THINK ABOUTIT UFO|UAP SIGHTINGS REPORT

1951: A silent red torpedo crosses the Durban sky before dawn

Just before 5 a.m. on February 21, 1951, three men sat in a parked truck at a Durban street corner when one of them looked up through the windscreen and saw something that looked like a torpedo traveling slowly overhead toward the Bluff. Its front was bright red, its center dark red and its tail bright red, and it made no sound.

One of the men told the Natal Daily News it was “by far the prettiest thing” he had ever seen in the sky. The next day the paper reported that people waiting for the 5 a.m. train at Merebank station had watched the same object over the sea, and that a Durban astronomer ruled out a comet. The American Consul sent both clippings to Washington, and Project Blue Book listed the case as Unidentified.

Date: February 21, 1951

Sighting Time: Shortly before 5:00 a.m. local (about 4:55 a.m.)

Day/Night: Night, before dawn

Location: Durban, Natal, Union of South Africa (the Point area; also seen from Merebank station)

Urban or Rural: Urban

No. of Entity(‘s): 0

Entity Type: None observed

Entity Description: Not Applicable

Hynek Classification: NL (Nocturnal Light)

Duration: About 1 minute

No. of Object(s): 1

Description of the Object(s): A torpedo-shaped, brilliantly colored object with a bright red front, a dark red center and a bright red tail, silent and traveling parallel to the ground, not dropping like a shooting star.

Shape of Object(s): Torpedo-shaped

Size of Object(s): Not estimated

Color of Object(s): Bright red, dark red, bright red (truck witnesses); blue to one train witness

Distance to Object(s): Not estimated; one train witness judged it at a low altitude

Height & Speed: Low altitude (train witness); traveling slowly, level with the ground

Number of Witnesses: At least 3 men in the truck plus other people with them, and a group on the Merebank station platform

Special Features/Characteristics: Silent; no trail; ball-like at first and then torpedo-shaped to the train witnesses; faded near Reunion Rocks; astronomer ruled out a comet

Case Status: Project Blue Book card: Other (Unidentified)

Source: Natal Daily News, February 21 and 22, 1951; U.S. Consulate Durban despatch 282 (February 26, 1951); State Department memorandum of March 14, 1951; Project Blue Book record card; Berliner

Summary/Description: Three men in a truck and others saw a silent, torpedo-shaped red object travel slowly overhead before dawn in Durban. Passengers at Merebank station saw it over the sea. A Durban astronomer ruled out a comet. The American Consulate forwarded the newspaper reports to Washington, and Blue Book listed the case as Unidentified.

Detailed Report

The record on this case consists of two Natal Daily News clippings, dated February 21 and 22, 1951, a covering despatch (No. 282) from the American Consulate at Durban dated February 26, a State Department memorandum of March 14 sending the despatch to Air Force intelligence, and the Project Blue Book card. The consulate called it “flying saucers over Durban” and sent the articles as being of possible interest to the Department of Defense.

The first article, headed with the torpedo shape, reports that three Europeans and some Natives saw a torpedo-shaped object traveling slowly over the Point area of Durban shortly before 5 o’clock that morning. One of the men in the truck, whose name is unreadable in the scan, told the Daily News that he and two companions were sitting in the truck while others loaded it. As the truck stopped at a street corner, he looked up through the windscreen and saw something that looked like a torpedo traveling slowly overhead toward the Bluff. He called his companions’ attention to it. It was beautifully colored, the front part bright red, the center dark red and the end bright red. There was no noise and nothing that could cause it, and although he had seen thousands of shooting stars, he was sure it was not one, since it was traveling parallel to the ground and not dropping like a star. “It was by far the prettiest thing I have ever seen in the sky,” he said, and they watched it for about a minute before it passed out of sight in the direction of the Bluff. The card says the observation lasted one minute, with one object, and notes the course as not given.

The second clipping, headed “Others saw ‘torpedo’ object,” reports that the object was also seen by passengers waiting for the 5 a.m. train at Merebank station. One of them said a group was standing on the platform when it appeared in the sky over the sea in the Isipingo area. To him the description given in the previous day’s article was exact, except that the color appeared blue to him. It looked like a ball at first and then gradually became torpedo-shaped, until finally it disappeared somewhere near Reunion Rocks. There was no noise, and the object seemed to be at a low altitude, traveling slowly. A Durban astronomer, who did not see the object himself, told the paper that the possibility of its being a comet could definitely be ruled out, because reports said it traveled up the coast and comets travel only from west to east.

The card shows the source as a civilian, a one-minute observation of one object, and concludes Other: Unidentified. Its summary calls the object bright dark red, torpedo-shaped, looking through a windshield from a lorry that was stationary.

The Hynek classification is NL (Nocturnal Light). The object was a colored light with a torpedo outline against a dark sky, with no physical effects and no entities.

Researcher’s Notes

A Torpedo Over Natal: Meteor, Comet or Something Else?

Classification: NL fits an object seen as a colored glow with a torpedo outline before dawn. The shape is the only structural claim, and it comes from a witness looking through a windscreen.
Meteor and Comet: The truck witness rejected a shooting star because the object traveled parallel to the ground; the astronomer rejected a comet on direction. The file contains no meteor or fireball analysis, and Blue Book left the case Unidentified.
Color Differences: The truck witnesses saw red, dark red and red; the station witness saw blue and a ball shape that elongated. Differences in color from separate viewpoints are common, and the blue witness agreed with the shape description.
Witness Count: The truck witness spoke for three men and some others, and the second clipping mentions a platform group, so at least two independent groups saw it, but no names are readable and no full count is in the file.
Date: Some listings give February 21 or 26; the newspaper is dated February 21 and the consulate despatch February 26.
Official Handling: The consulate forwarded the clippings to Washington and the State Department passed them to Air Force intelligence. No further investigation is in the file.

The Durban case rests on two newspaper stories and a card. Two separate groups saw a silent, torpedo-shaped colored object cross the sky before dawn on February 21, 1951, and no one can say what it was. The astronomer ruled out a comet, and Blue Book recorded it as Unidentified.