March 22, 1957 — Oxnard AFB / Camarillo, CA
11:15 p.m. Mrs. Robert Beaudoin, the wife of an Air Force officer, along with her 17-year-old daughter Carol Litten, sees a series of unusual lights northeast of Camarillo, California. First they see a large, soundless, and pulsing light, with something like a pole on top, making fast and erratic motions. She calls a military friend and then 1st Lt. Leonard E. Ott at nearby Oxnard AFB [now Camarillo Airport]. At 12:30 a.m., they see a green object accompanied by two smaller red lights below the horizon of the Los Palos Hills. The green object seems to be hovering over the North American Rocketdyne plant in the Simi Hills. At this time both the green object and the red objects seem to jump around, and the two red objects are zooming past the green object at tremendous velocities. Ott inquires about radar and a Lt. Martin tells him that radar is detecting a stationary object in the same area. The sheriff’s office is contacted, and they send a patrol car. Deputy Sheriffs Segura and Rausch confirm Beaudoin’s report, with the exception that by that time there are five red objects flying well below the green one. All are in motion and constantly changing altitude. Radar calls Ott back and says they have a scramble underway and they will have the aircraft check the area upon their return. Upon the arrival of the interceptors from Oxnard the red objects join the green object and speed away up and to the east. The aircraft are unsuccessful and return to base. At this time two Navy aircraft are sent to the area. Somehow, between the time of this report to Oxnard and the later Air Force investigation by the 4602nd, these red objects are changed, on the report, to stars and the moon above. This happens despite the witness stating that the red lights were below the hills on the horizon. To deal with that, the Air Force adds the theory that a temperature inversion caused light to bend the images of the stars, or, alternatively, the witness saw lights on a barn. Beaudoin herself is judged hysterical due to her pregnancy. The Air Force’s explanation is completed without anyone bothering to interview the teenage daughter or taking anything associated with the airbase into account (for example, the radar returns).[Eberhart]
Record Card:
AF-112 / Air Intelligence Report:
Sources:
“Flying Saucer Reported, But Not Located,” Oxnard (Calif.) Press-Courier, March 23, 1957, p. 1;
https://www.newspapers.com/article/oxnard-press-courier/168576425/
“Mystery Object Sighted Near Oxnard AF Base,” Santa Barbara (Calif.) News-Press, March 23, 1957, p. 2;
https://www.newspapers.com/article/santa-barbara-news-press-santabarbaran/193896139/
“Identity of Mysterious Object In Sky Sought,” Santa Barbara (Calif.) News-Press, March 24, 1957, p. 2;
https://www.newspapers.com/article/santa-barbara-news-press-santabarbaran/193895973/
Russ Leadabrand, “Bright Red Light,” Pasadena (Calif.) Independent, March 26, 1957, p. 9;
Lee Pitt, “Aviation News,” Los Angeles (Calif.) Mirror-News, March 29, 1957, p. III-7;
https://www.newspapers.com/article/los-angeles-mirror-losangelesmirror-ne/166635205/
Brad Sparks, Blue Books Unknowns Catalogue, Case 1227, p.242;
Donald Keyhoe, Flying Saucers Top Secret, pp. 58–61;
J Allen Hynek, The Hynek UFO Report, pp. 53–54;
Loren E. Gross, The Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1957 March 23rd–May 25th, The Author, 1995, pp. 1-9, 11-12;
Michael Swords and Robert Powell, UFOs and Government, pp. 246–247;
NICAP, “Objects Seen, Radar Tracked, Jets Scrambled”;
