On the night of September 1, 1950, an airman at Ernest Harmon AFB was shot in the hand after seeing a silhouette and a flash on the beach.
THINK ABOUTIT UFO|UAP|ENTITY SIGHTINGS REPORT
1950: Ernest Harmon AFB, Newfoundland
A Silhouette, a Flash and a Wounded Airman
On the night of September 1, 1950, a 17-year-old Air Police airman standing at the east end of the runway at Ernest Harmon Air Force Base in Newfoundland saw the silhouette of a person between the beach and himself. He saw a flash and felt his hand burn. He fired four pistol rounds and three carbine rounds at the figure, with unknown results. A bullet had gone through the ring finger of his left hand, from what was believed to be a .22 or .25 caliber slug, with no powder burns, and a search of the area found nothing.
The base had also logged a radar blip four to five miles offshore a little over an hour earlier, and a few hours later an object was reported airborne just offshore at about 60 mph. The Air Force intelligence report that records all three calls the information sketchy, but says a tie-in between the shooting and the radar sightings was possible. This Ernest Harmon AFB Newfoundland case is not a typical UFO report; it is a report of a wounding that an intelligence officer linked, tentatively, to radar contacts.
Date: September 1-2, 1950 (the shooting at about 01:30Z on September 2, the evening of September 1 local)
Sighting Time: Blip about 00:24Z; shooting about 01:30Z; offshore object reported about 05:30Z (all September 2)
Day/Night: Night
Location: Ernest Harmon Air Force Base, Newfoundland: the east end of the runway, the beach, and the GCA scope; the offshore object just off the coast
Urban or Rural: Rural military base and shore
No. of Entity’s: 1 (reported): a person-shaped silhouette
Entity Type: Humanoid silhouette (unconfirmed)
Entity Description: The silhouette of a person standing between the beach and the airman; nothing more is described, and a search found no one
Hynek Classification: Not Applicable as a close encounter; a radar contact, an offshore airborne sighting and a shooting incident reported together
Duration: Not stated
No. of Object(s): One radar blip and one airborne object offshore; one reported silhouette
Description of the Object(s): Radar blip 4 to 5 miles offshore; an object seen airborne just offshore, cruising at about 60 mph; a flash and burning sensation at the silhouette
Shape/Size/Color of Object(s): Not described
Distance to Object(s): Blip: 4 to 5 miles offshore; airborne object: just offshore; silhouette: between the beach and the airman
Height & Speed: Not stated; the offshore object cruised at about 60 mph
Number of Witnesses: 1 airman (the wounded Air Police airman of the 43rd Bomb Wing, age 17); GCA and base personnel for the blip and the offshore sighting
Special Features/Characteristics: Gunshot wound to a finger of the left hand; no powder burns; a search with negative results; Hq MATS flagged a possible tie-in with the GCA contacts
Case Status: Insufficient Data (Blue Book listing, Ernest Harmon ground radar, September 1); investigations of the blip and offshore sighting negative; shooting unresolved in the file
Source: Air Intelligence Information Report IR-244-50, Hq MATS, September 7, 1950; John Brent Musgrave, UFO Occupants & Critters; Blue Book September 1950 listing
Summary/Description: An Air Police airman was shot in the hand after seeing a silhouette and a flash on the beach, on a night of radar blips and an offshore sighting.
Related Cases: Ernest Harmon AFB, August 30, 1950 (the earlier GCA blip and the Sandy Point and Kippens sightings, on the August page)
Detailed Report
The report. Hq MATS Air Intelligence Information Report IR-244-50, “Unidentified Radar Contacts,” dated September 7, 1950, quotes a priority message from Newfoundland. After describing the August 30 radar contact (see the August page), it adds events from September 2. At about 0024Z the base picked up a blip on a scope four to five miles offshore. At 0530Z, an object was reported airborne just offshore, speed about 60 miles per hour, cruising in the area. Investigation of both incidents produced negative results.
The shooting. At about 0130Z on September 2 at Ernest Harmon AFB, a 17-year-old airman of the 43rd Bomb Wing on Air Police duty on the east end of the runway sighted the silhouette of a person between the beach and himself. When he investigated he saw a flash and felt his hand burn. He fired four rounds from a .45 caliber pistol and three from a carbine, with unknown results. He was found to have been shot in the ring finger of his left hand, with the wound believed inflicted by a .22 or .25 caliber jacketed slug and no powder burns. A search of the area was negative.
The link. The report concludes that although the information on the shooting was sketchy, the possibility existed of a tie-in between the shooting of the airman and the GCA sightings, and that additional information would be forwarded if received.
Catalog version. Musgrave’s UFO Occupants & Critters summarizes it as military personnel seeing the figure of a man standing between the beach and the end of the runway, a flash of light and a sharp burning pain in the witness’s left hand, and the figure vanishing; the report itself says the airman fired his weapons and a search found nothing.
RESEARCHER’S NOTES
A Shooting Filed Among the Radar Reports
- A tie-in, not a finding: The intelligence summary only says a connection was possible. No object, craft or occupant is described in the file.
- A conventional reading: An intruder on the shore, a friendly-fire or ricochet injury or an accidental discharge are all consistent with the facts reported; the file does not address them.
- The offshore object: The 60 mph object at 05:30Z occurred about four hours after the shooting and is not described further.
- Time: 0130Z on September 2 is the evening of September 1 in Newfoundland; catalogs list September 2.
- The airman: He is not named here; the name is partly redacted in the scan.
The Ernest Harmon file records a wounded 17-year-old and a few radar and sea contacts, and the only link between them is an intelligence officer’s note that one was possible. It stays in this archive as a documented incident rather than as an established encounter.
“possibility exists of tie-in between shooting of airman and GCA sightings”
— Hq MATS Air Intelligence Information Report IR-244-50, September 7, 1950
