Sighting record / 1949
January 27, 1949. A Thursday night on the Gulf coast of Florida. Captain Sames, acting chief of the Aircraft Branch at Eglin AFB, was driving slowly along Cortez Road between Bradenton and Cortez. His wife was beside him. Then they saw it. A cigar-shaped object, as long as two Pullman cars. Seven lighted square windows. It was throwing sparks. Through binoculars, from 8 to 10 miles away, they watched it descend and climb with a bouncing motion at an estimated 400 m.p.h. An hour later, it came back. The Air Force file closed with a single word. Unidentified.
This case survives only in summaries of the original Air Force file. Two researchers made them. Don Berliner compiled The Blue Book Unknowns from the files at Maxwell AFB in January 1974, copying witness names before they were redacted. Brad Sparks later listed it as case 164 in his Comprehensive Catalog of Project Blue Book Unknowns. Their versions agree on what was seen. They disagree on the witness's name and on how long it lasted.