A Bombardier's Metallic Disc over Davis-Monthan

First Lieutenant David J. Latz was a bombardier with the 65th Bomb Squadron of the 43rd Bomb Group. On 12 October 1949 he was standing in the squadron's aircraft parking area at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, outside Tucson, with three airmen. Some time after one in the afternoon he saw a round object high in the sky. It was metallic and white or silver. He put it at 50 to 100 feet across. He estimated its height at 25,000 to 30,000 feet and its elevation at 75 degrees. It was travelling from north-east to south-west, possibly at 1,000 miles an hour.

He watched it for about 15 seconds. Then a weather-balloon launch caught his eye. When he looked back the object was gone. Latz thought it could be "an instrument whose existence is known".

What is on the record

The Air Force Office of Special Investigations took the case through its Kirtland District 17 office. Its report concludes: "Investigation failed to identify object. Observer considered to be reliable." That is the only evaluation in the file. NICAP's catalogue lists the sighting as "Four Airman View Metallic Craft".

The report turns up in an odd place. Project Blue Book filed it inside its October 1949 bundle for Wilson, North Carolina, not in a Tucson file. The time is uncertain too. The synopsis gives 13:10 Mountain time and the details give 13:40. One line in the scan reads 2340, but the sighting was in daylight.

The three airmen were S/Sgt John A. Bobst, T/Sgt Roy S. Elias and S/Sgt Paul C. Wallingford. The file names them as witnesses but does not set out what each of them saw.

Why it sits where it does

L4 · OFFICIAL RECORD — a released government record names who saw it. Latz is the principal witness. Bobst, Elias and Wallingford are named beside him. Beyond the AFOSI report the archive holds no account from any of them. What Latz saw over the base is not resolved here.