, age 21 US51 488370, Fort Ord, CAlifornia. Reliable observer. c. Private First Class JOHN T. 0'-IENS, age 22 RA19616474, 298th Military Police Compan:y Fort Ord, California. Reliable observer d. Patrolman AT.BERT ANDRADE, age 29 King City Police Department Fairly reliable observer, no previous military experience. c . ?atrolman Rica~ INEZ, age 27 King City Police Department Only partly reliable, not experienced as an observer, no pre- vious military experience. f. Patrolman :NORMAN L. (Nick) HIENZ, age 41 Greenfield Police Department. Very reliable observer, retired Air Force veteran, ~Aster Sergeant, considerable experience as an observer. Constable age 68 Greenfield e Department Reliable observer, long time resident of the area. Patrolman JOSEPH E. MORANDA, age 34 Soledad Police Department Very reliable observer, no previous military experience. 9 . The nearest weather station w.s the FAA Station located at the Salinas Airport. William H. Render was the specialist on duty at 1234Z 14 December, when the station received the first report of the object. He reported nothing unusual, and did not see the bright light. His report of weather conditions for the period o855Z through 1255Z on 14 December 1962 is as follows: cloudiness at 4,ooo 10 mile visibility cloudiness visibility clear no clouds 10 mile visibility clouds 10 mile visibility clouds 8 mile visibility He also stated that at 1247Z, 1 4 December, the oakland Air Traffic Con- trol Center at Fremont, received a call from a Pan-American Airlines pilot who sa~" a heavy meteor display. The area of the display was to the south and east of Salinas. Vertical temperature g radient, wind di.rectt1on, and velocity weoe not available. \-lind direction was from the south southwest at 190 10. Weather balloons released either by the US Coast Guard weather station at Morro Bay o r the weather station at San Luis Obispo, Calif. could have drifted into the area and account for the sighting. ll. An improvised balloon released by a private citizen o r prankster, could also account for the sighting. The balloon could be made of trans- parent plastic material which can be purchased at any dry cleaninS estab- lishment. Targe envelopes or balloons, single or double thickness, 6 to ts feet long can be made and filled with natural gas used in private homes. Evidence that plastic bag balloons have been made and used by pranksters, has been found by the California State Forestr-J Division ln I!onterey County. These balloons were filled with natural gas and fitted with an improvised device which would burn through the plastic and cause a bright flash as the gas ignited. It would be possible for an individual to assemble all the necessary equipment and launch a balloon without any assistance. Attachments 3, l~o, and 5 are photographs of the balloons and devices found by the California State Forestry Division 480 Galle Principa.le, Monterey. Mr. Richard E . Diltz, an associate state forest ranger, stated that it was possible to attach a flashlight or lantern to one or more of the plastic bags with masking tape, or any material strong enough to hold the weight. Nr. Diltz also requested that no jnformation concerning the plastic balloons be released to newspapers or magazines. 12. The behavior characteristics of the object were that of a balloon. The source of the balloon cannot be positively determined. CHESTER G KRIE~ Major, USAF Investigating Officer 1. Ltr, Report of UFO 2. Report of Patrolman Hienz 3. Photo of balloon 4. Photo of balloon 5. Photo of balloon