Great Falls Montana Film — Baseball Manager UAP Footage 1950

On August 15, 1950, Great Falls Electrics baseball club manager Nicholas Mariana was inspecting Electric Park stadium with his secretary Virginia Raunig when both noticed two bright silvery objects moving across the sky. Mariana retrieved his 16mm Kodachrome movie camera from his car and filmed the objects for approximately 3 minutes before they moved out of range. The footage, when analyzed, showed two bright disc-shaped objects in a banking formation, moving in a manner inconsistent with any aircraft Mariana recognized. Mariana submitted the film to the US Air Force for analysis. When the Air Force returned the film, 35 frames showing the objects at their closest and most distinct were missing. The Air Force denied removing any frames. The remaining footage was analyzed twice by the Air Force — under Project Grudge and later in the Condon Report study — and officially attributed to two F-94 jet aircraft reflecting sunlight. Subsequent independent analysis by Robert Baker at Douglas Aircraft concluded the objects' trajectory was inconsistent with the flight path of the F-94s that had been in the vicinity. The Great Falls film remains one of the most significant early pieces of motion picture evidence and is notable for the documented removal of key frames from the original government copy.