THINK ABOUTIT UFO|UAP ENCOUNTER REPORT

1950: Kokomo, Indiana Top-Shaped UFO, (Blue Book 706)

At two in the morning on April 8, 1950, a Kokomo, Indiana sheet-metal fabricator was awakened by his dog. Going outside, he saw an object about 200 feet up and almost directly overhead: a grayish metal disc about 15 feet across and 50 feet around, shaped, he said, approximately like a child’s toy top. As it tilted occasionally he could see a small conning tower on its top bulge. It rotated slowly on its vertical axis, and three small portholes on its rim showed a blue-white light from within. It hovered about two minutes, then rose soundlessly without tilting and moved away to the north at about the speed of an airplane taking off.

Fifth Army intelligence interviewed him on April 12 and forwarded the story to Air Materiel Command on April 25, asking whether the Army still wanted such reports sent. The Kokomo, Indiana top-shaped disc sighting is a case Project Blue Book left UNIDENTIFIED, and the copy in the file is marked for J. Allen Hynek.

Date: April 8, 1950

Sighting Time: 2:00 a.m. CST (0200)

Day/Night: Night

Location: Kokomo, Indiana, USA, near the witness’s home

Urban or Rural: Urban

No. of Entity’s: Not Applicable

Entity Type: Not Applicable

Entity Description: Not Applicable

Hynek Classification: CE-I (Close Encounter of the First Kind; an object about 200 feet overhead)

Duration: About 2 minutes hovering

No. of Object(s): 1

Description of the Object(s): A grayish metal disc shaped approximately like a child’s toy top, with a small conning tower on its top bulge visible when it tilted, three small portholes on the outer rim showing a blue-white light from within, rotating slowly on its perpendicular axis; no sound

Shape/Size/Color of Object(s): Top-shaped; about 15 feet in diameter and 50 feet in circumference (as the Fifth Army report and the card give it); grayish metal

Distance to Object(s): About 200 feet up, almost directly overhead

Height & Speed: About 200 feet; hovered about two minutes; then rose soundlessly without tilting and moved north at about the speed of a conventional aircraft at takeoff

Number of Witnesses: 1 (a sheet-metal fabricator with a Kokomo steel corporation, whom NICAP names Earl Baker; the Army copy blacks the name out)

Special Features/Characteristics: Close range; hovering; portholes with a blue-white light; conning tower; awakened by his dog; no sound; Fifth Army interview four days later; copy marked for J. Allen Hynek

Case Status: Unexplained. Project Blue Book’s record card carries the handwritten conclusion UNIDENTIFIED (NICAP: BBU 706).

Source: Headquarters Fifth Army (Chicago) letter of 25 April 1950 to Air Materiel Command forwarding the Fifth Army Regional Office, Indianapolis interview of 12 April 1950; Project Blue Book (Project 10073) record card; NICAP 1950 UFO Chronology (Berliner; BBU 706); Vallée, Magonia 75

Summary/Description: A Kokomo, Indiana man awakened by his dog at 2:00 a.m. on April 8, 1950 saw a grayish, top-shaped metal disc about 200 feet overhead, about 15 feet across, with a conning tower and three lit portholes on its rim. It hovered about two minutes, then rose silently and went north. Blue Book’s card concludes UNIDENTIFIED.

Related Cases: Logan Airport, Boston (April 7, 1950); Fort Monmouth, New Jersey (April 14, 1950); Robbins AFB, Georgia, top-shaped object (April 10, 1950); Santiago del Estero, Argentina (April 17, 1950)

Detailed Report

The Interview

The Fifth Army report says that on April 12, 1950, an agent from the Fifth Army Regional Office in Indianapolis interviewed a Kokomo sheet-metal fabricator who worked for a steel corporation in the city. The man said that, upon being awakened by his dog at 0200 on April 8, he saw an object about 200 feet in the air, almost directly overhead. It was a grayish metal disc, about 15 feet in diameter and 50 feet in circumference, shaped approximately like a child’s toy top. On the top bulge he saw a small conning tower as the whole thing tilted occasionally. The object rotated slowly on its perpendicular axis, and he saw three small portholes on the outer rim, showing a blue-white light from within. After hovering about two minutes the object rose soundlessly and, without tilting, moved away to the north at about the speed of a conventional aircraft at takeoff. He could furnish no more information about its size or appearance.

Why the Army Wrote

The Fifth Army’s April 25 letter to Wright-Patterson says it was sent in compliance with a Department of the Army letter of March 25, 1948 on unconventional aircraft, control number A-1917. It adds that since the referenced letter was more than two years old, the office wanted to know whether continued compliance was still requested. The Fifth Army’s Acting Chief of Intelligence forwarded it to the Director of Intelligence at Air Force headquarters for action.

The Card

The Project 10073 card lists a civilian source, a report date of April 25, 1950, a time of 0200, gray, top shaped, 15 feet in diameter and 50 feet in circumference, an altitude of 200 feet, a course to the north, two minutes of observation from the ground, and a speed of a conventional aircraft at takeoff. Its remark reads that the object rotated on a perpendicular axis and had a conning tower and three portholes. The handwritten conclusion is UNIDENTIFIED, and a note at the top says the copy was made for Hynek.

RESEARCHER’S NOTES

A Toy-Top Disc 200 Feet Overhead

Diameter and Circumference: Some summaries give 50 feet in diameter and 15 feet thick. The Fifth Army report and the card give 15 feet in diameter and 50 feet in circumference, which is the small, toy-top-sized object the witness described.
One Witness, Vetted Only by Interview: The file records a single interview, four days after the event. The Army gives no assessment of the man, and the name is blacked out.
Close Range and Detail: The object was about 200 feet overhead and stayed two minutes, which is why the report has details, the tower and three lit ports, rare in 1950 cases. It also relies on a man awakened in the dark.
A Pattern in the Army’s Question: The Fifth Army asked whether it should keep sending reports. The Air Force had told its agencies in January that special UFO reporting was ending, and it restored it in September.
The Hynek Copy: The note marking the copy for Hynek shows it was copied to the Air Force’s astronomical consultant.
Not Explained: The card offers no explanation, and the file has no weather, aircraft or balloon checks.

The Kokomo report is a one-witness, close-range account with unusually specific detail, forwarded by Army intelligence and left UNIDENTIFIED by Blue Book. It is filed here as Unexplained, with the correction that the object was small, about 15 feet across, and the caution that nothing but the witness’s account supports it.