Bakersfield, California falling objects, March 1948

The Fourth Air Force received the first report on 9 March 1948. Sgt. A. M. Larsen of the Bakersfield Sheriff's office telephoned Hamilton Field, and Headquarters Fourth Air Force wrote to the Chief of Staff, U.S. Air Forces, on 11 March 1948. The letter recorded that Les Buchner had seen two objects falling to earth on 5 March between 1610 and 1655 hours, toward Buena Vista Lake. It described them as similar to falling aircraft with smoke and debris trailing. The same letter also appears in doc 6a42c8e65ff3f29c and doc c67796c2d8958489.

The letter added that a Mr. Denio of the Pacific General Electric Company reported two objects falling north of Bakersfield on 8 March, one apparently on fire. Larsen said that searching parties, aircraft and rescue units had made numerous attempts to find the objects without success. The checklist forms numbered the sightings as incidents 106 to 109. Incident 106 listed the objects at 10 to 12 miles and disappearing behind a water tower.

A later Fourth Air Force summary recorded statements taken on 13 March. Buchner and H. B. Nix described an object consumed in fire that left a brownish-white plume, followed seconds later by what appeared to be a parachute. The summary said the object appeared to be a burning fabric airplane. Nix also described an orange-red ball of fire at 0830 on 8 March, about five miles due north, that split in two. He saw a parachute with a black object hanging from it drift into the hills east of Bakersfield.

Mrs. Callie R. Mason and Dr. J. E. Johnson reported a flaming object seen from the Haberfelde Building at about 0830 on 9 March. They said it was at 1,000 feet, seven to ten miles north, with black smoke trailing 4,000 to 5,000 feet. They watched for an explosion, but nothing unusual was noted. The A-2 comment said that there was no evidence to substantiate it, but the activity could be attributed to marker flares. The report rated the source C and the information 3.