THINK ABOUTIT UFO|UAP SIGHTINGS REPORT

1950: Fairchild AFB and Spokane, Washington

September 3 and 8, Sparks Over the Car and Three Tumbling Discs

Within five days in early September 1950, three Fairchild AFB-area people reported odd things overhead. On September 3, Capt. and Mrs. Fortney were driving to the base when a bluish-white light rushed over their car, swelled to twice its size over the hangars, shed colored sparks and went out. That afternoon, Maj. Russell J. Gardinier was in his Spokane backyard when three flat bronze discs began quivering and tumbling about at 2,000 feet. On September 8 a base pilot, 1st Lt. Clifford L. Ponsness, watched a bluish-white light do almost exactly what the Fortneys’ had.

The 57th Air Division wrote that all three reporters were competent and reliable, that two were rated officers, and that aircraft, landing lights, jet trails, meteorites and other natural phenomena had been ruled out. It asked how to report such sightings in the future. The Air Force cards evaluate the two light sightings as Astro (Meteor) and Gardinier’s three discs as Unidentified (BBU #797).

Date: September 3 (22:20 and 14:00) and September 8 (22:20), 1950

Sighting Time: Fortney: 22:20; Gardinier: 14:00; Ponsness: 22:20

Day/Night: Night (Fortney, Ponsness); day (Gardinier)

Location: Highway 2 about one mile east of Fairchild AFB; the officer housing area at Fairchild AFB; the backyard of Maj. Gardinier’s home at the northwest edge of Spokane, Washington

Urban or Rural: Suburban and base housing

No. of Entity’s: 0 — Not Applicable

Entity Type: Not Applicable

Entity Description: Not Applicable

Hynek Classification: NL (Fortney and Ponsness); DD (Gardinier)

Duration: A few seconds (the lights); about five minutes of observation, the discs orbiting for about five minutes (Gardinier)

No. of Object(s): One light each night; three discs

Description of the Object(s): A bluish-white light the size of an auto headlight that enlarged to twice that size over the hangars, emitting sparks in a trail of other colors and then suddenly went out; three flat, pancake-shaped discs that quivered and oscillated, changed direction and speed abruptly and could hang motionless

Shape/Size/Color of Object(s): Light: bluish white; discs: 20 to 30 feet across and 2 to 6 feet deep, khaki tan to the eye and metallic bronze through a monocular

Distance to Object(s): Light: passed over the car and over the base; discs: about 2,000 feet above the terrain

Height & Speed: Light: low, roughly parallel to the ground, about 150 mph by the pilot’s estimate, “high speed” by Mrs. Fortney; discs: high speed that could not be estimated, with abrupt stops and starts

Number of Witnesses: Capt. and Mrs. Fortney (only Mrs. Fortney saw it); 1st Lt. Ponsness; Maj. Gardinier, his wife and a neighbor (the latter two saw one disc)

Special Features/Characteristics: CAVU weather for the discs; no sound for any of the three; the discs arrived from the northwest as though following the Spokane River, orbited the northwest corner of Spokane and left toward Fairchild AFB; no aircraft near the base for either light

Case Status: Fortney and Ponsness: Astro (Meteor) (cards); Gardinier: Unidentified (Blue Book listing; BBU #797)

Source: 57th Air Division, Fairchild AFB letter to Fifteenth Air Force, “Sightings of Unusual Objects,” 1950, with indorsements from March AFB, Strategic Air Command and USAF headquarters; Project 10073 Record Cards; Berliner; FUFOR Index

Summary/Description: Two bluish-white lights shedding sparks and three tumbling bronze discs, reported within five days by base and Spokane witnesses.

