Project Blue Book Case #845. On December 2, 1950, an unidentified object was reported near Nanyuki, Kenya — a town on the equator at the foot of Mount Kenya, at approximately 6,400 feet elevation. This was one of the most exotic and geographically remote cases in the entire Blue Book database, reaching the project through intelligence channels.
Kenya in 1950 was a British colony, and the British military maintained facilities in the region. Nanyuki was home to a British Army training facility that took advantage of the area's high-altitude terrain, which resembled conditions in parts of the Middle East and Central Asia. American intelligence maintained liaison with British colonial intelligence services, which is likely how the report reached Blue Book.
The East African setting was extraordinary for a Blue Book case. Mount Kenya's 17,057-foot snow-capped peak provided a dramatic backdrop, and the clear equatorial air at high altitude provided excellent observation conditions. The near-total absence of air traffic in 1950 Kenya simplified the investigation enormously.
The case was classified "Unknown" — from one of the most distant and unusual locations in the Blue Book archive.