Project Blue Book unexplained cases:

Feb. 2, 1955, Miramar Naval Air Station, California. 11:50 a.m:

Witness: USN Cmdr. J.L. Ingersoll.

One highly polished sphere, with reddish-brown coloring, fell, then instantly accelerated to 1,000 - 1,500 m.p.h.

3 February 1955

1. At 1150 hours the morning of 2 February 1955, this officer departed NAS Miramar in a private vehicle in route to the U.S. Naval Hospital Balboa Park. Upon leaving the station from the east gate and turning right on highway 395 he proceeded due south. When immediately off the east end of the main runway of the air station this officer observed 2 F7U3 aircraft wing to wing and a FJ3 aircraft intersecting the F7U3 aircraft at a distance of approximately 400 feet on the downwind leg in the landing pattern. A second FJ3 aircraft trailing the first by approximately 500 yards appeared to this writer to have only one landing gear wheel extended. Sensing an emergency, this officer carefully observed that both landing gear plus the nose wheel were down. Simultaneously I noted an object immediately aft and somewhat below the FJ3. My first thought was a part of the airplane, possibly the canopy, had been ejected and was falling. The motion of the falling object was somehow erratic, however it continued to descend at a steady rate of approximately 3 to 500 feet per minute. By this time it was obvious the descending object was not a part of the airplane and that it was considerably beyond the point the aircraft just passed. Being unable to ascertain exactly what the descending object was and not discounting spots before the eyes, dirty windshield of the car and eye strain due to the concentration on the landing gear of the aircraft, I raised my glasses, rubbed my eyes, looked away for an instant and again concentrated on the descending object. Insofar as I am able I will attempt to describe the location, altitude, description, coloring etc. It was not possible to determine even a reasonable altitude. However, I should say the object when first observed appeared to be somewhere between 10 and 20 thousand feet, probably close to 20 thousand and descended 3 to 5 thousand feet from the original observed position, ultimately coming to a complete stand still for a period of 5 to 10 seconds. I was able to determine the object appeared to be an off white in color and with an apparently high polished surface since there was a bright reflection from the sun. I was further able to determine the object itself was not a reflection due to the fact it was reflecting sunlight. The object if considered as a sphere and from my location estimated at 3 to 5 miles distant and at a the 5 o'clock position a reddish brown color appeared and at the same time the object practically instantaneously accelerated to a tremendous speed certainly not less than 1000 to 1500 miles per hour. A short vapor trail or exhaust of brown hue remained in the approximated position the object had been in prior to the extremely rapid acceleration. The vapor trail or exhaust quickly dissipated due to the high wind condition. The object took a course of approximately 170 degrees, granting that highway 395 runs reasonably true north and south at this point. It is with extreme disgust that this officer is unable to give you anything like a realistic dimension. I would hazard a guess the object was no less than 25 to 35 feet in diameter and could conceivably have been 100 feet in diameter. The distance involved and the fact that this officer was unable to force himself to properly evaluate the object precludes a very precise description. I believe the object was of spherical or near spherical shape. Again the distance precluded determining if the object rotated on its axis, or if there were any openings or protrutions. This officer has been serving in Naval Aviation for approximately 26 years and is familiar with the normal illusions one can see in connection with high speed, highly polished or high gloss painted craft at high altitudes and other phenomena of a similar nature. The object I observed today was not an aircraft in the normal sense as we apply the term, it was a solid object, a definite mass and was not a reflection or an optical illusion.