Van Nuys luminous sphere (Glover)

Captain Henry Glover, an Ordnance Reserve officer, and his wife reported a single round object over Van Nuys, California, on 22 July 1948. A check-list in the incident summaries gives the time as an hour before dark and the distance as 2,000 feet overhead. It records the time in sight as about an hour and the weather as clear, with a ground temperature of 70 to 75 degrees (incident check-list).

Glover gave a signed statement on 17 September 1948, taken with additional questions from Special Agent William G. Sproull. He said he and his wife were having dinner at an open-air market when other patrons drew their attention to the object (Glover statement). He said it looked like a weather balloon at about 2,000 feet but did not bob, and that he was positive it was not a weather balloon. He said its color changed from bluish to yellow to orange as the sun set, and that it vanished like a switched-off light (Sproull interview). He also said it moved about 25 or 30 degrees and travelled faster than the sun. He did not know any other witnesses (statement, page 182).

The check-list recorded no sound, no exhaust trail and no photographs or sketches (check-list). Its remarks section gave the direction of travel as from the east toward the sun (remarks).

Air Intelligence Division Study No. 203 later used the case as an example of a sighting that investigation had identified. It said Glover and his wife could not positively identify the object. It then stated that investigation determined it to have been a balloon carrying cosmic ray equipment (Study 203). A second copy of the study repeats the finding (Analysis, 1949). Both copies list the case among 18 of about 210 incidents that Air Materiel Command had identified. The study says the direction of travel was from east to west, while the check-list and the remarks page say toward the sun.