April 1949 — four cases: the Dillon, Montana disc; the White Sands/Charles B. Moore ellipsoid; the ongoing Fort Hood, Texas UFO Wave; and the Tucson, Arizona sausage-shaped object.
1949: April UFO|UAP & Entity Sightings Archive
April 1949 continues the Los Alamos green fireball series alongside a wave of daylight disc reports from Montana to Arizona, and closes with the well-documented April 24 White Sands Proving Ground sighting — a General Mills balloon crew’s tracked ellipsoid object, among the best-instrumented cases of the year.
Date: Spring 1949
Location: Loch Duntelchaig, UK
Time: Dusk
Summary: An object was sighted with an appearance and performance beyond the capability of known earthly aircraft. One object was observed by two witnesses at a lake (Drummond).
Source: Rogerson, Peter. World-Wide Catalog of Type 1 Reports
Date: Spring 1949
Location: Baskunchak, Russia
Time: Night
Summary: One object was observed by one experienced male witness (Podoshivin).
Source: Zigel, Felix. Unpublished manuscript
Date: April 1949 (day unspecified)
Location: White Sands, New Mexico
Time: Daytime
Summary: This entry’s original text — an elliptical object about 150 feet across seen by five military witnesses for over a minute — duplicates the April 24, 1949 White Sands/Charles B. Moore case documented in full below. See that entry.
Source: Heard, Gerald. Is Another World Watching?, Harper & Brothers, New York, 1951
Date: April 3, 1949, BBU
Location: 1 mile SE of Dillon, Montana
Time: 11:55 a.m. (or 11:50)
Summary: Miller Construction Co. owner Gosta Miller (a commercial pilot and aviation engineer), an employee, a trucking company owner, and a gas station attendant (Lovell, Lessey, Greene) saw an object like two inverted plates joined face to face — matte blue-grey/greenish-grey non-reflective on the bottom, bright aluminum on top reflecting sunlight, about 20 ft in diameter (other estimates 15-25 ft) and 4-5 ft thick. Seen over the north end of town at 3,000-5,000 ft, about 4 miles away, moving in several directions and rocking or rotating in semicircles six times; it moved east, descended rapidly to about 700-1,000 ft, rocked again with its reflective upper side now visible, flew southwest to about 2 miles west of Dillon, rocked again, then flew rapidly over an airport 12 miles northeast of Dillon at 1,000 ft before departing rapidly east and disappearing over the mountains. No sound or trail; speed was estimated at 1,000 mph, fast enough that the object appeared blurred. Duration several minutes.
Source: Berliner; cf. FOIA; Jan Aldrich
Date: April 3, 1949
Location: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Time: Night
Summary: One object was observed by a male witness briefly.
Source: Doubt Magazine
Date: April 4, 1949, BBU
Location: Merced, California
Time: 10:20 p.m.
Summary: Major William Parrott, a former Air Force pilot, saw a generally round object with a curved bottom and dull coloring, giving off a clicking sound until it passed overhead. Parrott’s dog reacted to the object. Duration 35 seconds.
Source: Berliner
Date: April 5, 1949, AFOSI Case 47
Location: Los Alamos, New Mexico
Time: 10:00 p.m.
Summary: A green fireball with a red afterglow moved south to north about 300 ft above the south slope of Fejarito Mountain, disappearing behind the mountain at tremendous speed. Per the catalog record, Hatch’s NCP-3 listing #1276 flags this case as possibly a misdated 1948 incident.
Source: Condon Committee; AFOSI Case 47
Date: April 6, 1949, AFOSI Case 48
Location: Los Alamos, New Mexico
Time: 12:05 a.m. (catalog originally listed 1205, an AM/PM transcription error)
Summary: One observer, rated a reliable witness, saw an object to the SE at about 15,000 ft, between dark and light green in color, moving very fast. Duration three to five seconds.
Source: NICAP
Date: April 7, 1949, AFOSI Case 50
Location: Los Alamos, New Mexico
Time: 1:00 a.m.
Summary: One observer, rated reliable, saw a green light moving south to north, no sound, moving slowly. Duration five seconds.
Source: NICAP
Date: April 7, 1949, AFOSI Case 49
Location: Los Alamos, New Mexico
Time: 1:35 a.m.
Summary: One observer, rated reliable, saw a green light to the west, about 200 yards from the top of a hill, moving very slowly. Duration about 45 seconds.
Source: NICAP
Date: April 6-7, 1949, BBU
Location: Memphis, Tennessee
Time: 12:01 a.m. (or 12:30), 2:00, 3:30, and 4:00 a.m.
