Great Falls Montana — First UAP Film Footage

On August 15, 1950, Nick Mariana was inspecting Legion Stadium in Great Falls, Montana when he observed two bright, silvery circular objects flying in formation to the north. He retrieved his 16mm Revere camera and filmed approximately 16 seconds of footage before losing sight of the objects. The film clearly shows two bright disc-shaped objects moving in tandem formation. Mariana submitted the film to the USAF, which kept a portion of it and returned the rest — he later stated that frames showing the objects' rotation were removed. Project Blue Book concluded the objects were F-94 jet fighters reflecting sunlight, but analysis by the Robertson Panel in 1953 and subsequent independent analysts found the objects' luminosity, angular velocity, and flight path were inconsistent with any two F-94s then operating from Malmstrom Air Force Base. The Great Falls film is considered the first motion picture footage of unidentified aerial objects entered into the official U.S. military archive, and remained under active USAF analysis for over a decade.