August 31, 1950 — Holloman AFB, NM
10:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. After V-2 missile launch no. 51 at Holloman AFB, New Mexico, Project Twinkle cinetheodolite crews track and film multiple objects sporadically several times from different directions at very high speeds over the course of 3 hours. Cinetheodolite station P-5 films an object using a one-frame-per-second 60 cm focal length camera with 35 mm color film. Frames 593 and 595 (2 seconds of nearly 10 minutes of film) show its elevation angle changing. An attempted interception by four F-86 jets from Kirtland AFB for one hour fails to locate the objects, which apparently return after the jets leave. Cinetheodolite observers note an object with definite shape and 3D depth but indistinct edges and no smoke or trail. The object seems to “rock or oscillate.” It is lost when the observer looks away to get an angle reading. [Eberhart]
Report:
Project Twinkle Report Excerpt:
Sources:
Brad Sparks, Blue Books Unknowns Catalogue, Case 401, p. 99;
Loren E. Gross, The Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs a History: 1950 August–December, The Author, 1980, pp. 11-12;
Jerome Clark, The UFO Encyclopedia, 3rd Ed., p. 544;
Jerome Clark, The UFO Encyclopedia, 4th Ed., p. 602;
NICAP, “Objects Filmed after V-2 Launch”;