January 24, 1950 — Nr. Blackstone, Virginia
4:50 p.m. USAF Capt. G. B. Edwards and copilot Theron C. Fehrevach are flying a C-45 transport plane from Pope AFB [now Pope Field], Fayetteville, North Carolina, to Bolling AFB [now Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling], Washington, D.C. While at 5,000 feet near Blacksburg, Virginia, Fehrevach notices a dark, 200–250 foot in diameter, hemispherical parachute-shaped object above them about 5–10 miles away. A large black smoky region is below it, possibly obscuring the lower portion of a sphere. The UFO is darker than the 50% cloud cover and “easy to distinguish as not being cloud.” The object moves smoothly without any noticeable turn radius. Edwards puts the C-45 into a climb to 7,000 feet so they are at the same altitude as the UFO and turns to head directly toward it. Army Courier Service passenger 1st Lt. John H. Van Santen is alerted by Fehrevach and also sees the object move right then left again, then they all see the object recede at high speed and disappear. About 90 seconds later the object reappears about 30°–45° to the right of their heading, then oscillates right to left. It moves horizontally to dead ahead again and disappears by receding in the distance at high speed. [Eberhart]
Record Card:
Report:
Sources:
Brad Sparks, Blue Book Unknowns, Case 325, p. 81;
Loren E. Gross, UFOs, a History: Volume 5, January–March 1950, The Author, 1983, pp. 13-15;
Michael Swords et al, UFOs and Government: A Historical Inquiry, p. 91;
NICAP, “C-45 Transport Crew Encounters Object”;
Martin Shough and Wim van Utrecht, “Blackstone, Virginia, USA: January 24, 1950,” September 30, 2015;