While numbers of officials, especially in 1947, reported UFO sightings to the press, most did not indicate that they had reported them officially. Those which indicated some official activity are characterized as Lost Files.
8 July, 1947
Over 100 witnesses report silvery oblong object flying fast and slow in zig-zag fashion toward Honolulu.
— 8 July, 1947, HST Pearl Harbor, TH
6 September, 1947
Crew of the USS Chipola report multiple “unidentified luminous phenomena” flying past their ship in the Persian Gulf.
— 6 September, 1947, Persian Gulf
Summer, 1948
Major Edwin A. Jerome, USAF, (Ret.) relates to NICAP many instances of “high speed unknown objects” being tracked by DEW line air defense systems.
— Goose Bay, Labrador, Radar UFO Sightings Summer, 1948.
April 6, 1950
Air National Guard pilot, Lt. John J. Sevila, sights “Flying Saucer” over Springfield Massachusetts. Sighting is reported in local ANG service journal and local press, and corroborated by other witnesses.
— Springfield, Massachusetts UFO Sighting Apri 6, 1950.
April 14, 1950
Mississippi ANG pilots confirm sighting an undentified object “of extreme speed,” near Key Field Air National Guard Base.
— Key Field, Meridian Mississippi, UFO Sighting Apri 14, 1950.
July, 1950
Holloman Air Force Base, located in Alamogordo, N.M., home to Air Materiel Command's guided missile development program. An “unidentified aerial phenomenon” appeared over the base and was seen and photographed “during an organized watch for the objects”. Details were first published in a book by APRO co-founder, Coral E. Lorenzen, and the incident was referred to by Capt. Edward J. Ruppelt in Project Blue Book Report No. 5.
— APRO Files: Holloman AFB, UFO Sighting July, 1950.
1950s
John P. Timmerman, longtime CUFOS investigator and associate of Dr J. Allen Hynek, interviews H. T. E. Hertzberg. Hertzberg was former chief physical anthropologist at the U.S. Air Force Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, from 1946 until 1972, and was in a position to speak with many senior members of the military.
— John P. Timmerman interviews H. T. E. Hertzberg.
July 14, 1951
Two radar operators at a White Sands missile tracking site detected a fast-moving object on their scopes. Others observed the UFO visually and also filmed it.
— Radar and visual UFO sighting at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.
July 23, 1952
Trenton, New Jersey. Many people reported seeing round orange objects that emitted a whistling sound. Objects intercepted by F-94 fighter.
— Radar and visual UFO over Trenton, New Jersey.
July 26, 1952
Williams, California. Ground and air radar/visual case. F-94 scrambled.
— Radar and visual UFO over Williams, California.
August, 1952
North Carolina newspapers carried stories about US Army Intelligence and the State Civil Defense director gathering information about “flying disks” and openly interviewing “UFO” eyewitnesses.
— Army Intelligence and North Carolina Civil Defense seek “flying disk” data.
April 16, 1953
Two pilots with Maritime Central Airways (MCA) sighted a UFO over Chatham, New Brunswick, adjacent to RCAF [Royal Canadian Air Force] Station, Chatham, and were interrogated by United States Air Force Intelligence.
— USAF Intelligence Interrogates Canadian MCA DC-4 Pilots.
September 3, 1954
US Air Force Strategic Air Command B-47s “dogged” by UFO for over an hour. Crew took many photographs of the encounter which were confiscated.
— SAC B-47 Crews Encounter UFO Over Texas.
November, 1954
Robert Ripley, a Lockheed factory technical representative for Airborne Early Warning Radars, tells of US Navy and Air Force assets tracking “Flying Saucers” at over 1000 mph.
— Robert Ripley - Radar Tracks Flying Saucers At Over 1000 mph.
February, 1955
Pan-American Airline Captain James King and several passengers witnessed a pair of UFOs pass close to King's plane. King refused comments about the incident until he had a chance to speak to the US Air Force.
— Pan-American Airlines Captain James King.
1956
During The International Geophysical Year (1956-1958), Chilean researchers on remote Robert Island (erroneously referred to in some reports as Robertson Island), Antarctica, witnessed and interacted with two UFOs for an extended period of time. ATIC, the U.S. Air Technical intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson AFB, sent the scientists an extensive questionnaire about their sighting which they completed and returned. The expedition commander also submitted the report to the US Naval Attaché:
— Antarctic Robert Island Case, January 8, 1956
October 21, 1957
NICAP researcher Walter N. Webb investigates a Ground Observer Corps sighting of a “Mystery Object in the Sky” over Alliance, Ohio. Just one of many GOC sightings that failed to make it to Project Blue Book.
— “Observers Here Spot Mystery Object in Sky”
February 14, 1958
An Air Force C-54, approximately two hour's flying time West of Wake Island, made one visual sighting and logged two unidentified radar contacts. This incident does not appear in the Project Blue Book files, but a copy of this report was leaked to UFO author Maj Donald E. Keyhoe and featured in his book, "Flying Saucers: Top Secret".
— “USAF C-54D UFO Encounter Over Pacific Ocean ”
January 10, 1961
During a test of a Polaris missile launched from Cape Canaveral, an "unidentifiable object" that alternately "hovered" and then moved "rapidly" was tracked on radar for over 14 minutes. Details of this sighting were provided to Richard Hall of NICAP in 1962.
— “UFO Over Cape Canaveral During Polaris Test”
