Case description
Santa Maria Airport's 1954 account has a surviving five-page Air Force file. Its record card dates the event to September 21 and leaves it unidentified; Vallée's shorter catalogue gives September 20. The guard is named as Vitorino Lourenço Monteiro in Vallée's separate source, while the military file redacts his identity. The distinction between these documentary paths is important.
The file describes a metallic-blue, oblong object about ten feet long and five feet high, making a humming sound and settling near the guard without visible landing gear. Its rounded shape was compared with a pecan, with four pole-like appendages, aerials and an orange nose light. A blond man of ordinary human appearance, about five feet ten inches tall, reportedly emerged and tried unsuccessfully to converse. After approaching car headlights appeared, he returned, fastened straps and departed in the craft. The passing motorists reportedly asked about a light; they are not documented as seeing the visitor.
The American reporting officer interviewed the Portuguese official responsible for the local inquiry, not the guard directly. His report records consistent statements but also acknowledges the possibility of invention. The unidentified classification is therefore an unresolved assessment, not confirmation of extraterrestrial origin. Other island and ocean light reports are separate observations. The plate follows the oblong-craft version, rather than substituting a generic saucer or nonhuman anatomy; clothing, likenesses and airfield arrangement remain contextual.
