20.09.2026

The 701 club Part 3: Case 864 January 8, 1951

South of Fort Worth, Texas

Don Berliner describes the case as follows:

Jan. 8, 1951; South of Ft. Worth, Texas. 10:45 p.m. Witnesses: Mr. and Mrs. W.J. Boggus, plus unidentified drivers and passengers in other cars stopped to watch. Two groups of red and green lights in triangular formations were stationary and then moved.1

Sparks’ entry:

Jan. 8, 1951. S of Ft. Worth, Texas (32.75° N, 97.32° W).10:45 p.m. Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Boggus, plus unidentified drivers and passengers in other cars stopped to watch 2 stationary groups of red and green lights in triangular formations which then moved. (Sparks; Berliner;- Saunders/FUFOR Index).

2

The Blue Book file3,4

The Blue Book file contains a spot intelligence report dated 19 January 1951. It was written by office of special investigations (OSI) at Kelly AFB in San Antonio. The report contains statements by the witness made on 12 January 1951 and a sketch. The important details are:

•

Observation time was 22:45 CST on January 8th, 1951.

•

The location was just south of the highway and US-81. This is now the intersection of Interstate 35 and Interstate 20. Carswell

AFB is about 10 miles to the NW of this location.

•

Duration was given as about 5 minutes.

Witnesses had just exited the highway and were driving south when they notice cars pulled off the highway observing formations of lights.

Each group of lights were composed of two green lights and one red light forming a triangle.

Their altitude was estimated at 1000 feet.

•

There were three to four of these three light “triangles” to the west of US-81 and they appeared stationary. After a short period, it was determined they were flying north at slow speed (estimated 100 mph).

Another light “triangle” was seen to the east of US-81, heading North. The description only mentions one set of lights east of the road but the sketch indicates there were more than one.

•

The only sound heard was as the lights departed. It sounded like an “outboard trolling motor in the distance”

There is no indication that the report was followed up with any investigation.

Analysis

The red and green lights seem to be a clue as to what was seen that night. Aircraft have navigation lights on their wing tips that are red (port side) and green (starboard side). Ten miles to the northwest of this sighting was Carswell AFB, which had a heavy bomber group that included B-36 aircraft. The appearance of the aircraft approaching Carswell from head-on would have made it appear that the aircraft were nearly stationary before noticing that they were slowly moving in their direction. This appears to be a group of 6-10 B-36 bombers approaching the airbase. The 8th of January was a Monday so this appears to be an exercise of some kind and were aircraft returning to Carswell.

USAF B-36

In a possible connection to the sighting, six B-36s (along with support transports) were deployed from Carswell to the UK around 15 January 1951. 5 It was pretty big news at the time.6 They returned to Fort Worth on 21 January. While in Europe, the bombers practiced conducting bombing raids on various targets. Such deployments usually require practice exercises before their departure.

This was to help the ground and air crews improve their proficiency and make sure the actual mission went as planned. These would have most likely would have occurred shortly after New Years day (when the Christmas stand down period ended) and three-seven days before the 15th. That would give the deploying crews and aircraft time to correct any problems and rest before their departure.

The 8th of January would be in this time period for any pre-deployment training flight.

There was no indication that the Kelly AFB OSI made any investigation or requested information from Carswell on aircraft activity.

A detailed investigation might have revealed the source of this sighting if aircraft were involved. There is nothing in this report that rules out aircraft activity as a source of this sighting.

Conclusion

In my opinion, this case can be reclassified as probably aircraft and be removed from the list of Blue Book unknowns.

Quelle: SUNlite 7/2026