RELEASE 02 / DOW-UAP-D017
DOW-UAP-D017, UAP Reported at Sandia Base, 1948-1950
- File ID
- DOW-UAP-D017
- Agency
- Department of War
- Release
- Release 02, 22 May 2026
- Event date
- 1948-1950 (read as 1948 to 1950; precision: range)
- Location
- New Mexico
- Type
- Redactions
- None flagged
The official record
Official copy at war.gov
Official summary, as published
This file contains 116 pages of documentation from the Armed Forces Special Weapons Program (AFSWP) – the direct, post-World War II successor to the Manhattan Project – and from the U.S. Air Force – relating to a series of sightings and investigations in Sandia, New Mexico, from 1948-1950. This file contains 209 sightings of “green orbs,” “discs,” and “fireballs” reported near the military base. Witnesses reported unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) maneuvering, flying out of sight, disappearing, or exploding. The documents also include the results of contemporary investigations into residual copper powder found in some areas where sightings were reported. A few of these investigations became the basis for Project Grudge, which collected reports of unidentified flying objects from various other military installations – also included in this collection.
Named in this file
7 namesPeople, programs and institutions from The Legacy Program research board whose names appear in this file, found by exact spelling against a hand-checked list. A match says only that the file names them, not what part they play. People and programs lists every file that names each one.
- Tier C Lincoln LaPaz person
Named in pages 21, 61, 71, 91.
Director, Institute of Meteoritics, University of New Mexico; principal investigator of the 1948-1951 'green fireballs' over Los Alamos, Sandia and Kirtland; scientific lead associated with Project Twinkle
- Tier C Edward Teller person
Named in page 90.
Los Alamos physicist; co-founder and later Director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; attendee of the 16 February 1949 Los Alamos green fireballs conference
- Tier C Project GRUDGE program
Named in the official summary.
Successor to SIGN; explicitly dismissive posture (1949-1951)
- Tier B Strategic Air Command (SAC) institution
Named in pages 14, 15, 17.
The USAF major command that owned every installation in this cluster; the institutional spine of the nuclear-incursion record, 1946 to 1992
- Tier A United States Air Force institution
Named in pages 20, 70, 71.
Military department; original custodian of the UFO record and of the Roswell material
- Tier A Atomic Energy Commission institution
Named in page 22.
Civilian atomic authority, 1946-1974; statutory custodian of fissionable material and atomic weapons
- Tier B Armed Forces Special Weapons Project institution
Named in pages 86, 88.
Joint Army-Navy atomic energy organisation, 1946-1959; military successor to the Manhattan Engineer District
Our reading
READ FIRST116 pages on the 1948-1950 New Mexico wave of green fireballs and discs near the weapons installations. At its core: OSI District 17's 25 May 1950 summary to Headquarters USAF, which records that the two 1949 Los Alamos conferences offered no logical explanation and called the activity near sensitive installations 'cause for concern'; Lincoln LaPaz's seventh report, setting out how the fireballs differ from meteors; and the copper-particle collections made under fireball paths. The primary paperwork behind the green fireball story, with LaPaz's reasoning in full.
Three separate measures, each with its reason. They are never added into a score.
E Evidence 3 of 3
Compiled sightings by scientists, OSI agents, pilots and Los Alamos inspectors, with LaPaz's path and angular measurements and copper-dust sampling.
N Novelty 1 of 3
The 25 May 1950 OSI summary memo was already public via FOIA; the other pages were not traced and may hold more new material.
L Linkage 3 of 3
Produced by OSI District 17 at Kirtland and AFSWP; centrally about LaPaz and the 1949 Los Alamos green fireball conferences.
Flags
- The file explains itself. Words in the file that bear on what it shows (recorded, not a verdict):
- (3) probably meteoric (page 20)
- Those of the first category (the majority) are meteorite falls of unusual, but certainly not of impossible, magnitude, frequency and other characteristics (page 66)
- those of the second category (the minority) are U. S. guided missiles undergoing tests in the neighborhoods of the sensitive installations they are designed to defend (page 66)
- Previously public.
- https://ufologie.patrickgross.org/htm/foia66.htm: Scan and partial transcription of the 25 May 1950 OSI District 17 summary memo, as a FOIA-released document.
People and programs
Reading published 31 Oct 2026.
Our saved copy
One version seen. The checksum lets you confirm that a copy you hold is the one we saved.
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First seen
65.6 MB (68,764,801 bytes)
SHA-256
ec72132902a2f50d2ab032031386710fef1d1ae1face0226a90243f61d9347b4