Chief Aircraft Communicator Roy Messmore at Holman Municipal Airport saw a flash on the distant southeast horizon, then a growing pinpoint of a rapidly approaching object. When directly overhead it appeared as a silvery "flattened tennis ball" . It disappeared to the northwest after traveling from horizon to horizon in 15 seconds, leaving no sound or trail.

Three minutes later pilot Charles Warrenm was flying at 5,000 feet, about 15 miles northwest of Terre Haute, when he saw a silvery "flattened orange" to his left rear. It appeared stationary at first for a few seconds. Warren banked in a tight left turn to pursue the object, but it picked up speed and headed into the distance to the northeast.

One green-orange ball, twice the size of the moon, was observed in clear weather by three male experienced witnesses at an airport for over 15 minutes.

Ruppelt's account:

I didn't get to do much sorting because the mail girl brought in a copy of a wire that had just arrived. It was a report of a UFO sighting at Terre Haute, Indiana. I read it and told Metscher that I'd quickly whip out an answer and get back to helping him sort. But it didn't prove to be that easy.

The report from Terre Haute said that on October 9, a CAA employee at Hulman Municipal Airport had observed a silvery UFO. Three minutes later a pilot, flying east of Terre Haute, had seen a similar object. The report lacked many details but a few phone calls filled me in on the complete story.

At 1:43P.M. on the ninth a CAA employee at the airport was walking across the ramp in front of the administration building. He happened to glance up at the sky--why, he didn't know--and out of the corner of his eye he caught a flash of light on the southeastern horizon. He stopped and looked at the sky where the flash of light had been but he couldn't see anything. He was just about to walk on when he noticed what he described as "a pinpoint" of light in the same spot where he'd seen the flash. In a second or two the "pinpoint" grew larger and it was obvious to the CAA man that something was approaching the airport at a terrific speed. As he watched, the object grew larger and larger until it flashed directly overhead and disappeared to the northwest. The CAA man said it all happened so fast and he was so amazed that he hadn't called anybody to come out of the nearby hangar and watch the UFO. But when he'd calmed down he remembered a few facts. The UFO had been in sight for about fifteen seconds and during this time it had passed from horizon to horizon. It was shaped like a "flattened tennis ball," was a bright silver color, and when it was directly overhead it was "the size of a 50- cent piece held at arm's length."

But this wasn't all there was to the report. A matter of minutes after the sighting a pilot radioed Terre Haute that he had seen a UFO. He was flying from Greencastle, Indiana, to Paris, Illinois, when just east of Paris he'd looked back and to his left. There, level with his airplane and fairly close, was a large silvery object, "like a flattened orange," hanging motionless in the sky. He looked at it a few seconds, then hauled his plane around in a tight left bank. He headed directly toward the UFO, but it suddenly began to pick up speed and shot off toward the northeast. The time, by the clock on his instrument panel, was 1:45P.M.--just two minutes after the sighting at Terre Haute.

When I finished calling I got an aeronautical chart out of the file and plotted the points of the sighting. The CAA employee had seen the UFO disappear over the northwestern horizon. The pilot had been flying from Greencastle, Indiana, to Paris, Illinois, so he'd have been flying on a heading of just a little less than 270 degrees, or almost straight west. He was just east of Paris when he'd first seen the UFO, and since he said that he'd looked back and to his left, the spot where he saw the UFO would be right at a spot where the CAA man had seen his UFO disappear. Both observers had checked their watches with radio time just after the sightings, so there couldn't be more than a few seconds' discrepancy. All I could conclude was that both had seen the same UFO.

I checked the path of every balloon in the Midwest. I checked the weather--it was a clear, cloudless day; I had the two observers' backgrounds checked and I even checked for air traffic, although I knew the UFO wasn't an airplane. I researched the University of Dayton library for everything on daylight meteors, but this was no good. From the description the CAA employee gave, what he'd seen had been a clear-cut, distinct, flattened sphere, with no smoke trail, no sparks and no tail. A daylight meteor, so low as to be described as "a 50-cent piece held at arm's length," would have had a smoke trail, sparks, and would have made a roar that would have jolted the Sphinx. This one was quiet. Besides, no daylight meteor stops long enough to let an airplane turn into it.

Conclusion: Unknown.

On 9 October 1951 at 1342 CST, a CAA Chief Aircraft Communicator observed a silver object pass directly overhead while he was at Hulman Municipal Airport, five miles east of Terre Haute, Indiana. The object was judged to be approximately the same size as a 50 cent piece held at arm's length. The object passed overhead at a very high rate of speed going in a southeasterly direction, passing from directly overhead to the horizon in about 15 seconds. There was no sound or vapor trails. The shape and general form of the object could be seen as the object passed over the horizon and out of sight.

Weather: Clear, bright sun, no clouds or haze.

Status of Investigation

Further details on the incident will be obtained but it is doubtful if any further information will indicate the possible identity of the object.

On 9 October 1951, at approximately 1345 CST, a private pilot en route from Greencastle, Indiana, to Paris, Illinois, sighted a silver object just east of Paris, Illinois, at 5,000 ft. altitude. The object appeared to be stationary inasmuch as it did not increase or diminish in size with the approach of the aircraft. The object then started to travel in a northeasterly direction south of the Newport, Indiana, Atomic Energy Plant.

Weather: Clear, bright sun, no clouds or haze.

Status of Investigation

More details of the incident will be obtained. Weather balloons are launched from Chanute AFB which is approximately 45 miles northwest of the location of the incident. It is very doubtful if this object was a balloon as the balloon would have risen to a much higher altitude if it had drifted southeast from Chanute AFB.

Google map of this location.