Bell Aircraft staff watched swirling white bodies over Holloman AFB on March 14, 1951.
THINK ABOUTIT UFO|UAP SIGHTINGS REPORT
1951: Bell Aircraft crew watch swirling white bodies over Holloman Air Force Base
At about 3:00 on the afternoon of March 14, 1951, Bell Aircraft personnel waiting at their hardstand at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, for a B-50 to return from a captive-flight mission, noticed a swarm of small white bodies east of the base. They first took them for a distant flock of birds. A minute later, the man who spotted them thought otherwise and called over two colleagues.
Between 14 and 20 bodies swirled like geese or a handful of leaflets in an updraft, twice grouped into a V-formation, and headed north for about 15 minutes. The Bell field test director wrote the next day that the phenomenon was unlike anything he had seen, including flights of birds, and that it could not have been Skyhook balloons.
Date: March 14, 1951
Sighting Time: About 3:00 p.m. MST (1500)
Day/Night: Day
Location: East of Holloman Air Force Base (Bell Aircraft hardstand), Alamogordo, New Mexico, United States
Urban or Rural: Rural military base
No. of Entity(‘s): 0
Entity Type: None observed
Entity Description: Not Applicable
Hynek Classification: DD (Daylight Disc)
Duration: About 15 minutes from first sighting
No. of Object(s): 14 to 20
Description of the Object(s): Small bodies that swirled randomly like a flock of towering geese or leaflets thrown from an airplane; individual shapes could not be resolved; occasional vibratory motion not unlike wing flapping.
Shape of Object(s): Not resolved
Size of Object(s): Not recorded; individually small
Color of Object(s): Generally white
Distance to Object(s): Not recorded; considerable
Height & Speed: Elevation angle greater than that of the B-50 (about 15,000 feet); moved slowly north, then, in a V-formation, heading north at an apparently high velocity
Number of Witnesses: Several Bell Aircraft personnel (names redacted), including the field test director who wrote the memorandum
Special Features/Characteristics: Twice regrouped into a V-formation; apparent bearing shifted from nearly due east to a line with Sierra Blanca in a few minutes; ground-to-air and air-to-ground VHF communications were generally poor, and tower contact was difficult for the last ten minutes of the B-50 flight
Case Status: No Blue Book evaluation is shown; reported to Holloman Operations and the base control tower; included in the Project Twinkle final report
Source: Bell Aircraft Corporation memorandum to Holloman Operations and Projects of March 15, 1951; Project Twinkle Final Report
Summary/Description: Several Bell Aircraft personnel at Holloman watched 14 to 20 small white bodies swirl like a flock, regroup twice into V-formations and head north over about 15 minutes. The Bell field test director wrote that it was unlike anything he had seen and that it was not Skyhook balloons. VHF communications were poor during the same mission.
Related Cases: March 1951 UFO sightings archive
Detailed Report
The record is a memorandum from Bell Aircraft Corporation of Buffalo, New York, dated March 15, 1951, addressed to Lt. John G. Albert, Operations and Projects, Holloman Air Force Base, with the subject Unidentified Flying Objects. It lists the Bell personnel who reported the sighting; their names are redacted in the released copy. It is bound into the Project Twinkle Final Report of November 27, 1951.
The personnel were at the Bell hardstand awaiting the return of B-50 No. 6002 from a captive-flight mission. One of them made the first sighting at about 1500 while following the B-50, which was then flying south at about 15,000 feet east and slightly south of the base. Because of the distance and the small size of the objects, he attached little significance, thinking they might be a flock of birds a long way off. In a minute or so he began to think otherwise and called two colleagues, who verified what he saw. The bodies’ elevation angle appeared greater than that of the B-50, which had gone a few miles farther south and east.
The memo estimates 14 to 20 bodies moving in a swirling way, not unlike a flock of towering geese or a handful of leaflets in an updraft. Shapes could not be resolved, but the general impression was that they were white. Several minutes later, the memo’s writer, the Bell field test director, was told of the phenomenon. The B-50 had turned back on a reciprocal heading and was about east of the field at the same altitude. The bodies continued to swirl randomly and rose in apparent elevation, then appeared to move slowly north, regrouping at least twice into what looked like a V-formation. He informed General Control and began giving them bearings from the hardstand.
Shortly before the control unit was notified, the bodies had grouped into a V and begun heading generally north. Their bearing from the hardstand shifted from nearly due east to a line with Sierra Blanca in what seemed a few minutes, giving an impression of relatively high velocity. When last seen they were slightly west of Sierra Blanca. Impressions from various personnel included a handful of leaflets thrown from an airplane, and a vibratory motion of individual bodies occasionally like the flapping of wings. Total observation time from first sighting was about 15 minutes.
The memo adds that ground-to-air and air-to-ground VHF communications were generally very poor throughout the mission, which began at 1345, though ground-to-ground contact was good, and that for the last ten minutes of the B-50 flight VHF contact with the tower was extremely difficult, as if another carrier were operating at the same time. The control unit told the writer that it was having communication difficulty too. Winds aloft to 27,000 feet were generally west-northwest at an estimated 30 to 40 knots. The writer says he is morally certain the phenomenon could not have been Project Skyhook balloons, and concludes that the aerial phenomenon was different from anything he has ever seen up to and including flights of birds.
Researcher’s Notes
Birds, Leaflets or Something Else? The Bell Memorandum
- Classification: DD is the nearest Hynek class for bodies seen in daylight, but the memo never resolves a shape. “Swarm of small white bodies” would be the plainer description.
- Ordinary Explanations: The witnesses themselves compared the motion to birds and leaflets, and the writer rejected Skyhook balloons. The memo does not discuss other balloons, insects, seeds or airborne debris, and no evaluation by Blue Book or Twinkle appears in the pages provided.
- Wind: Winds aloft to 27,000 feet were west-northwest at 30 to 40 knots, yet the bodies moved north. The memo does not say whether that difference was considered.
- Radio Interference: The VHF problems are reported as an observation of interest. The memo does not claim a connection and the file offers none.
- Witness Quality: Trained test personnel were on duty watching an aircraft, and a written account was made the next day. Distance and size were not measured, and no one used binoculars or a theodolite.
- Project Twinkle: The report was bound into the final report of a Holloman project that studied unidentified aerial objects. The pages provided do not show any conclusion about this event.
The Holloman memorandum is a next-day written account by trained test personnel of a swarm of small white bodies that regrouped into V-formations and moved north over 15 minutes. It is detailed about conditions and honest about what could not be resolved, and it leaves the question of birds, balloons or something else open.
“…the aerial phenomenon was different from anything he has ever seen up to and including flights of birds.”
Bell Aircraft field test director, in a memorandum to Holloman AFB Operations on the March 14, 1951 sighting
