# October 7, 1958 — Alexandria, VA — Saturn-Shaped Object Observed, Object Confirmed by Pilot

**URL:** https://uapdiscovery.discourse.group/t/october-7-1958-alexandria-va-saturn-shaped-object-observed-object-confirmed-by-pilot/367
**Category:** Blue Book Unknowns
**Created:** [October 6, 2025, 10:48pm UTC](https://uapdiscovery.discourse.group/t/october-7-1958-alexandria-va-saturn-shaped-object-observed-object-confirmed-by-pilot/367 "2025-10-06T22:48:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![jeffknox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e47c2d/32.png) [@jeffknox](https://uapdiscovery.discourse.group/u/jeffknox)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2025, 10:48pm UTC](https://uapdiscovery.discourse.group/t/october-7-1958-alexandria-va-saturn-shaped-object-observed-object-confirmed-by-pilot/367/1 "2025-10-06T22:48:32Z")

</div>

![10071958-AlexandriaVA-Drawings](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/uapdiscovery/original/2X/9/93b24b7f4cb1c14953389a756800472817edd088.jpeg)

October 7, 1958 — Alexandria, VA  
6:02 p.m. Chemist John R. Townsend, special assistant for research and engineering to the Assistant Secretary of Defense, sees a large, stationary, sharply outlined Saturn-shaped silvery object (with a “gossamer” surface appearance and a rim or girdle around its equator) in a clear sky in Alexandria, Virginia. It rapidly rises at an estimated speed of 1,000 mph and disappears to the south after 40 seconds. At one point a passing Capitol Airlines Flight 407 flies directly between his line of sight and the UFO at 2 miles distance, allowing him to estimate the UFO’s size as about 500 feet. Townsend reenacts the timing by walking the half block down Lee Street to get a better feeling for its distance and size. [Eberhart]

Record card:

 ![10071958-AlexandriaVA-BBCard](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/uapdiscovery/original/2X/a/aa9c7cf556961fe8ebfa52d830268f3fa0d8af21.jpeg)

ATIC Report:

 ![10071958-AlexandriaVA-ATICReport-1](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/uapdiscovery/original/2X/6/6a50ba109374e7f881b9f1dd599fa86303b0d78f.jpeg) ![10071958-AlexandriaVA-ATICReport-2](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/uapdiscovery/original/2X/9/9b645202ff06df37b689c3ff18418d6e0ce75e63.jpeg)

 ![10071958-AlexandriaVA-ATICReport-3](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/uapdiscovery/original/2X/2/2ff8b3b534925541182ea401f751d8bcb2c89085.jpeg) ![10071958-AlexandriaVA-ATICReport-4](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/uapdiscovery/original/2X/2/2f1d6777dd18a755aca431941efd9250749d389f.jpeg)

Townsend Report:

 ![10071958-AlexandriaVA-TownsendReport-1](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/uapdiscovery/original/2X/6/673902d9fce2993980f2f9b838e86f4881b1bbf0.jpeg)

 ![10071958-AlexandriaVA-TownsendReport-2](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/uapdiscovery/original/2X/4/4aae61f6f4dd2286269983df930f2c0e34552492.png)

LeBailly to Townsend Memo:

 ![10071958-AlexandriaVA-LeBaillyToTownsendMemo](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/uapdiscovery/original/2X/a/accc77d16db39a19e04094621b143620af050dc7.jpeg)

Sources:  
Brad Sparks, Blue Books Unknowns Catalogue, Case 1347, p. 267;

 ![10071958-AlexandriaVA-Sparks-Case1347-p267](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/uapdiscovery/original/2X/4/45d790266d2c96cf54e712fc07ae2c383a61d904.png)

Loren E. Gross, The Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs, a History: 1958 October, The Author, 1999, pp. 21-24,26;

 ![10071958-AlexandriaVA-Gross-p21](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/uapdiscovery/original/2X/9/96dcd66381fc973a1920bb79864d5845205323b8.png)

 ![10071958-AlexandriaVA-Gross-p22](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/uapdiscovery/original/2X/6/622420643c6ccccdf4dbe08119074bb84adcfbe4.png)

 ![10071958-AlexandriaVA-Gross-p23](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/uapdiscovery/original/2X/3/3ceb8682d43a38b495557dde624ecfe9a9ebbc42.png)

 ![10071958-AlexandriaVA-Gross-p24](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/uapdiscovery/original/2X/a/a8b64ae9b1c004a230f532bbe5567ad7a87f885b.png)

 ![10071958-AlexandriaVA-Gross-p26](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/uapdiscovery/original/2X/7/7151da7b4d7b105779c2a22f6fe8dab9f219c4ca.png)

Michael Swords and Robert Powell, UFOs and Government, p. 282;

 ![10071958-AlexandriaVA-Swords-p282](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/uapdiscovery/original/2X/6/66b2466bc376f22747b1a5331f1d228880dd8c8a.png)

NICAP, “Saturn-Shaped Object Observed, Object Confirmed by Pilot”;

> **[UFO Report](http://www.nicap.org/581007alexandria_dir.htm)**