Project Blue Book Case #2323. On January 8, 1953, personnel at Larson Air Force Base near Moses Lake, Washington, reported both visual and radar contact with an unidentified object in the airspace over the base. The dual-confirmation nature of this sighting — tracked on radar while simultaneously observed visually — placed it among the higher-priority cases investigated by Blue Book.
Larson AFB was a Strategic Air Command installation during the early Cold War, tasked with maintaining nuclear-armed bombers on alert. Security of the airspace above such facilities was paramount, and radar operators were trained to distinguish between conventional aircraft, weather phenomena, and anomalous returns. The radar contact showed a solid target exhibiting non-ballistic motion — changes in speed and direction that were inconsistent with any known aircraft performance envelope.
Visual observers on the ground corroborated the radar data, describing an object that appeared to be disc-shaped or elliptical, moving against the wind at an altitude consistent with the radar returns. The object was observed for several minutes before departing at high speed.
The investigation eliminated all conventional possibilities including military aircraft, civilian flights, weather balloons, and radar anomalies such as ground clutter or temperature inversions. Radar-visual cases were considered the most credible category of Blue Book reports, as they provided independent confirmation through two different detection methods. Case #2323 was classified "Unknown" and referenced in subsequent analyses of the most compelling Blue Book evidence.