Case file

The source document is the Project Blue Book file. Blue Book listed this as “Insufficient data”. There major reasons why this label was given were because no length of observation was given and only minimal positional data was presented. The case file contains only one page, which is a summary written by the investigating officer. 

The aircraft was a C-46 being flown on a direction of 165 degrees magnetic at an altitude of 12,000 feet. The pilot, a Mr. Bray, saw the object coming towards him and he had to swerve to avoid a collision. He also woke up the co-pilot. The summary of their sighting was documented on a one page report identified as IR-31-49: 

“Object was a very bright ball of light of a blue-green color. There was no tail such as a meteorite would have. It did not appear to be an exhaust from a jet engine. Course of objects flight was about 255 deg. Observation was made through 45 deg of horizon and then object gradually disappeared from view in the same manner as a rear light on a train going away from the observer. Speed could not accurately be determined. However, both observers described it as extremely fast, faster than jet aircraft they had observed, and if they were to hazard an estimate of speed, they stated it would be in the vicinity of 800 mph. The observers aircraft was 2000 feet above the undercast and object was on the same level.....”2

There was mention of a passenger seeing the object as well but that person was never interviewed/could not be contacted. 

The preparing officer could not come up with a conclusion and compared the sighting to IR-18-49. 

Analysis

One has to first examine the astronomical conditions. 0845Z translates to 2345 local time. Sunset was around 0600Z and the sky was twilight with stars visible. There was no cloud cover since the aircraft was above it. This makes one wonder about a possible astronomical explanation. 

While I could not locate IR-18-49 referenced in the file, I did locate IR-16-49 and IR-13-49. Both involved sightings of meteors.

This case sounds a lot like Chiles-Whitted, where the pilots swerved to avoid an apparent imminent collision with an object that was not as close as perceived. We have no time duration but it seems like it was on the order of less than one minute. I suspect it was only a matter of ten to twenty seconds but we can’t be sure since that information was never obtained. This short time period is consistent with the descriptions of air speed given by the witnesses. 

Conclusion

There seems to be no good reason to dismiss the possibility that this was a fireball meteor. The description was nothing more than a big ball of light, with a straight trajectory, which appeared to have faded out at the end of its flight. That description is consistent with a fireball meteor. In my opinion, there is no reason for this to be in the Weinstein catalogue and it should be removed.

Quelle: SUNlite 3/2020