August 20, 1949 — Las Cruces, NM
10:45 p.m. Astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, his wife, and mother-in-law see a formation of rectangular bluish-green lights at Las Cruces, New Mexico, for about 3 seconds. [Eberhart]
Tombaugh’s wife sketch:
Air Force Technical Information Sheet:
Sources:
H. B. Darrach Jr. and Robert Ginna, “Have We Visitors from Space?” Life, April 7, 1952, p. 89;
J. Allen Hynek, “Special Report on Conferences with Astronomers on Unidentified Aerial Objects,” August 6, 1952, p. 15;
Donald H. Menzel, Flying Saucers, Harvard University Press, 1953, pp. 36-38;
Tombaugh, Clyde W. Letter to Leonard H. Stringfield (March 24, 1956);
Aimé Michel, The Truth About Flying Saucers, Criterion Books, 1956, pp. 58-62;
“Celestial Visitors May Be Invading Earth’s Atmosphere,” Alamogordo (N.Mex) Daily News, January 27, 1957, p. 6;
“Tombaugh—Satellites and Spaceships.” The A.P.R.O. Bulletin (January 1957): 1–2;
“Lorenzens Guests at Tombaugh Home.” The A.P.R.O. Bulletin (May 1957): 1;
“Dr. Clyde Tombaugh Provides Details on His Own Famous Sighting,” CSI News Letter, no. 10 (December 15, 1957): 27;
Enigma from the Skies: Armstrong Circle Theater, January 22, 1958; [Cant upload video files to UAPD]
Charles A. Maney and Richard Hall, The Challenge of Unidentified Flying Objects, NICAP, 1961, pp. 144-146;
Menzel, Donald H. Letter to Dr. Clyde Tombaugh (December 20, 1961);
Tombaugh, Clyde W. Letter to Menzel, Donald H. (January 9, 1962);
Donald Menzel and Lyle Boyd, The World Of Flying Saucers, 1963, pp. 266-270;
Richard Hall, The UFO Evidence, p. 53;
McDonald, James E. Letter to Richard H. Hall (October 24, 1966);
Flying Saucer Digest (Hilberg) No. 2 (1967), pp. 16-17;
James E. McDonald, “UFOs: Greatest Scientific Problem of Our Times?,” presented at the annual meeting of the Am. Soc. Newspaper Eds. (Washington, DC, Apr. 22, 1967);
James E. McDonald, “Statement on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, pp. 59–60;
W. Stuckey, “The Man Who Discovered Planet X.” Science Digest 78 (August 1975): 54–61;
“News and Views: Clyde Tombaugh.” MUFON UFO Journal 346 (February 1997): 14;
Michael Swords and Robert Powell, UFOS and Government, pp. 81–82;
Brad Sparks, Blue Book Unknowns Catalogue, Case 269, p. 70;
Jerome Clark, The UFO Encyclopedia, 3rd Ed., pp. 1129–1130;
Jerome Clark, The UFO Encyclopedia, 4th Ed., pp. 1281–1282;
McLaughlin, Robert B. Letter to Dr. James Van Allen (May 12, 1949); [Mentions on August 27, 1941, Tombaugh saw a flash on the face of Mars that he ascribes to an atomic explosion of some sort]
Wikipedia, “Clyde Tombaugh”;
NICAP, “Tombaugh Observes UFO Formation”;
“Las Cruces, NM Case of 4-20-1949 – Clyde Tombaugh,” Ufology: A Primer in Audio, 1938–1959, November 21, 2013;
Michael D. Swords, “Clyde Tombaugh, Mars, and UFOs”, Journal of Scientific Exploration, Vol. 13, No. 4, 1999, pp. 685–694;