Six defining cases from the April 15–30, 1950 UFO wave, from a Texas military intercept to the Bruno Facchini close encounter in Italy.
1950: April 15th – 30th
UFO|UAP & Entity Sightings Archive
The back half of April 1950 escalated well past the daily light-in-the-sky reports of earlier in the month. This log documents a triangulated military intercept attempt in the Texas Panhandle, an entity sighting near Santiago del Estero, Argentina, one of the best-witnessed airline pilot cases of the decade over Goshen, Indiana, and the famous Bruno Facchini close encounter with occupants and physical trace evidence at Abbiate Guazzone, Italy — all now documented with their own standalone reports linked below.
Date: April 15, 1950
Location: Danville, Iowa
Time: Around 11:00
Summary: One object was observed by one witness for over one minute (Albright).
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 15, 1950
Location: Davenport, Iowa
Time: Daytime
Summary: One object was observed by several witnesses.
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 16, 1950
Location: Rome, Lazio, Italy
Time: Unknown
Summary: Three flying discs were observed.
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 16, 1950
Location: Ludlow, Massachusetts
Time: 10:30
Summary: A daytime disc was reported at a mountain for seven minutes.
Source: Gross, Loren E. UFOs: A History. 1950: April-July Author, Fremont, 1982
Date: April 16, 1950
Location: Burlington, Iowa
Time: 10:45
Summary: One object was observed by several witnesses for several minutes (Weisal).
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 16, 1950
Location: Bristol, Virginia
Time: Around 11:00
Summary: One object was observed by two witnesses (Rush; Trivett).
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 16, 1950
Location: Salem, Illinois
Time: 15:45
Summary: One object was observed by three witnesses (Bachman).
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 16, 1950
Location: Moorsele, Belgium
Time: 22:25
Summary: One object was observed by two male witnesses (Degraeve).
Source: Bonabot, Jacques Catalog of Belgian Cases
Date: April 17, 1950
Location: Montmartre, Paris, France
Time: Unknown
Summary: The London edition of the New York Herald reported local viewers seeing an object over Montmartre.
Source: Doubt Magazine
Date: April 17, 1950
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Time: Unknown
Summary: Electromagnetic effects were noted; a transient unexplained phenomenon was reported.
Source: Doubt Magazine
Date: April 17, 1950
Location: Fonda, Iowa
Time: Morning
Summary: Several objects were observed by several witnesses (Rocknagel).
Source: Doubt Magazine
Date: April 17, 1950
Location: Los Alamos, New Mexico
Time: 15:30
Summary: A University of California Personnel Division scientist watched one of three objects through a telescope and reported it looked flat, metallic, and roughly circular, about nine feet in diameter.
Source: Fawcett, George D., “UFOs Continue To Visit Nuclear Energy Sites”
Date: April 17, 1950
Location: Santiago del Estero, Argentina
Time: 17:00
Summary: A laborer working in the fields watched a huge, metallic, disc-shaped craft slowly descend, its rotating central flange flashing multi-colored lights. He reported seeing several tall, man-like figures in tight-fitting silvery outfits inside, apparently operating controls, before the craft gave off a bright flash and ascended at very high speed. See the Full Report.
Source: Banchs, Roberto & Heiden, Richard
Date: April 17, 1950
Location: Springfield, Massachusetts
Time: 20:20
Summary: Nocturnal lights were observed by two teenage witnesses in the city for over one minute.
Source: Gross, Loren E. UFOs: A History. 1950: April-July Author, Fremont, 1982
Date: April 17, 1950
Location: Salamanca, Spain
Time: Midnight
Summary: A witness reported seeing a hovering, disc-shaped object over the city; through a transparent section of the craft he was able to make out several human-like figures moving around inside.
Source: Luis González Manso, First-HUMCAT
Date: April 18, 1950
Location: Pullman, Washington
Time: 10:30
Summary: Three flying discs were observed by three witnesses for seven minutes (Premo).
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 18, 1950
Location: Sherman, Texas
Time: 10:50
Summary: Two military wives saw 18 to 20 flat, silent, silver discs race rapidly to the north, maneuvering for four to five minutes.
