March 9, 1950 — Selfridge AFB, Michigan
7:45 p.m. A crew of three radar controllers at Selfridge Air Force Base [now Selfridge Air National Guard Base] near Mount Clemens, Michigan, is busy monitoring some F-80 Shooting Star jet aircraft of the 56th Fighter-Interceptor Group. 1st Lt. Francis E. Parker, 1st Lt. Frank K. Mattson, Sgt. McCarthy, and Cpl. Melton observe an intermittent target on the height range indicator (HRI) scope of the CPS-4 radar at 47,000 feet altitude and a distance of 70 miles. Further indications of what Parker describes as a well-defined, clear target like an aircraft are picked up with increasing regularity over the next 45–60 minutes.
During this time, the target seems to stay in the area where the F-80s are flying, but 20,000 feet above them. The radar operators are monitoring two different systems—a CPS-5 radar operating on long-wave frequencies at 40,000 feet, and a CPS-4 radar operating on short-wave frequencies—and the target appears on both scopes simultaneously without fade. Despite being tasked to pay attention to the F-80s, the radar crew manages to record the range, azimuth, and altitude of the unidentified target for a solid 6 minutes. The speed varies from a hover in low-density air to nearly 1,500 mph, well in excess of the fastest operational jet at the time, and a climb rate of up to 7,000 feet per minute. After this, the target begins fading from the radarscope, although at a distance of 110 miles it appears to hover for two minutes before fading away. [Eberhart]
Record Card:
Neal O’Brien letter to Director of Intelligence, USAF:
Narrative Report:
Spot Intelligence Report:
Sources:
Brad Sparks, Blue Book Unknown File, Case 341, p. 84;
J Allen Hynek, The Hynek UFO Report, pp. 123–126, 295–297;
Martin L. Shough, “Radar and the UFO,” UFOs 1947–1987, Fortean Tomes, 1987, pp. 215–217;
Jerome Clark, The UFO Encyclopedia, 3rd Ed., pp. 1047–1049;
Jerome Clark, The UFO Encyclopedia, 4th Ed., pp. 1162–1164;
Martin Shough, RADCAT: Radar Catalogue: A Review of Twenty-One Ground and Airborne Radar UAP Contact Reports Generally Related to Aviation Safety for the Period October 15, 1948, to September 19, 1976, National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena, NARCAP Report TR-6, December 8, 2002, pp.12–20; https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5cf80ff422b5a90001351e31/t/5d02ebc15f44ef000117025f/1560472519264/narcap_radcat_textwebsite_MShough_12-8-02.pdf
Thomas Tulien, “The Selfridge AFB Radar–UFO Encounter of March 9, 1950,” SCU Review 6, no. 4 (October 7, 2025): 9–13;
NICAP, “The Selfridge AFB Incident”;