Light over Bonlee, NC
Investigated by a competent body and left unresolved. The rarest grade, and never awarded by us — only recorded.
The report, as filed
Bonlee, North Carolina. 12:42 p.m. Witness: ex-USAF pilot Frank Risher. One aluminum object shaped like a dirigible or Convair C-99 cargo plane, with 3 portholes, arrived from southeast, hovered 3-5 seconds and flew away to the south- south-east at end of 40 second sighting. Nov. 5, 1950, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. 11:55 a.m. Witness: Fairchild Aircraft illustrator Don Patrick. One translucent object, light grey with dark core, shaped like a pear or bean. Flew for 5-10 minutes with rapid, darting movements.
Held as-reported from Project Blue Book, United States Air Force. Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.
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Sightings from the Project Blue Book era (through 1969) live in Record Group 341 at the National Archives. Through Aletheca, the house instrument, anyone can commission the request — filed, chased, and published in the open, refusals included. The draft goes over already written: the records sought, and the date window they would live in.
Routed to: National Archives and Records Administration · records window 1950-10-20 → 1950-11-06