Muroc Air Field sightings
7-8 July 1947 · Muroc, California
Summary
The records describe several sightings at Muroc Air Field on 7 and 8 July 1947. Major J. C. Wise, a test pilot, stated that at about 10:10 on 7 July he saw an object while running up an XP-84 on the ground. He took it at first for a weather balloon, then saw it oscillating in a forward whirling movement. He estimated it as a yellowish white sphere 5 to 10 feet across.
On 8 July, 1st Lt Joseph C. McHenry, the billeting officer, reported two silver disc-like or spherical objects at about 8000 feet at about 0930. He called three others outside. His statement said the objects were not weather balloons because they were traveling against the prevailing wind. A third object later circled in too tight a circle for any aircraft he knew. T/Sgt Ruvolo, S/Sgt Nauman and Jannette Marie Scott gave statements on 14 July. Each ruled out balloons or birds, and Ruvolo heard no motor roar.
At about noon, Major Richard R. Shoop saw an object five to eight miles north, about the size of a pursuit airplane, in view for about eight minutes. His wife also saw it. Col Gilkey, who drew Shoop's attention to it, told Captain Harry D. Black on 11 August that he believed it to be paper. At 11:50, Captain John Paul Strapp, in an observation truck at Rogers Dry Lake during an ejection seat test, saw a rounded object that first resembled a parachute canopy. He judged it manmade and put its size at not far from 25 feet with a canopy.
The Fourth Air Force A-2 report of 18 August 1947 noted that two incidents occurred about 1000 hours and that no further investigation was being considered. The SAC San Francisco memorandum of 26 August sent the reports to the FBI Director. The 1948 Project Sign progress report listed the Muroc cases as incidents 1 through 4 among 100 incidents.
Where the files disagree
Two documents give different accounts of the same detail. Both are quoted as written; we don't say which is right.
Altitude of the third object in Scott's account
Aircraft type Wise was running up
Heading of Strapp's object
What the files say
“Off to the north about 10,000 to 12,000 feet altitude, was an object that I assumed at first to be a weather balloon, but after looking at it for a while I noticed that it was oscillating in a forward whirling movement without losing altitude.”
Page 68 →“I observed two (2) silver objects of either a spherical or disc-like shape, moving about three hundred (300) miles an hour, or perhaps less, at approximately eight thousand (8000) feet”
Page 66 →“I could not hear a motor roar like one of our planes and it could not have been a balloon.”
Page 65 →“The object appeared to be the size of a pursuit airplane but did not have the shape of a conventional plane.”
Page 64 →“Colonel Gilkey, stated that the object he saw, he believed at the time to be paper and of no significance or the objects not important enough to be reported.”
Page 63 →“It is estimated that the object was in line of vision about 90 seconds.”
Page 69 →“On 8 July 1947, approximately 1000 hours, two incidents occurred in the vicinity of Muroc Flight Test Base.”
Page 61 →
Explanations in the record
What the documents themselves say the event was, as recorded. Not our assessment.
- Wise first assumed the object was a weather balloon, then noted its oscillating movement. — FBI UFO case file section, flying disc records (1947-1968), page 68
- McHenry stated the objects were not weather balloons released from the station, birds or aircraft, citing travel against the wind, speed and steady altitude. — FBI UFO case file section, flying disc records (1947-1968), page 66
- Col Gilkey stated he believed the object he saw was paper and of no significance. — FBI UFO case file section, flying disc records (1947-1968), page 63
- Strapp first took his object for a parachute canopy from a premature seat ejection, and gave his opinion that it was a manmade object. — FBI UFO case file section, flying disc records (1947-1968), page 69