Three Mechanics and the Disc That Split the Clouds at Harmon Field

Three airline mechanics were driving from Stephenville Crossing to Harmon Field in Newfoundland on 10 July 1947 when John W. Woodruff saw it first. About six miles south-south-west of the field they watched a circular object "like a wheel", translucent or silvery, cross the sky at very high speed on a level course to the north-north-east. They judged it about the size of a C-54 at 10,000 feet. It appeared to "rent or split the clouds" it passed through. Behind it hung a bluish-black trail about 15 miles long, which the report likens to the afterglow of a searchlight beam just switched off. Robert E. Leidy took two Kodachrome snapshots of the trail. He and Woodruff worked for Pan American Airways, and the third man, John N. Merhman, for TWA.

What is on the record

The account is the "Final Report of Sighting" from the 1388th AAF Base Unit at Harmon Field. It sits in serial 130 of the FBI's flying-disc file 62-HQ-83894, which the Department of War released in 2026. The mechanics reported to the intelligence officer on 15 July, five days after the sighting. Leidy's film went to Newfoundland Base Command intelligence for processing. The photographs are referred to in the report but are not in this file, and the archive does not hold them.

The report times the sighting at 2000Z, which is 16:30 in Newfoundland. Its own summary table says 1600. Outside catalogues give "between 3 and 5 PM" (Berliner and Johnson) and 5:30 p.m. (Eberhart). The TWA mechanic's name is spelled both Merhman and Mehrman, and Eberhart gives Woodruff's middle initial as E. The report states no conclusion. Berliner's list of Blue Book Unknowns includes the case, NICAP files it as the Harmon Field photo case, and Hatch and Eberhart have entries for it.

Why it sits where it does

L4 · OFFICIAL RECORD: a released government record names who saw it. Three names come out of the base unit's report, Woodruff, Leidy and Merhman, and that report is the only place their account appears in the archive. The grade reflects that paper trail and makes no finding about the object. What left the trail over Stephenville is not resolved here.