Dept. of DefenseUnresolvedAmbiguous
Silver circular-elliptical object — Honolulu, Hawaii, October 1, 1948
Oct 1, 1948Honolulu, Hawaii12,000 ft10s
Analysis — our summary
A U.S. Army major at Honolulu, Hawaii observed a strangely shaped silver object moving to the northeast at approximately 10,000-14,000 ft altitude on October 1, 1948. The object was visible for over 10 seconds and was also confirmed by the observer's daughter. Cloud cover was above the object's altitude. No propulsion or sound was noted.
As reported — verbatim from the document
“Major sighted strangely shaped distinct silver/circular-elliptical object moving NE at approximately 10,000-14,000 ft, 10+ seconds, also verified by daughter.”
Analyst notes — caveats & confidence
Two witnesses including a military officer. Altitude estimate is a range (10,000-14,000 ft); midpoint used for summary. OCR quality poor; observer name not recoverable. Confidence moderate due to OCR degradation.
Provenance
Source document38_143685_box7_Incident_Summaries_101-172.pdf
Document typeincident summary compilation
Reporting agencyDept. of Defense
Source pages178
DeclassifiedFirst public at this release (2026)
Held classified~78 years (≥, to this release)
Extraction confidence ModerateHow cleanly this record could be parsed from the source — driven by legibility & redaction. It is not a measure of how credible or anomalous the sighting is.