Source: Gross, Loren E. UFOs: A History. 1950: April-July Author, Fremont, 1982
Date: April 18, 1950
Location: Near Memphis, Texas (BBU)
Time: 9:00 a.m. – 12:40 p.m. (CST)
Summary: CAA observers at Clarendon and Childress, Texas, fifty miles apart, independently triangulated a stationary object near Memphis, Texas that held its position for over three hours despite winds aloft. Northrop test pilot Max Stanley and observers Lloyd Balsam and Sam F. West, preparing for a Navaho missile guidance test out of Amarillo, were diverted to intercept, and a B-36 scrambled from Fort Worth for the same purpose. See the Full Report.
Source: Jan Aldrich
Date: April 18, 1950
Location: Dallas, Texas
Time: After 15:00
Summary: One cigar-shaped object was observed by several witnesses (Chennault).
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 18, 1950
Location: Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Time: Night
Summary: Several discs were observed.
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 19, 1950
Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Time: Unknown
Summary: Nocturnal lights were reported.
Source: Eberhart, George M. A Geo-Bibliography of Anomalies Greenwood Press, Westport, 1980. ISBN: 0-313-21337-2
Date: April 19, 1950
Location: Calexico, California
Time: 03:00
Summary: Three dark discs were observed by two experienced male witnesses (as reported to the police) for 20 minutes, with no sound heard.
Source: Gross, Loren E. UFOs: A History. 1950: April-July Author, Fremont, 1982
Date: April 19, 1950
Location: Anderson, Missouri
Time: 06:00
Summary: A swarm of 80 or more saucers, each 4-5 feet wide, caused a 30-minute traffic jam east of town before flying off to the east at sunrise.
Source: Bloecher, Ted R.
Date: April 19, 1950
Location: Clarendon, Texas
Time: Morning
Summary: A silver, cigar-shaped object was sighted by a pilot in the morning sky, flying slowly and vertically. This entry is separate from and one day after the extended Memphis, Texas triangulation case, though it originates from the same Clarendon observation post.
Source: Weinstein, Dominique Aircraft UFO Encounters Project ACUFOE, Paris, 1999
Date: April 19, 1950
Location: Blackfoot, Idaho
Time: 22:00
Summary: One object was observed by four witnesses for a few seconds (Dewitt).
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 19, 1950
Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Time: 23:00
Summary: More than one object was observed by over 200 witnesses for 30 minutes (Fallow).
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 20, 1950
Location: Houston, Texas
Time: 03:00
Summary: One object was observed by two witnesses for over one minute (Easterling).
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 20, 1950
Location: Lorient, Brittany, France
Time: 18:00
Summary: A disc flew rapidly to the south toward the sea; observed by several witnesses on the shore for over one minute.
Source: Lumières Dans la Nuit
Date: April 20, 1950
Location: Bruges, Belgium
Time: 21:40
Summary: One object was observed by several witnesses for several minutes.
Source: Bonabot, Jacques Catalog of Belgian Cases
Date: April 20, 1950
Location: Stamford, Connecticut
Time: 22:00
Summary: Nocturnal lights were reported.
Source: Gross, Loren E. UFOs: A History. 1950: April-July Author, Fremont, 1982
Date: April 20, 1950
Location: Lufkin, Texas
Time: 23:00
Summary: Jack Robertson, driving 13 km west of town, saw a round object about 3 meters in diameter hovering roughly 7 meters above him with a dull red glow. It took off with a “whooshing roar” as sparks flew from a slot underneath; minutes later he felt a burning sensation on his face.
Source: Magonia 77; Flying Saucer Review, July 1959
Date: April 21, 1950
Location: Trinidad, Colorado
Time: Afternoon
Summary: Two objects were observed by more than three witnesses for a few seconds (Muniz).
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 21, 1950
Location: Dölsach, Austria
Time: 20:30
Summary: Nocturnal lights were reported (Jeller).
Source: Schoenherr, Luis
Date: April 21, 1950
Location: Salzburg, Austria
Time: 20:30
Summary: One object was observed by two witnesses briefly (Chiba).
Source: NICAP
Date: April 22, 1950
Location: Princeton, Missouri
Time: Morning
Summary: Several farmers, including one named Kincaid, saw a flying disc speed by, leaving a trail of white smoke.
