Welcome back! This week we're finishing up the timeline of green fireball sightings near Las Vegas, New Mexico.
Missed Parts 1 and 2? Don't worry! Click below to get started.
December 19, 1948
Above image taken from Project 1947.
Dr. LaPaz believes the green fireballs might be appearing on some sort of weekly schedule and wishes to confirm his suspicions. On December 19 he returns to Los Alamos with a member of the OSI and a FBI Special Agent, assisted by Atomic Energy Security Services (AESS) personnel. They set up cameras at security checkpoints (called "Nighthawk" and "Nightingale") to capture more accurate tracking data and clearer photos.
A third checkpoint is established by an Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) radio engineer, Mr. Hubbard. He is also a Naval Reserve electronic-warfare company officer. Hubbard is using a radar air search.
Everyone watched from 7 pm to 9 pm, but unfortunately there were no unusual targets found.
December 20
At 11:35 pm, a Los Alamos patrol sees a greenish-white light, moving toward them in an arc from a long distance. The light increases in size to 1/4 the Moon's size, and its path flattens to parallel with the ground. It continues flying level until it disappears.
Two observers believed the light was exhaust from a German V-1 cruise missile.
December 29
LaPaz travels back to Los Alamos to interview the witnesses. He then plots the December 20 sightings and finds the trajectory seen in the image above. The fireball's flight path reveals it traveled for about 7.5 miles at somewhere between 13,000 and 27,000 mph. The altitude was much lower than where meteors generally appear.
This is more than 20 times faster than a V-1 cruise missile, and is at or above the speed of ICBM warheads. In spite of this incredibly fast speed, no sound was heard.
LaPaz writes in his notes, "I have no hesitancy in testifying that an object possessing the path and the other peculiarities observed...was not a falling meteorite." He also checked with White Sands, who confirmed there were no rockets launched during the sighting periods.
January 24, 1949
A memo is sent from an Air Force colonel to J. Edgar Hoover, the director of the FBI, detailing theories of Soviet nuclear-powered discs entering US airspace and then returning to the USSR.
Another green fireball appears, about 200 miles south of Las Vegas in Socorro, NM.
