THINK ABOUTIT UFO|UAP SIGHTINGS REPORT

1950: Maxwell AFB, Alabama

Air University Officers Watch Four Brilliant White Discs on Thanksgiving Afternoon

On Thanksgiving Day, November 23, 1950, between 3:08 and 3:25 in the afternoon, an Air University major at Maxwell Air Force Base looked up and saw four objects he could not identify. About three-eighths of an inch across at arm’s length, perfectly circular and very thin, they were “brilliantly white, almost porcelain white,” crossing the clear Alabama sky fast enough that by his measurement of distance and time they were “moving very fast.” His wife saw the first one tumble over and over as it came down. A captain living in the same quarters came out and saw the next pair.

The Maxwell AFB UFO sighting reached Air Force intelligence in Washington as two signed statements, forwarded by Headquarters Air University on December 19, 1950. Both witnesses served at the home of the Air Force’s senior school, and both put in writing what they saw: discs that were round from below, thin from the side, and one that seemed to carry an antenna. Project Blue Book’s record card calls the report “Other” and offers no explanation.

Date: November 23, 1950 (Thanksgiving Day)

Sighting Time: Between 3:08 p.m. and 3:25 p.m. (the record card reads 1508 to 1525)

Day/Night: Day

Location: Over Maxwell Air Force Base and the base quarters, Montgomery, Alabama

Urban or Rural: Urban (Montgomery and the base)

No. of Entity’s: Not Applicable

Entity Type: Not Applicable

Entity Description: Not Applicable

Hynek Classification: Daylight Disc (DD)

Duration: About 17 minutes in all, as separate passes; the second pair was in view about a minute stationary plus 30 seconds in motion (captain’s account)

No. of Object(s): Four in the major’s statement (two singles, then a pair); two in the captain’s

Description of the Object(s): Perfectly circular, very thin, brilliantly white “almost porcelain white” objects; round when seen from below, thin when seen from the side; one of the second pair appeared to have an antenna; in the captain’s account, one looked like a seagull with stiff, motionless wings and the other like a white ball

Shape/Size/Color of Object(s): Round and thin; about 3/8 inch across at arm’s length; white

Distance to Object(s): Not stated; the objects passed over Montgomery and over the building where the officers lived

Height & Speed: Not estimated; one rose to “a very great height” over Montgomery; the major judged them to be moving very fast from his measurements of distance and time; flight crosswind

Number of Witnesses: 3 named in the file (a major, his wife, and a captain), plus a second captain referred to; all names redacted

Special Features/Characteristics: One disc appeared to turn over and over as it descended; one appeared to have an antenna; the second pair separated, one rising rapidly north, the other turning back and then rising out of sight; no clouds; wind from the northwest at all altitudes

Case Status: Unexplained by the witnesses. Blue Book’s record card evaluates the report as “Other,” with an unclear handwritten note.

Source: Headquarters Air University letter of December 19, 1950, forwarding two statements dated December 1, 1950, to Headquarters USAF; Project Blue Book record card; McDonald list; FUFOR Index

Summary/Description: Two Air University officers at Maxwell AFB watched four white, round, thin objects cross the sky on Thanksgiving afternoon, one tumbling over and over and one seeming to have an antenna.

Related Cases: Maxwell AFB, June 1947: The Maxwell AFB Zigzagging Light; same month in the South: Meridian, Mississippi (November 13); see the November 1950 archive.

Detailed Report

Headquarters Air University, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, forwarded two statements on December 19, 1950 (stamped received at the Pentagon on January 6, 1951) to the Director of Intelligence, Headquarters USAF, as required by the Air Force’s September 8, 1950 directive on reporting unconventional aircraft. The cover letter calls them statements “concerning unknown objects seen near Maxwell AFB.” Its date appears as November 28 on the copy; the statements themselves, and the Blue Book card, say Thanksgiving Day, November 23.

The first statement is by a major, dated December 1, 1950. “On Thanksgiving Day, 23 November 1950, between 1508 and 1525, I saw four objects which I could not identify,” he wrote. They appeared to be “about 3/8 [inch] in diameter, perfectly circular and very thin,” and “brilliantly white, almost porcelain white.” “By measuring the distance and time involved, they were moving very fast.” The first came up from the south-southwest and, when over Montgomery, “ascended to a very great height. As it descended, it appeared to turn over and over.” It then moved off rapidly to the northeast and disappeared. His wife saw this object too, and “as this object flipped over several times while ascending and descending I could tell it was round when viewed from the bottom and thin when viewed from the side.”

“A few minutes later another one passed over very quickly, same direction, level flight, disappeared to the NE.” His wife had gone inside by then. After he called out to a captain and told him he had seen some unusual objects, the captain went back into his house. Some minutes later, two more of the objects came over together from about the south-southeast: one continued on out of sight to the north, rising rapidly, but the other turned and came back over, then began to ascend and rapidly passed out of sight. As soon as he saw these two, he called the captain, who came out at once and “definitely saw these objects.” All four appeared to be about the same size; one of the last two, the one that moved north and then returned, appeared to have an antenna. “I am sure the objects were not balloons. The weather was clear, no clouds,” he wrote, and Base Weather had told him the wind was from the northwest at all altitudes, with the objects traveling crosswind.

The second statement is by a captain, who described the afternoon from his side. In his quarters on base, the major knocked at his door and said, “I just saw a flying saucer.” Another captain who was with him went outside to talk to the major. Later that afternoon, after that captain had left, the major knocked again and asked him to come outside in a hurry because he thought the captain could see another one before it got out of sight. “I ran outside and quickly focused my eyes on an object that he pointed to. I immediately saw a second object.” As far as he could remember, the objects were directly over the building where the officers lived, white, one following the other. He remarked that “one object looked like a seagull suspended in mid-air with its wings extended but stiff and motionless.” The second looked like a white ball, its diameter about the same as the width of the seagull-shaped one at its widest, about two lengths behind and at the same altitude. “They were stationary for about one minute. Then they started moving north and gaining altitude. They disappeared about 30 seconds after they started moving.” The two kept the same positions relative to one another throughout.

RESEARCHER’S NOTES

Two Statements, Two Descriptions

Witness standing: Both statements come from officers at Air University, Maxwell’s senior Air Force school, written within a week and sent through channels. The major named his wife as a witness to the first object and a captain as a witness to the second pair. All names are redacted in the released file.
The two accounts do not match exactly: The major counted four objects: two singles and then a pair. The captain’s account concerns only two, which he saw as a pair and described as a seagull with stiff wings and a white ball, with no mention of a tumbling or antenna. The simplest reading is that the captain saw the major’s second pair; the files never say so.
The size estimate: Three-eighths of an inch at arm’s length is an angular size, not a measurement of the objects themselves; without a distance, no actual size follows. The major said he derived speed from distance and time but gave no figures.
What was ruled out: The major ruled out balloons from the clear sky and a northwest wind at all levels, noting the objects were traveling crosswind. The record gives no Weather Bureau data, no radar check and no second set of observers on the ground beyond the officers themselves.
The Blue Book evaluation: The card reads “Other” with a short handwritten note that is hard to make out on the copy supplied. “Other” is an evaluation label, not an identification, and the file offers no explanation for the objects.
Date confusion: The cover letter date reads “28 November” on the copy supplied; the statements and the card both give Thanksgiving Day. The page uses November 23.

Maxwell is a short, clean daylight report from careful observers with no instrumental data. The file names no cause and does not prove one: four bright, round, thin objects on a clear Thanksgiving afternoon, one that tumbled and one that carried an antenna, seen by officers who were not looking for them.