Nicholas Mariana film sighting, Great Falls, Montana
15 August 1950 · Great Falls, Montana
Summary
Nicholas Mariana, general manager of the Great Falls Baseball Club, filmed two bright objects over Great Falls, Montana, on 15 August 1950. An Air Force district office report dated 6 October 1950 gave the time as 11:25 to 11:30 a.m.. Mariana said he first saw two bright disc-shaped objects from the ball park grandstand, then got his camera from his car. His secretary, Virginia Raunig, confirmed the sighting and the number of objects.
The same report recorded the camera, film type and settings, and that Great Falls Air Force Base operations records showed two F-94 aircraft landing at 1130 and 1133. Mariana said two jets crossed the sky almost immediately after he stopped filming. The Weather Bureau at Gore Field listed no celestial phenomena for the period. The report called Mariana reliable and trustworthy.
In October 1952 the Air Force asked Mariana to lend his original film, saying its duplicate had been misplaced. In November 1952 the Air Force asked Naval Intelligence to analyse the Montana film, alongside a Utah film. The Naval Photographic Interpretation Center's progress report of 4 May 1953 computed velocities and accelerations for the Montana objects, using terrestrial objects in the frame as controls. It stated that its results did not necessarily represent the Navy's official attitude. A Navy analysis of both films listed only two weak points of correlation between them.
The Robertson Panel met in January 1953 and watched the film, then heard the Navy laboratory's presentation (doc 4231ce616854c1a9). It listed Great Falls among the significant cases and believed the objects probably were aircraft, with the bright lights reflections. A 1956 Air Force memo said the original conclusion was that the objects were probably two F-94 fighters. It added that an aircraft manufacturer's independent analysis showed simulated photographs of aircraft similar to the film. A 1950s Drew Pearson column in an FBI file described the F-84 explanation.
What the files say
“The objects in the Great Falls sighting are strongly suspected of being reflections of aircraft known to have been in the area.”
Page 23 →“The original Air Force conclusion, based on the interrogation of witnesses and the evaluation of the data, was that the UFOs were, in all probability, two Air Force F-94 fighter aircraft known to be in the vicinity at the time.”
Page 126 →“Mr. Mariana states object was in sight to him a total of about twenty seconds and about seven seconds to his secretary, Miss Raunig.”
Page 22 →“Observer's attention was definitely drawn to objects by their glint of light.”
Page 23 →“A further check of the records of Base Operations, Great Falls Air Force Base, Great Falls, Montana, indicates that an F-94 type aircraft, #2503, and F-94 type aircraft, #2502, landed at Great Falls Air Force Base at 1133 and 1130 hours (Mountain Standard Time) respectively on 15 August 1950.”
Page 21 →
Explanations in the record
What the documents themselves say the event was, as recorded. Not our assessment.
- Two F-94 jets from Ladd Air Force Base landed at Great Falls AFB at 1130 and 1133, and Mariana said two jets crossed the sky just after filming. — U.S. Air Force 'Flying Discs' file, UFO reports (1952), page 21
- The Robertson Panel believed the objects were probably aircraft and the bright lights reflections of them. — Robertson Panel UFO report and CIA files (1952-1953), page 23
- The Air Force's original conclusion was that the objects were probably two F-94 fighters; an independent aircraft-firm analysis was cited as supporting it. — Tremonton, Utah UFO film: Blue Book case file (1952), page 126
- A newspaper column reported that investigators attributed the images to sunlight reflecting off two F-84 jets from Ladd Air Force Base. — FBI UFO case file index, 1947-1968 (metadata only), page 68