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 22, 1950
Location: Rangely, Colorado
Time: 19:00
Summary: One object was observed.
Source: Vallee, Jacques
Date: April 23, 1950
Location: Balearic Islands, Spain
Time: Unknown
Summary: An object was observed and photographed (Muller).
Source: Hall, Richard H. The UFO Evidence NICAP, Washington, 1964
Date: April 23, 1950
Location: Morinville, Alberta, Canada
Time: 03:00
Summary: One object about 40 feet across was observed by two witnesses for over one minute (Campbell).
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 23, 1950
Location: Carbondale, Illinois
Time: Afternoon
Summary: A hovering disc was observed by one experienced male witness on a highway briefly (Gene; Holt, Don).
Source: Flying Saucers, Flying Saucers Magazine (Palmer)
Date: April 23, 1950
Location: Redbud, Illinois
Time: 16:00
Summary: Three domed discs were observed and photographed by a male witness (Margen, D).
Source: Eberhart, George M. A Geo-Bibliography of Anomalies Greenwood Press, Westport, 1980. ISBN: 0-313-21337-2
Date: April 24, 1950
Location: Graz, Styria, Austria
Time: Unknown
Summary: A flying disc was observed and photographed.
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 24, 1950
Location: Palma de Mallorca, Spain
Time: Unknown
Summary: A flying disc was observed and photographed by three witnesses (Muller).
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 24, 1950
Location: Ansonia, Connecticut
Time: 00:30
Summary: Two policemen and a restaurant proprietor watched a crescent-shaped object, like a half-moon with a squared-off end, move unevenly through the sky.
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 24, 1950
Location: Laramie, Wyoming
Time: 17:07
Summary: One object was observed by more than four witnesses at a college for over two minutes (Kostal).
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 24, 1950
Location: Wilmington, North Carolina
Time: Around 20:00
Summary: One object was observed by one witness.
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 24, 1950
Location: Charleston & Columbia, South Carolina
Time: Around 20:00
Summary: One object was observed by numerous witnesses.
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 24, 1950
Location: Rangely, Colorado
Time: 21:45
Summary: One object was observed by three witnesses for ten minutes (Jay).
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 24, 1950
Location: Abbiate Guazzone, Lombardy, Italy
Time: 22:00
Summary: Attracted by a flickering light between Tradate and Abbiate, 42-year-old Bruno Facchini came upon a dark, hovering, oblate spheroid craft about 10 meters wide and 6 meters high, from which a small flight of steps led to the ground. A man in tight-fitting clothes and a diving-suit-style helmet appeared to be making repairs, sparks visible from his work, while three more pallid, 5.9-foot-tall figures in similar suits were seen nearby. Facchini approached and offered help; the figures gestured and made an unintelligible sound. Realizing they were not human, he fled and was knocked down by a beam from a camera-like device one of them pointed at him. He watched from the ground as the repair was finished, the steps folded up, and the craft rose vertically with a loud drone. The next day, four round marks forming a six-meter square were found at the site, along with fragments of an unusual leaded-bronze “antifriction” metal; Facchini’s back pain from the beam lasted a month. See the Full Report.
Source: Webb, David HUMCAT: Catalogue of Humanoid Reports
Date: April 25, 1950
Location: Ansonia, Connecticut
Time: 01:30
Summary: One object was observed by two witnesses for over four minutes (Foley).
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 25, 1950
Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Time: 02:45
Summary: One object was observed by one witness (Johnston).
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 25, 1950
Location: Dugway Proving Grounds, Utah
Time: 03:00
Summary: A series of unknown lights, including a “flying icebox” surrounded by an aura of spears, was seen over the Ammunition Storage Area near Dugway Mountain; a 24-hour search of the area followed.
Source: Gross, Loren E. UFOs: A History. 1950: April-July Author, Fremont, 1982
Date: April 25, 1950
Location: East Palo Alto, California
Time: Dawn
Summary: One object was observed by three witnesses for over one minute (White).
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 25, 1950
Location: Beeville, Texas
Time: 10:14
Summary: A saucer-shaped object left a vapor-like trail and disappeared from sight within three minutes.
