March 12, 1949 - 40 miles southeast of Des Moines Airport, Iowa1

The source of this information is from Project Blue Book’s files.

Source information

The US Air Force classified this as a meteor. Searching for the case file was difficult. It was in the illegible section folder and had multiple reports from both Minnesota and Iowa. A check of the Newspaper Archive revealed no mention of any event for the region but that is not that unexpected. Reports of such things are sometimes ignored by newspapers if they don’t come from a news service. I recall multiple bright meteors in the 1970s failing to make it into the local newspaper over the years even though the local astronomy club reported them. 

Analysis

This case has all the characteristics of a meteor fireball. Meteor fireballs are usually seen over a wide area and this event is no different in that it was reported from locations in Iowa and Minnesota2:

Some of these reports look like duplicates. With redaction, it is hard to say. Most interesting were the sketches that were provided. All looked very similar and are often the type of sketches one would see from meteor fireballs. 

Conclusion

This case is a meteor fireball. This is little doubt that this is what was observed. I am not even sure how this even made it on the list when looking at the description. Any observation of an object, with a brief duration, at night is usually a meteor unless there is something unique about the event. A cursory check revealed that there were no unusual maneuvers or characteristics. Blue Book correctly identified this as a fireball. It should be removed from the list. 

Quelle: SUNlite 2/2022