Summary: Housewife Mrs. Mike Love Stewart, along with Dorothy Hall (possibly Helen Howell), a husband and son, saw 6-9 climbing, diving, whirling yellow or silvery oval objects that avoided 3-4 airplanes, traveling from SW to SE at about 45° elevation roughly 1-2 miles away, with an angular size of about 1/4 the moon’s diameter. Duration 2-4 hours.
Source: FOIA
Date: April 7, 1949, BBU
Location: March AFB, Riverside, California
Time: Between 2:45 and 3:00 p.m.
Summary: Air National Guard Lts. Reeser and Salter, pilots in a T-6 heading southeast over March AFB’s radio beacon at 7,000 ft, first saw a tumbling red-and-grey wingtip-tank-shaped object about 1,000 ft below them for 4-5 seconds, then four white domed-disc, parachute-shaped objects spaced about 1,000 ft apart. They circled back; the copilot confirmed the four white parachute shapes had no shroud lines, and they climbed to 9,000 ft for a better look, but the objects disappeared to the east.
Source: FOIA; FUFOR Index
Date: April 7, 1949
Location: Montrose, Colorado
Time: ?
Summary: An object flying in a straight line across the sky was reported.
Source: Eberhart, George M. A Geo-Bibliography of Anomalies, Greenwood Press, Westport, 1980. ISBN:0-313-21337-2
Date: April 7, 1949
Location: Des Moines, Iowa
Time: 04:30
Summary: Nocturnal lights were observed by a male witness in a city (Ahern).
Source: Project Bluebook
Date: April 7, 1949
Location: Los Angeles, California
Time: 14:40
Summary: One object, about 5 feet across, was observed by three witnesses (Johnson).
Source: Scully, Frank. Behind the Flying Saucers, Holt, 1950
Date: April 9, 1949
Location: Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona
Time: 16:30
Summary: J. Bova saw an orange-colored object over some telephone lines at Davis-Monthan AFB. It moved suddenly from right to left, then again, passing behind a telephone pole, then returned to its original position, engaged in erratic movements, and ascended into a cloud, changing color from orange to white as it did so.
Source: Sullivan, Edward. CSI/LA investigation files
Date: April 12, 1949, AFOSI Case 51
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Summary: A round white object, about 1/8th the size of the moon, moved SE to NW very fast. The catalog record gives a later time (11:04 p.m.) for what may be this same case; left as originally recorded pending further confirmation.
Source: AFOSI Case 51 (Project 10073 Record Card)
Date: April 12, 1949, AFOSI Case 52
Location: El Paso, Texas
Time:
Summary: A witness reported a grayish object rising straight up and leaving a smoke trail. Duration 15 minutes.
Source: AFOSI Case 52
Date: April 12, 1949
Location: Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Time: 20:50
Summary: More than two objects were observed by four witnesses in a residential area.
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 14, 1949
Location: Hot Springs, New Mexico
Time: ?
Summary: Two objects, about 1 foot across, were observed by one witness. An elliptical object was picked up through a theodolite; it crossed the path of a high-altitude balloon at 50 miles altitude, at a speed of 5 miles per second.
Source: Hill, H. Edward. Catalog Through 1950
Date: April 18, 1949
Location: Childress, Texas
Time: ?
Summary: One object was observed by three male witnesses (Gray). CAA incident.
Source: Hill, H. Edward. Catalog Through 1950
Date: April 18, 1949
Location: Flagstaff and Williams, Arizona
Time: 01:48
Summary: Two observers, rated reliable, saw a ball-like, greenish-blue object to the NW — one at an altitude of about 12,000 ft, the other 75-100 miles away — the size of a 100-watt light bulb, with no sound, before it disappeared behind an obstacle. Duration one to two seconds.
Source: AFOSI
Date: April 19, 1949
Location: New Milford, Connecticut
Time: Night
Summary: Nocturnal lights were reported.
Source: Doubt Magazine
Date: April 20 (or 21), 1949, BBU
Location: Ludington, Michigan
Time: Afternoon
Summary: Paul Timm and Pat O’Connell, high school students, saw a fast-moving white “comet with a tail” cross the sky to the west, disappearing over Lake Michigan.
Source: FOIA; FUFOR Index
Date: April 22, 1949, AFOSI Case 54
Location: Cliff, New Mexico
Time: 9:05 a.m.
Summary: An aluminum-colored, round, flat, thin object about 15 ft in diameter moved west to east, dropping slowly at about 20°, in view for two minutes.
Source: AFOSI Case 54
Date: April 24, 1949
Location: El Cajon, California
Time: 13:15
Summary: Four objects were observed by twelve witnesses in a residential area for over 15 minutes (Bennett).
Source: Doubt Magazine
Date: April 24, 1949, BBU 358
Location: White Sands Proving Ground, New Mexico
Time: 10:30 a.m.
