U.S. Air Force Analysis of Flying Objects in the United States, 101-172
- Date
- Date unknown
- Place
- United States (multiple states)
- Record
- Pentagon file
- Assessment
- Not assessed
- Evidence strength
What was reported
The continuation of D087, a 210-page compendium of numbered 'Check-List - Unidentified Flying Objects' incident forms covering roughly cases 101-172 (Feb 1948 onward per the visible cover date). Most pages are OCR-illegible, but several full case entries survived: Incident 116 (Mrs. Whitehouse, South Knoxville, TN, an orange ball, N/S size); a Bakersfield, California case (5-8 March 1948) of two objects falling to earth trailing smoke, investigated but never located despite search efforts; a radar-only contact tracked from 4,600 to 18,000 yards on 18 April 1948 at an estimated 30 mph with no visual or surface-radar corroboration; and an Ohio case (near Incident 156) explicitly identified as a homemade hot-air balloon made of white crepe paper with a smoking waste-material heat source, mistaken for a UFO by three young boys and an adult observer.
What officials concluded
Resolved
At least one incident in the sampled range (the Ohio balloon case, near Incident 156) is explicitly identified in the file's own text as a homemade hot-air balloon; other sampled incidents (Bakersfield, the radar contact) remain…
- Agency
- Department of War
- Released in
- 123456
Evidence profile
- Yes: Visual
- No: Infrared
- Yes: Radar
- No: Video
- No: Photo
- No: Film
- No: Audio
- No: Night vision
- No: Other sensor
- Yes: Civilian
- No: Military aircrew
- No: Military ground
- No: Airline crew
- Yes: Sensor operator
- No: Law enforcement
- No: Scientist
- No: Astronaut
- No: Intelligence official
- No: Other
- No: Light only
- Yes: Orb or sphere
- No: Disc
- No: Triangle
- No: Cylinder
- No: Cube
- No: Other shape
- No: Physiological
- No: Physical trace
- No: Electromagnetic
- No: Sound
- No: Silent
Why this rating Most of the 210 pages remain OCR-illegible. Of the incidents that could be read, one is explicitly resolved as a homemade balloon, one is a radar-only contact with no corroborating sensor, and the Bakersfield case is a single-sensor (visual) unresolved report; none of the legible cases show multi-sensor or performance data exceeding conventional explanation.
As described in the file
- Witnesses
- Mrs. [Harry J.] Whitehouse (Incident 116); Mr. (George L.) 'Les' Buchner and a Mr. Denio, a Pacific Gas & Electric employee (Bakersfield case); an unnamed radar operator (Incident ~82-83); observers near Ohio State student housing (Incident ~156)
- Sensors
- Visual, radar (one incident only)
- Shape
- Orange ball (116); falling objects trailing smoke (Bakersfield); unresolved radar return (82-83); crepe-paper balloon (156)
- Size
- N/S (116); balloon approx. 2 ft diameter, 3.5 ft long (156)
- Lights and colour
- Orange (116); red/black smoke trail (Bakersfield)
- Motion
- Radar target tracked at an estimated 30 mph outbound
- Altitude or range
- Radar target tracked 4,600-18,000 yards
Pentagon files
DOW-UAP-D088, U.S. Air Force Analysis of Flying Objects in the United States, 101-172
Open the original on war.gov
What the file claims
- Unverified
Two witnesses in Bakersfield, California independently reported objects falling to earth trailing smoke and debris on 5 and 8 March 1948; search parties could not locate the objects.
- Unverified
A radar target was tracked from 4,600 to about 18,000-19,000 yards on 18 April 1948 in clear weather with no visual sighting and no corroborating surface-radar detection.
- Unverified
A UFO report near Ohio State University was resolved in the file's own text as a homemade crepe-paper hot-air balloon lifted and made to smoke by a burning waste-material heat source underneath it.
On the map
39.80° N, 98.60° W, plotted at the centre of the country
Show on the map