A lieutenant stopped his car beside McClellan AFB to watch a white cylinder on March 13, 1951.
THINK ABOUTIT UFO|UAP SIGHTINGS REPORT
1951: A twin-tailed white cylinder hovers beside McClellan Air Force Base
At about 3:20 on the afternoon of March 13, 1951, an Air Force first lieutenant driving west on the road beside McClellan Air Force Base, near Sacramento, California, saw something hanging in the clear sky about seven miles away. It looked large enough that he stopped the car and stepped out to look: a white cylinder, about 200 feet across and 90 feet deep by his estimate, with what looked like twin tails.
It hovered, then turned north and shrank to a speck in under a minute, at what he called incredible speed, with no sound and no trail. A woman with him confirmed what he saw. Blue Book’s analyst thought it looked like a balloon, but without launch data and with the duration too short for one, the card lists it as Unidentified.
Date: March 13, 1951
Sighting Time: About 3:20 p.m. PST (1520; 2320Z)
Day/Night: Day (clear and cloudless)
Location: Beside McClellan Air Force Base, near Sacramento, California, United States, looking toward Sacramento
Urban or Rural: Suburban, beside a military base
No. of Entity(‘s): 0
Entity Type: None observed
Entity Description: Not Applicable
Hynek Classification: DD (Daylight Disc)
Duration: About 2 minutes in all; about 1 minute to vanish after it left
No. of Object(s): 1
Description of the Object(s): A round or cylindrical white object with what appeared to be twin tails attached; no sound, no trail, no solar reflection from the surface.
Shape of Object(s): Cylindrical, with twin tails
Size of Object(s): About 200 feet in diameter and 90 feet deep (witness estimate)
Color of Object(s): White
Distance to Object(s): About 7 miles
Height & Speed: About 2,000 feet; hovering, then left to the north at what the witness called incredible speed
Number of Witnesses: 2 (an Air Force first lieutenant and a woman passenger)
Special Features/Characteristics: Hovered, then turned north and became a speck within about a minute; no sound, no trail; no other aircraft in the vicinity; no other persons reported it
Case Status: Project Blue Book card: Other (Unidentified); the card comment says the data indicate a balloon observation but that duration and launch data were missing
Source: Project Blue Book record card; Sacramento Air Materiel Area report of March 19, 1951; Berliner
Summary/Description: An Air Force lieutenant and a woman passenger saw a white, twin-tailed cylinder about seven miles away hover, turn north and vanish at high speed within a minute. No other aircraft or witnesses were found. Blue Book considered a balloon launch but carried the case as Unidentified because launch data were missing and the duration seemed short.
Related Cases: March 1951 UFO sightings archive | New Delhi, March 15, 1951
Detailed Report
The record is a Project Blue Book card and a report from the Sacramento Air Materiel Area at McClellan AFB, dated March 19, 1951, addressed to the Air Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson AFB. The witness, a first lieutenant of the 1st Communications Squadron at Griffiss AFB, New York, was on temporary duty at McClellan. His name and his passenger’s name are redacted in the released copy; Berliner lists them as 1st Lt. B. J. Hastie and a Mrs. Rafferty.
The report says that at about 1520 PST on March 13, 1951, the lieutenant was driving west on the main road adjacent to McClellan AFB, with a woman as passenger, when he sighted an object he estimated at 2,000 feet, hovering in the vicinity of Sacramento, about seven miles from where he was. The size of the object especially drew his attention, and he stopped his car and stepped to the ground to see better and to find out what it was.
He described it as roughly 200 feet in diameter and 90 feet deep, cylindrical, with what appeared to be twin tails attached, and white. As he watched, it turned in a northerly direction away from the city and appeared to move at incredible speed, without sound or trails, becoming a mere speck and then disappearing in less than a minute. He watched for about two minutes in all. The report notes no other aircraft in the vicinity, no solar reflections from the object that might distort its size, that his passenger confirmed his observations, that no other persons reported such an object that day, that no article appeared in local newspapers, that no meteorological phenomenon was reported, and that the day was clear and cloudless with light winds and unlimited visibility.
The Blue Book card records the sighting as ground-visual by military and civilian sources, lasting two minutes, one object rising to the north. Its comment says a possibility exists that the object was a balloon launch, but the report did not contain launch data from the adjacent air base, and the duration was short for a balloon. All other data indicate a balloon observation. However, since the duration was short and launch data were not included, the case is carried as Unidentified.
The Hynek classification is DD (Daylight Disc). The object was a defined white body in full daylight, seven miles away, with no physical effects and no entities.
Researcher’s Notes
A Balloon That Left Too Fast? The McClellan Evaluation
- Classification: DD fits a white body seen clearly in daylight. The twin tails are the only structural detail and come from one witness at seven miles.
- The Balloon Comment: Blue Book’s analyst said the data pointed to a balloon, yet kept the case Unidentified for lack of launch data and because the duration was short for a balloon. The card does not say what a balloon should have done differently, and the file contains no launch log from the adjacent base.
- Size and Distance: The 200-foot size and seven-mile distance are the lieutenant’s own figures, as are the 2,000-foot altitude and the speed. With no reference object, a single observer cannot fix size, distance and altitude together; if the object was closer, it was smaller.
- The Witnesses: An Air Force lieutenant and a passenger who confirmed his account. The report records no other witnesses on a busy road beside an air base, and no press coverage.
- Documentation: A card, a signed intelligence-section report and a clear weather note. The file contains no sketch, interview transcript or launch record.
- Official Status: Berliner lists it among the Blue Book unknowns for March 1951, along with Chinnampo and New Delhi.
The McClellan case is a short, plain daylight sighting by an Air Force officer, confirmed by a passenger, that Blue Book’s own analyst could neither explain nor rule a balloon. The file is thin on measurement but clear on conditions, and no other witness or aircraft was found.
“…moved at incredible speed without sound or trails of any sort…”
— Sacramento Air Materiel Area report of March 19, 1951, on the March 13, 1951 sighting beside McClellan AFB