Summary: A General Mills, Inc. Skyhook balloon crew, together with U.S. Navy Special Devices Center personnel at a launch site three miles north of Arrey, New Mexico, watched an ellipsoid object about 2-1/2 times as long as it was wide, gleaming white with a light-yellow underside near the tail, cross a cloudless sky with no vapor trail or exhaust. Aerologist Charles B. Moore, Jr. and four enlisted Navy personnel observed and tracked the object; a Navy officer present, later identified as Cmdr. Robert B. McLaughlin, oversaw the ground-handling and balloon phases of the operation. Neither observer claimed the object was a “flying saucer.” [Full Report]
Source: Richard Hall, The UFO Evidence, 1964 (NICAP)
Date: April 25, 1949, BBU, AFOSI Case 56
Location: Springer Lake, New Mexico
Time: 6:30-7:30 a.m.
Summary: Mr. Abreu saw silvery-white spherical objects, like Christmas ornaments, fly over the lake at high speed, reappearing repeatedly with a high-pitched whistling sound lasting a few seconds each time.
Source: FOIA; FUFOR Index
Date: April 26, 1949
Location: Ambridge, Pennsylvania
Time: 00:20
Summary: Forty discs in three V-formations flew rapidly east to west; one veered off and scouted a foundry. Witnessed by a male worker at the factory. Known as the Railroad Men incident.
Source: Hatch, Larry
Date: April 27, 1949
Location: SE of Killeen Base, Camp Hood, Texas
Time: 9:20 p.m.
Summary: Part of the ongoing Fort Hood, Texas UFO Wave, where an Army artillery-observer UFO network established two days earlier tracked its first object. [Full Report]
Source: FOIA; Jan Aldrich
Date: April 27, 1949
Location: Twenty-nine Palms, California
Time: 07:10
Summary: One object was observed by two witnesses at a military facility for two minutes (McIntyre).
Source: Doubt Magazine
Date: April 28, 1949
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Time: 09:05
Summary: One object was observed by one male witness for five minutes (Wilson).
Source: Project Blue Book
Date: April 28, 1949, BBU
Location: Homer, Michigan
Time: 9:15 a.m.
Summary: William Sackett and William Gibson pursued six flying discs, about 10 inches in diameter, by car along Hwy 60 for five miles as the discs flew at low altitude in wide circles paralleling the road. Duration five minutes.
Source: FOIA
Date: April 28, 1949
Location: Southern Illinois
Time: 11:00
Summary: One object was observed by one witness for 30 seconds (Gammon).
Source: Project Bluebook
Date: April 28, 1949, BBU 361, AFOSI Case 57
Location: Tucson, Arizona
Time: 5:45 p.m.
Summary: Howard Hann (or Hamm), Mr. Hubert (or Huber), and Tex Keahey saw a very large, bright, sausage-shaped object with no fins, wings, or protuberances, rolling as it flew fast, for 12-40 minutes. A supplementary record gives three observers of unknown reliability, moving NE to SE (or SW), silver, cigar/sausage-shaped, sized between a B-29 and a city block, speed 300-600 mph, fading from view.
Source: FOIA; FUFOR Index
Date: April 28, 1949
Location: SE of Killeen Base, Camp Hood, Texas
Time: 8:30-10 p.m.
Summary: Several Army security patrols sighted a variety of strange lights, mostly slow-moving and changing color from white to red to green; one showed a red blinking light, another a “cone-shaped affair” trailing in the rear similar to one seen the day before. That same evening, Lt. Mardell Ward and another observation post spotted the brilliant white diamond-shaped object tracked for 57 seconds already documented on this site’s May 1949 page. Part of the Fort Hood, Texas UFO Wave. [Full Report]
Source: FOIA; Jan Aldrich
Date: April 29, 1949
Location: Klamath Falls, Oregon
Time: ?
Summary: More than two objects were observed.
Source: Doubt Magazine
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
A Duplicated Fragment Traced to Its Real Case
A fragment describing a “150-ft elliptical object seen by five military witnesses” had been pasted into two different entries on the live page — once as a standalone, contentless “April, 1949, White Sands” record, and again appended to the unrelated April 5 Los Alamos green-fireball case. Both turn out to be garbled restatements of the well-documented April 24, 1949 White Sands/Charles B. Moore balloon-tracking sighting, now filled out in full and linked to its standalone report. The “April 6 & 7” raw metadata dump has been split into three properly dated entries (AFOSI Cases 48, 49, and 50), with Case 48’s time corrected per the catalog’s own AM/PM correction note. Fort Hood, Texas UFO Wave entries this month are now filled out inline with a link to the full report rather than left as bare references.
“The object was an ellipsoid about 2-1/2 times as long as it was wide.”
Richard Hall, The UFO Evidence, 1964, describing the April 24, 1949 White Sands sighting.