Source: Weinstein, Dominique Aircraft UFO Encounters Project ACUFOE, Paris, 1999
Date: April 25, 1950
Location: Seattle, Washington
Time: 14:00
Summary: One object was observed by one witness for 24 seconds (Fitzgerald).
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 25, 1950
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Time: 16:00
Summary: A 200-foot-long, cone-shaped object flew over the airport at 15,000 feet altitude, prompting many calls to the police and news media; a white substance hung about its tail without forming a normal condensation trail. Observed for one minute.
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 25, 1950
Location: Lulu Island, British Columbia, Canada
Time: 18:30
Summary: One object was observed by one witness (Jackson; Price).
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 25, 1950
Location: Rocky Hill, Connecticut
Time: 19:45
Summary: One object was observed by two witnesses for a few seconds (Fancy).
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 25, 1950
Location: Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada
Time: 23:55
Summary: One object was observed by one witness briefly (Sillak).
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 27, 1950
Location: Alamogordo / Holloman AFB, New Mexico (BBU)
Time: Morning
Summary: While preparing for an MX-776A Shrike air-to-ground missile test, Charles Riggs and other members of USAF contractor Land-Air, Inc. saw, tracked, and filmed four high-flying objects on an Askania cinetheodolite at station P-10 and a theodolite at station M-7. Triangulation put the objects at roughly 30 feet in size and 150,000 feet altitude, located between Holloman AFB and Tularosa Peak. Most camera crews had already begun unloading film after the scheduled missile test when the objects were spotted; only one station still had film loaded, and its photos showed only a smudgy dark shape — enough to confirm something was in the air and moving, but little else.
Source: Project Bluebook; Sparks; Ruppelt, Edward J. Report on Unidentified Flying Objects Doubleday, Garden City, 1956
Date: April 27, 1950
Location: 10 miles NE of Camp Haugen, near Hachinohe, Japan (BBU)
Time: 2:45 p.m.
Summary: Misawa AFB 7th Fighter Bomber Squadron pilot 2nd Lt. James Henry Petty, flying an F-80C jet at 25,000 feet in a slight left turn heading northeast to rendezvous with a lead aircraft, spotted an unidentified object about three miles away tracking the lead aircraft from below and behind. As the lead plane turned, the object accelerated and climbed to its altitude while Petty’s own aircraft overflew both, getting a close look: a rectangular, cream-colored, flat object appearing to be made of “muslin,” about 20 feet high, 60 feet long, and only about 2 inches thick, oriented vertically, not reflecting sunlight despite bright conditions, with no exhaust or visible means of propulsion and no fluttering. After being overflown, the object accelerated to 600 mph, crossed in front of Petty’s aircraft, and disappeared against a clear sky. A similar incident occurred the following day near Wakkanai.
Source: Jan Aldrich; Weinstein, Dominique
Date: April 27, 1950
Location: Plymouth, Massachusetts (BBU)
Time: 09:00
Summary: A U.S. Air Force F-86 Sabre jet pilot encountered a flat, oval-shaped, light brown object, which climbed away from the jet and, at 28,000 feet, turned and flew off.
Source: Weinstein, Dominique Aircraft UFO Encounters Project ACUFOE, Paris, 1999
Date: April 27, 1950
Location: Osuna, Sevilla, Spain
Time: 17:30
Summary: A flying disc was observed by two witnesses.
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 27, 1950
Location: Near Goshen, Indiana (BBU)
Time: 8:25 p.m.
Summary: TWA Flight 117 pilot Captain Robert Adickes and First Officer Robert F. Manning, flying a DC-3 west toward Chicago at roughly 2,000 feet, saw a glowing red disc climb up from behind and pace their aircraft at close range for six to seven minutes. When Adickes banked toward it, the object veered away, holding a constant distance; stewardess Gloria Hinshaw and at least eleven passengers, including two Boeing engineers, were called to witness it before it accelerated to an estimated 400 mph and vanished toward South Bend. See the Full Report.
Source: McDonald, James E., 1968; Project 1947; Keyhoe, Donald E., 1953; NICAP
Date: April 27, 1950
Location: Stamford, Connecticut
Time: Around 22:00
Summary: One object was observed by two witnesses (Jordan).
