UAP Reported at Sandia Base, 1948-1950
- Date
- 1948 to 1950
- Place
- Sandia Base and greater New Mexico area; Camp Hood, Texas, United States
- Record
- Pentagon file
- Assessment
- Not assessed
- Evidence strength
What was reported
Armed Forces Special Weapons Project (AFSWP) and USAF Office of Special Investigations (17th District) records on the 1948-1950 'green fireball' and disc sightings concentrated around Sandia Base, Los Alamos, and the wider New Mexico area, including a scientific attempt by researchers at the New Mexico School of Mines to collect airborne copper-bearing particles associated with a 24 July 1949 fireball, and a 25 May 1950 summary report to OSI headquarters by the 17th District that classifies sightings into green-fireball, disc, and probable-meteoric categories with input from consultant Dr. Lincoln LaPaz. Also includes a related March 1949 light-phenomena investigation at Camp Hood, Texas (AFSWP Site Baker).
What officials concluded
Unresolved
A February 1949 and October 1949 multi-agency conference (Fourth Army, AFSWP, University of New Mexico, FBI, AEC, University of California, USAF Scientific Advisory Board, Geophysical Research Division AMC, OSI) reached no logical…
- Agency
- Department of War
- Released in
- 123456
Evidence profile
- Yes: Visual
- No: Infrared
- No: Radar
- No: Video
- No: Photo
- No: Film
- No: Audio
- No: Night vision
- No: Other sensor
- No: Civilian
- No: Military aircrew
- Yes: Military ground
- Yes: Airline crew
- No: Sensor operator
- Yes: Law enforcement
- Yes: Scientist
- No: Astronaut
- No: Intelligence official
- No: Other
- No: Light only
- No: Orb or sphere
- Yes: Disc
- No: Triangle
- No: Cylinder
- No: Cube
- No: Other shape
- No: Physiological
- No: Physical trace
- No: Electromagnetic
- No: Sound
- No: Silent
Why this rating Multiple independent witnesses at two separate installations (Sandia and Camp Hood) reported similar unexplained light phenomena over many months, and a formal multi-agency scientific conference (including AEC, university, and military science representatives) concluded the phenomena were real and unexplained rather than dismissing them; however, all observations here are single-sensor (visual), no case combines independent instruments, and the copper-particle physical-evidence attempt was explicitly inconclusive.
As described in the file
- Witnesses
- Scientists, OSI special agents, airline and military pilots, Los Alamos security inspectors, military personnel, and Camp Hood security personnel (interrogated separately, with no advance notice)
- Sensors
- Visual, impaction air-sampling equipment (copper-particle study)
- Shape
- Green fireballs and discs treated as two distinct classifications; unclear form for some
- Lights and colour
- Green (fireballs)
- Effects
- Possible airborne copper-bearing dust associated with fireball events, though the investigating scientist called any causal link unproven
Pentagon files
DOW-UAP-D017, UAP Reported at Sandia Base, 1948-1950
Open the original on war.gov
What the file claims
- Unverified
A multi-agency conference at Los Alamos in 1949 concluded green fireball sightings near sensitive New Mexico military and government installations were real but unexplained, and warranted continued scientific study.
- Unverified
A scientific attempt to collect airborne copper-bearing particles linked to the 24 July 1949 fireball near Socorro, New Mexico found some particles testing positive for copper, but the investigators judged it hazardous to draw a definite causal link to the fireball.
- Unverified
Security personnel at Camp Hood, Texas (AFSWP Site Baker/Q Area) independently reported unusual light phenomena on 6-8 March 1949, with characteristics resembling those seen at Sandia Base over preceding months.
- Unverified
Witnesses interrogated separately about the Camp Hood lights, with no advance notice of questioning, uniformly said they had never before seen anything resembling the reported phenomena despite routinely seeing meteors ('falling stars').