Encounter Atlas
Cigar- or cylinder-shaped UFOs are long, rounded, wingless objects, often metallic by day and glowing by night, sometimes with a row of lit 'windows'. Some witnesses say smaller discs or lights flew out of them, which earned them the nickname 'motherships'.
On 24 July 1948, Eastern Air Lines pilots Clarence Chiles and John Whitted said a glowing, wingless, cigar-shaped craft with two rows of lit windows shot past their DC-3 near Montgomery, Alabama, then pulled up into the clouds. It was one of the cases that convinced Air Force investigators at the time that UFOs deserved study, though Project Blue Book later put it down to a bright meteor. Contactee George Adamski claimed he saw a giant cigar-shaped 'mother ship' over Palomar, California in 1946 and photographed it the next year.
Many cylinder sightings turn out to be blimps, aircraft seen end-on in glare, or rocket and satellite re-entries.
Browse 10,622 US Air Force Project Blue Book case files on the map or by state.
What witnesses report
- A long, wingless, rounded body
- A row of lit windows or portholes
- No sound
- Smaller objects leaving it
Famous cases
- 1948Chiles-Whitted encounter
Near Montgomery, Alabama
Seen the Cigar-shaped UFO?
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