A Moody Photo-lab Sergeant's Colour-changing Light

Helen C. Waterman woke her husband. Master Sergeant Frank C. Waterman, the NCO in charge of the Moody AFB photo lab, went to a north-facing bedroom window in the Twin Lakes area, about 10 miles south of Valdosta. It was about 23:00 on 5 August 1952. For about 30 seconds he watched a lighted circular object with no defined outline. As it receded it turned from orange to an opalescent greenish-blue. It flew straight to the north-north-east at an estimated 4,500 to 5,000 ft. He compared its speed to a 40 mm tracer. There was no sound, trail or exhaust. A jet showing flashing red and green navigation lights was on the same heading 2,500 to 3,000 ft higher. Beside the light, the jet "seemed to be standing still".

What is on the record

Wing Intelligence report IR-4-52 from Moody AFB carries the account. The preparing officer judged Waterman sincere and above average in his powers of observation. Waterman stated positively that it was no aircraft he knew. Seven aircraft were airborne from Moody at the time. The report gives a source evaluation of "F" and no evaluation of the sighting itself.

It is filed in the Project Blue Book folder for Port Austin, Michigan, which is Unknown #1845 and a radar case of 6 August 1952. The Valdosta sighting is a separate event and is not that Unknown, and the folder's date is not its date. No outside catalogue carries it. A meteor is possible given the colour change and the speed, though Waterman had a jet in view to compare it with.

Why it sits where it does

L4 · OFFICIAL RECORD — a released government record names who saw it. The identification is a married couple at one window: Frank and Helen Waterman. No third observer appears anywhere in the archive. A tier grades the paperwork, not the object. What passed the jet that night is not resolved here.