THINK ABOUTIT UFO|UAP SIGHTINGS REPORT

1950: Poplar Bluff, Missouri — The Five-Hour Silver Marble

On the afternoon of September 19, 1950, townspeople in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, began calling the airport about a silvery thing hanging motionless over the city. Residents described it as a translucent wash tub, two big white balloons tied together, or a translucent silver sphere with a red tube hanging beneath. By the time darkness fell it had been in the sky for about five hours, and two Tennessee Air National Guard F-51s had climbed from Memphis to look at it.

The pilots could not reach it. One topped out at 30,000 feet; the other climbed to 40,000 and still could not attain its altitude, and said it looked like a very large silver balloon. The Air Force card and Blue Book listing agree: Balloon. This Poplar Bluff UFO case carries a coda, though: after dark the second pilot saw green and white lights above him move in bursts toward St. Louis, and said they might not be connected.

Date: September 19, 1950 (Tuesday)

Sighting Time: Reported at 16:30 CST; in sight at 16:40; lost at about 19:00; lights at about 19:18

Day/Night: Day into night

Location: Poplar Bluff, Missouri; the object drifted about 10 miles toward New Madrid, Missouri, past Malden airport

Urban or Rural: Town

No. of Entity’s: 0 — Not Applicable

Entity Type: Not Applicable

Entity Description: Not Applicable

Hynek Classification: DD (daylight disc; a hovering sphere)

Duration: About five hours in view

No. of Object(s): One (plus the later lights)

Description of the Object(s): A silver sphere, between spherical and elliptical, looking like a big silver marble or a very large balloon with no fire, lights or exhaust; to townspeople a translucent wash tub, two white balloons tied together, or a translucent silver sphere with a red tubular affair beneath

Shape/Size/Color of Object(s): Spherical to elliptical; silver; size not stated

Distance to Object(s): Not determined; it did not seem nearer at 2,000 feet than from the ground

Height & Speed: Above 40,000 feet by the pilot’s account; one pilot guessed 60,000 to 80,000 feet; drifting slowly

Number of Witnesses: Many Poplar Bluff residents; an airport manager; Malden Radio; 2 Tennessee Air National Guard F-51 pilots

Special Features/Characteristics: Two F-51 pursuits could not reach the object; green and white lights moving in bursts toward St. Louis about 18 minutes after the object was lost

Case Status: Balloon (Project 10073 Record Card and Blue Book listing)

Source: Air Intelligence Information Report IR-291-50, Hq MATS (Maxwell Flight Service Center report); Memphis Press-Scimitar, September 19, 1950; Third Army letter to Air Materiel Command, September 22, 1950; Project 10073 Record Card

Summary/Description: A silver balloon-like object hovered over Poplar Bluff for five hours while two Guard F-51s failed to reach it; the card says balloon.

Related Cases: None established

Detailed Report

The Air Force report. Hq MATS IR-291-50 relays a report from the Commanding Officer, Maxwell Flight Service Center. At 1630 CST on September 19, Malden Radio was told by phone that an unidentified object had been sighted over Poplar Bluff, and by 1640 Malden Radio had it in sight. A Tennessee National Guard F-51 from Memphis was dispatched at 1645 and directed to the object by Malden Radio; the pilot sighted it but could not reach it at his ceiling of 30,000 feet. A second F-51 was dispatched at 1800, climbed to the vicinity of the first aircraft over Malden and also sighted the object. The first aircraft withdrew with the object over New Madrid. The second pilot climbed to 40,000 feet and was still unable to reach it or estimate how far above him it was. He said it appeared to be a very large balloon, silver, with neither fire nor lights nor exhaust, between spherical and elliptical in shape. At about 1900 the object was lost from sight.

The lights. Staying in the area, the second pilot reported that about 1918 he saw a set of green and white lights above him moving at a very high rate of speed, green in front and white in the rear as on USAF aircraft, moving in bursts toward St. Louis. The report records the weather as cirrus haze at 30,000 feet and lower scattered stratus, and the pilot emphasized that there might be no connection between the object and the lights seen after dark.

The newspaper. The Memphis Press-Scimitar of September 19 reported that the town’s “flying saucer” was “an errant weather balloon,” according to Memphis Air National Guard Lt. Claude Haverty, who flew up and said it looked like a big silver marble and was some kind of weather balloon, he was sure. It said the object had hovered over Poplar Bluff for about five hours, had been guided toward by ground observers after the airport manager asked for an investigator, drifted about ten miles from over Malden toward New Madrid, and that the pilot thought it was a big weather balloon caught up at 60,000 to 80,000 feet. A transient pilot who stopped at Memphis for fuel also took a look. Residents’ descriptions included the wash tub, the two balloons and the silver sphere with the red tube. Third Army forwarded the clipping to Air Materiel Command on September 22.

The card. The Project 10073 card gives the date of information as September 19, 1950, a source of an National Guard pilot and others (newspaper report), the remark that the pilot flew toward the object in an F-51 and reported he was sure it was some kind of weather balloon, and the evaluation Balloon.

RESEARCHER’S NOTES

A Balloon With a Few Loose Ends

Altitude: The Air Force report says the second pilot reached 40,000 feet and could not tell how far above him it was; the newspaper quotes a 60,000-to-80,000-foot guess. A balloon at those heights is a plausible reading of both.
The lights: The green and white lights moving in bursts are not explained by a balloon, and the pilot himself said they might be unrelated.
Descriptions: The “translucent wash tub” and “red tubular affair” fit a balloon with a load or appendix, which is the card’s reading, but the file does not say what balloon was launched.
Earlier version: An older version of this entry described an erratic round object, hovering after moving at high speed, in “Poplar, Montana”; neither the report nor the clipping says that.
Names: The first pilot is named in the clipping as Lt. Haverty; the second is not named in the report.

Poplar Bluff is a good example of a long, well-witnessed sighting that was answered quickly and, on its main facts, plausibly. The balloon explanation covers the five hours over town and the failed pursuits; it does not cover the pilot’s late lights, and he did not claim it did.