Related Cases: None established; the Sept 20 fireball reports from Colorado are a separate event

Detailed Report

The cover letter. Headquarters, 57th Air Division at Fairchild AFB wrote to Fifteenth Air Force at March AFB, attention the Director of Intelligence, enclosing three reports of sightings of unusual aerial objects by Fairchild personnel, two by rated officers, all three individuals considered competent and reliable. Because no satisfactory explanation was apparent and the dates and times nearly coincided, the division forwarded them for forwarding to an appropriate agency. It said aircraft, aircraft landing lights, jet trails, meteorites and other natural phenomena had been ruled out and requested instructions on reporting future sightings. March AFB forwarded the letter to Strategic Air Command, noting the 57th Air Division had been told that in future any information of potential intelligence value would be reported under Air Force Regulation 200-15; SAC forwarded it to Air Force intelligence, which sent it to ATIC.

Mrs. Fortney. According to the report, Capt. and Mrs. Fortney were returning from Spokane to Fairchild AFB, driving west on Highway 2 about a mile or less from the eastern edge of the field, when Mrs. Fortney saw a bluish-white light approach the car from the northeast at what she called high speed, coming at the car so directly she became frightened it would hit it. It passed over and continued on a southwest course across the runways and hangar area, increasing from the size of an auto headlight to twice that, with sparks in a fiery trail in colors other than blue-white. Then it suddenly went out. There was no sound and no aircraft in the vicinity. Her husband did not see it because he was concentrating on driving and had his sun visor down.

Lt. Ponsness. The pilot was walking north on a street in the officer housing area when he saw a bluish-white light about the size of an auto headlight approaching the field from the north. It passed over the western edge, enlarged, emitted sparks as a trail for a few seconds and went out. He heard no sound, no aircraft were in the vicinity, and its course was northeast to southwest, paralleling the earth at about 150 mph by his estimate.

Maj. Gardinier. While relaxing in his backyard in the extreme corner of Spokane he saw three strange objects appearing from the northwest, about 2,000 feet up. His first impression was extra-large pieces of cardboard tumbling in an oversize dust devil, but they seemed held aloft by something other than air currents and acted independently and highly erratically, one moving up while another moved down and the third sideways. After two or three minutes he called his wife for a 6×23 monocular; by the time she came only one object could be seen, the other two having left in the direction of Fairchild. Mrs. Gardinier and a neighbor, Mrs. Lowell Allen, watched the third climb away toward the base. He described the objects as rather flat, pancake-shaped, constantly quivering and oscillating, able to change direction and speed abruptly and to hang motionless. They appeared to follow the Spokane River, orbited the northwest corner of the city for about five minutes, then headed almost straight toward Fairchild AFB. No dust, debris, trail, smoke or flame accompanied them.

The cards. The Project 10073 cards for the two lights each read Astro (Meteor), evaluated as a meteor observation. The Blue Book September listing carries one Spokane case on September 3 as Unidentified (Gardinier), another September 3 Spokane entry as an astronomical evaluation, and September 8 Spokane as Astro (Meteor).

RESEARCHER’S NOTES

Meteors, Mostly, and Three Discs

Why meteor: The two light cases share a blue-white light, enlargement, sparks and a sudden end, and no sound; Blue Book evaluated both as meteors. The Division’s own letter had ruled out meteorites, and the two sightings were five days apart at almost the same hour and place.
A matched pair: The Fortney and Ponsness reports are nearly identical in detail; the file does not say whether either witness knew of the other’s report.
The discs: The Gardinier discs are unlike the lights: daylight, flat and bronze-colored, three independently moving objects. The card carries them as Unidentified.
Dates: The 57th Air Division letter calls September 3 a Monday and September 8 a Saturday; September 3, 1950 was a Sunday and September 8 a Friday. The cards and list give September 3 and 8.
Names: Mrs. Fortney’s husband is named in the letter as Capt. Fortney; the neighbor Mrs. Lowell Allen is named in the text.

These three reports came from people the 57th Air Division rated competent and reliable, and the division itself said it could not explain them. Blue Book later closed two as meteors and left the third unidentified, a split the file does not explain.