DOW-UAP-D162, Air Intelligence Information Report, Alaska, 1953
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An Air Intelligence Information Report of December 8, 1953, prepared by Captain John V. Wright of the U.S. Air Force’s 5004th Air Intelligence Service Squadron, on a light seen on the horizon west of Gambell, St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, on December 1, 1953.
Document Highlights
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Short overview
An Air Intelligence Information Report of December 8, 1953, prepared by Captain John V. Wright of the U.S. Air Force’s 5004th Air Intelligence Service Squadron, on a light seen on the horizon west of Gambell, St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, on December 1, 1953.
Why this is interesting
The observer, a sergeant and squad leader of the Gambell unit of the Alaska National Guard, was described by two squadron members stationed in Gambell as trustworthy and honest. Standing in front of the Gambell School, he saw a stationary light at a true bearing of 283 degrees, which he checked against the school’s flagpole; it cast no beam, was similar in colour to a flashlight and went out at 1115Z as if switched off. A squadron member measured the bearing with a lensatic compass and found no one else in the village who had seen the light. The preparing officer notes that the observer’s size estimates contradict each other and that no land lies on that bearing for a considerable distance, ruling out a land-based light. He reaches no conclusion and names as a possibility only a ship of unknown identity, according to the summary operating in or near U.S. territorial waters; a map of the bearing is attached.
Selected passages
- “At 1115Z the light disappeared as though someone had turned it off.”
- “A possibility exists that the light came from a ship at sea”
Background
This document is an Air Intelligence Information Report (AIIR), a standardized U.S. Air Force reporting form used to record raw information of potential intelligence value for later analysis. The form served as a primary vehicle for U.S. Air Force field intelligence collection throughout the early Cold War, until defense-wide reporting standards were established in the early 1960s. This AIIR records a December 1, 1953, incident near St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, in which an Alaska National Guard sergeant residing on the island reported observing a stationary light on the horizon west of Gambell for approximately five minutes. The report states that the light was observed at a true heading of 283 degrees, appeared similar in color to a flashlight, and disappeared as though it had been turned off. The preparing officer further noted that an unidentified ship may have been the source of the light, though no definite conclusion could be reached as to its nature or origin. All descriptive and estimative language contained in this report reflects the reporter’s subjective interpretation at the time of the event. Such characterizations should not be interpreted as a conclusive indication of the presence or absence of any intrinsic object features or performance characteristics.