Richland, 1953: uma luneta de 30 aumentos e um objeto branco com quatro braços

COPY. [endereço residencial omitido pelo portal] Richland, Washington. 16 July 1953. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Building 762, Handford Works, Richland, Washington. Gentlemen: On the afternoon of July 15th, 1953, I had taken off the afternoon to entertain guests from Portland and was engaged in small talk about the various target shooting equipment I have accumulated. My guest and I spotted an object in the sky which appeared to be a large kite. We turned my 30 power Bausch and Lomb observation telescope on the object and it turned out to be a large sheet of brown paper at about 10,000 feet elevation. Having been impressed with the tremendous resolving power of the instrument we scanned the skies with our naked eye for other objects such as birds at high altitude. Our reward for this observation was most remarkable. At about 14:30 hours we sighted a bright shimmering speck at very extreme altitude, perhaps 30,000 feet perhaps much lower. This speck hovered at a north azimuth to Richland of about 80 degrees. I tried to pick up the object in the telescope and while trying to locate it in the very small field, about 15 minutes angle, my friend located another similar speck a short distance away. At this time we were convinced that they were birds, but had not yet sighted one in the glass because of the small field. Suddenly one of the specks ceased hovering and darted off to the west and disappeared. Still not giving this much thought I continued to search for the original object. After about three minutes searching I was able to bring it under observation and held it continuously for a period of two minutes until 14:44 hours. At first I thought I had found a large bird, but closer examination proved to be an unusual object. The first glances gave an impression of a heliocopter with the rotor stationary, but I was soon convinced I had never seen anything like this before. No heliocopter has wings too, nor hovers with a stationary rotor. I shouted to my guests and all four held the bright speck under observation until it eventually disappeared. As I examined the object in the glass very carefully it seemed as though the white parts were surface feature[s of a] transparent [texto parcialmente coberto por carimbo] [Carimbo: SEARCHED / SERIALIZED / FILED, AUG 4 1953, FBI - SEATTLE; número manuscrito 100-18945-42; carimbo de desclassificação]

disc-like body. I cannot be sure as the object only covered about one fortieth of the diameter of the field, which would make it about 20 seconds of arc; it was either very small or very high. At no time did any part appear to rotate, but the heliocopter like arms, four in number, appeared to be surrounded by a thin vaporous ring about witish blue in color. The attached sketch, showing the object as it appeared from the bottom will give you my last impression. Just as I had become convinced this was a radar target balloon made of transparent plastic, the object began to move. It moved at incredible speed toward the east disappearing on the eastern horizon in about 10 seconds. The latter motion could only be observed with the naked eye due to the tremendous speed. I spend about 4 hours a week looking through this glass while target shooting and am confident that I observed a factual object of very unusual nature. As you will find upon examination I am a design supervisor in charge of the CA 512 R design encompassing some rather important aspects of the present expansion program, being designed by the Engineering Department of the General Electric Company. I deal strictly in facts, and hope you will treat this report factually. I am willing to enlarge upon this matter if called on to do so; no short discription being adequate. Sincerely yours, ROBERT T. JASKE /s/

[Desenho superior:] GLIMMERING PURE WHITE; INDISTINCT RING. [Desenho inferior:] AS APPEARING IN GLASS; 15 MIN FIELD. [Nota datilografada:] This B&L glass will pick out the rungs on the ladders of the 200E area from the top of Badger Mountain. I guess a distance of 15 or 20 miles.

Office Memorandum - UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT. TO: SAC (100-18945). FROM: SA D. J. KRAUTER. DATE: 8-3-53. SUBJECT: UNUSUAL OBJECT SIGHTED IN SKY OVER HOO, AEC. The attached letter is self-explanatory. Immediately on receipt of the letter, the matter was taken up with the Security Division of AEC, inasmuch as the object was sighted in area over the AEC reservation space. O. R. SIMPSON, Asst. Chief, checked with the 5th AAA group onascertaining that their airport records indicating tracking over the reservation on July 15. The AAA group reported that they had released a meteorlogical balloon, equipped with radio and other meteorological equipment at 2:05 PM on July 15th. The radar had tracked it at 25,000 feet, losing it at that height going in the same area as that described by the complainant. Even though the object was over the AEC reservation and the AEC and 5th Group Radar believe they have explained it, it is felt desirable to refer the report to the attention of the Air Force as they may wish to discuss it with the two other interested services. [Carimbos: 100-18945-43; SEARCHED/INDEXED/SERIALIZED/FILED, AUG 4 1953, FBI - SEATTLE; desclassificação]

100-18945. 1015 Second Avenue, Seattle 4, Washington, August 10, 1953. Colonel Spencer Raynor, Commanding Officer, 20th District, Office of Special Investigations, McChord Air Force Base, Washington. Dear Sir: I am enclosing for your information and any action you deem appropriate a letter dated July 16, 1953, received from Robert T. Jaske, [endereço residencial omitido pelo portal], Richland, Washington, concerning an unusual object he sighted in the sky over Richland, Washington, on July 15, 1953. Immediately upon receipt of this letter the matter was taken up with the Security Division of the Atomic Energy Commission at Richland, Washington, inasmuch as the object was sighted in an area over the AEC reservation space. Mr. O. R. Simpson, Assistant Chief, Security Division, AEC, checked with the Fifth AAA Group and determined that they had released a meteorological balloon equipped with radio and other meteorological equipment at 2:05 p.m. on July 15, 1953. The Fifth AAA Group radar had tracked it at 25,000 feet and then lost it at that height going in the same area as described by Mr. Jaske. No further inquiry will be made by this office. Sincerely, R. D. AUERBACH, Special Agent in Charge. ENCLOSURE. LAD:hz 100-18945 [rubricas; 100-18945-44; desclassificação]

1015 Second Avenue, Seattle 4, Washington, August 5, 1953. Mr. Robert T. Jaske, [endereço residencial omitido pelo portal], Richland, Washington. Dear Sir: This will acknowledge your recent letter concerning the unusual object sighted by you in the vicinity of Richland, Washington. On the day the letter was received the matter was referred to the Security Division of the Atomic Energy Commission since it appeared that such information would be of primary interest to that organization and to the Army and Air Force. You may be assured that your report will be treated factually. In the event any of the interested services desire to contact you further, they will probably do so directly. I appreciate your interest in referring this to our attention, and hope that anything else which comes to your attention which you think might be of interest to this office will be referred to us. Very truly yours, R. D. AUERBACH, Special Agent in Charge. 100-18945 DJK:ldh [100-18945-46; desclassificação]