Date: 21 December 1965
(U.S.
Air Force, Washington , D.C.
Source: NICAP.org
The document deals with the 7 October 1965 Edwards Air
Force Base, California
The document was sent by Headquarters
Air Force
Flight Test
Center , Air Force Systems Command,
United States Air Force, Edwards Air Force Base, California ,
to FTD (TDFC), Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio
The document is written by John D. Balent, Captain,
USAF, Technical Evaluation Officer, Deputy for Foreign Technology, for the
Commander.
Quote from the document (not written in U.S.
Department of Defense document format):
“1. The following report of UFOs is submitted per
para. 14, AFR 200-2 and 200-2A:
a. DESCRIPTION OF OBJECTS:
(1) All objects had the general shape and appearance
of stars.
(2) The largest appeared to be twice the size of an
ordinary star. The others were the same size as stars which would make them
about the size of a pinhead when held at arms length.
(3) The objects were the same color as stars.
(4) There were from 7 to 12 objects involved.
(5) There was
no discernible formation with one exception. Three of the objects appeared to
be in what might roughly be described as an inverted “V”.
(6) The objects that were held visually appeared to be
flashing red, green and white lights at one time or another.
(7) None
(8) None
(9) One of the objects was reported as “pushing a
small cloud” in front of it. This is the one object that could be explained. It
was a weather balloon.
b. DESCRIPTION OF COURSE OF OBJECTS:
(1) The Edwards tower operator first noticed flashing
lights from these objects in the normal course of his duties.
(2) The first and most prominent of these objects was
originally sighted at an elevation of 010° and an azimuth of 062°. The other objects appeared to have an
elevation of between 020 and 045° and azimuths of 050 to 075°. It is impossible
to determine just which of the radar contacts correlate with the visual
sightings. There were reports of up to 12 radar contacts from relatively
dispersed sites. LAADS received reports at various times from San Pedro,
Laguna, March AFB, and Boron. All were able to show contacts in the area under
consideration at one time or another during the 4½-hour period. The duration of
most of these contacts was very short. The three contacts which eventually figured
in the decision to scramble were U090, U091, and U092. LAADS did hold these
contacts in a close enough proximity to those under visual observation that
there is a possibility that they were the same.
(3) Of the seven objects
reported visually, four persisted longer than the others. The brightest, most
prominent of these was last seen flashing at an elevation of approximately 050°
and an azimuth of 135°. The other three were in what might rougly be described
as an inverted “V” and were last seen flashing at an elevation of 035° and
azimuths of from 140 to 150°. The remaining three, which were visible for a
shorter period of time, disappeared at approximately 045° elevation and in the
vicinity of 060 to 090° azimuth.
(4) The objects varied in their flight paths. A
general statement might be made that their main change was in altitude. There
were definite changes in azimuth but these were relatively small. The four
digits seen most clearly appeared to hover, then rise in a near vertical
direction. Only a general statement about the radar tracks is possible. All the
contacts obtained on search radar were difficult to hold because of slow speeds
involved. The height finding radar similarly had little luck in giving valid
changes in altitude. There was no discernible pattern to the flight paths of
objects when considered as a whole.
(5) Three of the objects held visually just gradually
faded from view. The four objects that were seen most clearly; i.e., the very
bright object and the three in an inverted “V” seemed to take their place among
the stars and persisted, looking like all the other stars, until dawn. These
objects possibly faded like the others and were replaced in the eyes of the
observers by the stars that happened to be in the area of last sighting.
(6) Again the objects were visible for varying lengths
of time. The first observation took place at 0833Z (0133 PDT). The four most
prominent objects flashed for about two hours. As mentioned above, these
objects persisted until dawn although they ceased flashing after two hours. The
other three objects were visible for approximately 30 minutes.
c. MANNER OF OBSERVATION:
(1) The objects were observed both visually and
electronically from the ground. Search, height finding, and approach radar all
held the objects.
(2) All ground observers used 7x50 binoculars.
(3) N/A
d. TIME AND DATE OF SIGHTING:
(1) 7 October 1965, 0133Z (correct time: 0133 PDT (see
b. 6))
(2) Night
e. LOCATION OF OBSERVERS:
(1) The observers were located at base operations, Edwards
AFB, Calif.
f. IDENTIFYING INFORMATION ON OBSERVERS:
(1) Darryl Clark, Capt, 329th FIS, George AFB, Calif.
(2) Charles A. Sorrels, SSgt, 1925 Communications Sq,
AFCS, tower operator.
(3) Forrest S. Honer, SSgt, Hq Sq Section, 6510th AB
Group, Edwards AFB, dispatcher.
(4) Keith C. Peneau, A2C, Det. 21, 6th Weather Wg,
weather observer.
All these observers are proficient in their particular
jobs and could be classified as very reliable.
g. WEATHER AND WINDS--ALOFT CONDITIONS AT TIME AND
PLACE OF SIGHTINGS:
(1) All observers agree that weather was clear and
visibility good.
h. ANY OTHER UNUSUAL ACTIVITY OR CONDITION:
(1) None
i. INTERCEPTION OR IDENTIFICATION ACTION TAKEN:
An F-106 was scrambled from George AFB at 1209Z (0509
PDT). The aircraft was was controlled throughout its search on a visual basis
by the Edwards tower. By the time the aircraft was scrambled the activity was
just about over. The objects that were held visually had ceased flashing and
had taken on the appearance of ordinary stars as mentioned earlier. Radar
contact was gone or was of insufficient duration to be used in vectoring the
aircraft. Passes were made through the area at 15,000, 20,000, and 40,000 ft . The only thing
out of the ordinary reported by the pilot was reflection of red lights from the
dry lake bed near Edwards. He felt that these were reflections from something
other than the beacons in the area.
j. During the period of the sightings there was no air
traffic nor were there balloon releases that might have been mistaken for the
objects.
k. COMMENTS:
In summary, no one in the Air Defense Sector could
provide a plausible explanation, nor did they seem overly concerned once the
incident was over. Their experience and the sources of information available to
them provided no help. There seems to be no question that they did have radar
control at several sites. The ground observers claim definitely to have seen
flashing lights for which they could offer or find no explanation. Everyone
concerned at both LAADS and Edwards seems convinced that something unusual
occurred.
l. EXISTENCE OF PHYSICAL EVIDENCE:
There are radar scope photos which indicated
unidentified contacts were held. These scope photos are being forwarded as a
part of this report.”
“EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE” (af.mil):
Wikipedia article: “Edwards Air Force Base”:
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