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 28, 1950
Location: Milan, Italy
Time: Unknown
Summary: Two flying discs were observed.
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 28, 1950
Location: About 2 miles west of Wakkanai, Japan (BBU)
Time: 11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m.
Summary: Misawa AFB 9th Fighter Bomber Squadron pilot 1st Lt. James H. Harvey flew an F-80C attempting to intercept a target tracked by a radar site, without success for the first hour. At 12:30 p.m. he saw an object roughly seven miles to his left heading south at 600-650 mph, lost it in clouds after about five seconds, then saw it reappear on his right after apparently circling at very high speed, continuing to circle in front of his aircraft at roughly a mile’s distance. The object was a white, square, 12-by-12-foot shape, thin and vertically oriented, resembling an aerial tow target with no visible propulsion, exhaust, or lights, contrasted clearly against the ocean below. It was lost again after about five seconds when it blended into low overcast cloud. Radar Site #18, in continuous contact with the F-80C, was unable to track the object itself. A similar incident had occurred the previous day near Camp Haugen, Japan.
Source: Jan Aldrich
Date: April 28, 1950
Location: Grants Pass, Oregon
Time: Morning
Summary: One object was observed by six witnesses at an airport for 20 minutes (Hayes).
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 28, 1950
Location: Reus, Tarragona, Spain
Time: 09:15
Summary: A daytime disc was reported.
Source: Stendek
Date: April 28, 1950
Location: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Time: Daytime
Summary: A daytime disc was reported.
Source: Hill, H. Edward Catalog Through 1950
Date: April 28, 1950
Location: Seattle, Washington
Time: 15:30
Summary: One object was observed by 30 witnesses for a few seconds (Loughead).
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 28, 1950
Location: Klamath Falls, Oregon
Time: 21:30
Summary: One object was observed by several witnesses briefly (Gheller; Southwell).
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 28, 1950
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Time: 22:00
Summary: Two objects were observed by one witness for a few seconds (Scott).
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 29, 1950
Location: Juneau, Alaska
Time: Unknown
Summary: Motion picture actor and pilot Mikel Konrad filmed eight discs landing and taking off roughly 60 kilometers north of Juneau; animal reactions to the objects were also reported.
Source: Vallee, Jacques Challenge to Science: The UFO Enigma Henry Regnery, Chicago, 1966; Scully, Frank Behind the Flying Saucers Holt, 1950
Date: April 30, 1950
Location: Mount Joy, Iowa
Time: 10:00
Summary: One object was observed by two witnesses (Wedemyer).
Source: Arnold, Kenneth Coming of the Saucers Authors, Amherst, 1952
Date: April 30, 1950
Location: Burlington, Iowa
Time: Around 10:00
Summary: One object was observed.
Source: Arnold, Kenneth Coming of the Saucers Authors, Amherst, 1952
Date: April 30, 1950
Location: Savannah, Georgia
Time: 20:00
Summary: Police and five other independent witnesses reported an upside-down, hat-shaped disc with small fins, an estimated 15 meters in diameter, hovering for a few seconds before shooting off to the southeast.
Source: Newspaper
Date: April 30, 1950
Location: Centralia, Washington
Time: Evening
Summary: Eight objects were observed by one male witness briefly (Goelitzer).
Source: Newspaper
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
From a Texas Intercept to an Italian Repair Crew
The back half of April 1950 produced four of the archive’s strongest cases for this month, each now documented in full: the Santiago del Estero, Argentina entity sighting, the Memphis, Texas triangulation that escalated into an active military and contractor intercept attempt, the exceptionally well-witnessed TWA Flight 117 pursuit over Goshen, Indiana, and the internationally famous Bruno Facchini close encounter at Abbiate Guazzone, Italy, complete with physical trace evidence and a month-long physiological injury. Two Japanese jet-intercept cases on consecutive days (April 27 near Hachinohe and April 28 near Wakkanai) add a further layer of military corroboration to the period, each involving a USAF fighter pilot closing on a thin, flat, radar-evasive object with no visible means of propulsion.
“Realizing they were extraterrestrial, Facchini ran.”
— From the case file of the April 24, 1950 Abbiate Guazzone, Italy encounter.
