The Farmington, New Mexico UFO Armada

Farmington is a city with a population of approximately 46,000 people located in the Four Corners region of northwest New Mexico. Located in San Juan County—one of the largest counties by area in the United States, Farmington is one of two cities in the county of any significant size, the other being Aztec.

The Anasazi—ancient Pueblo dwellers—settled in the area of what is now Farmington in the 7th century. When the mysterious Anasazi disappeared from the area, Navajo, Jicarillo Apache, and Ute peoples moved in.

Farmington is currently bordered by three Native American reservations—the Navajo Indian Reservation on the west, the Southern Ute Indian Reservation on the northeast, and the Ute Mountain Indian Reservation on the northwest. Ruins from the ancient Anasazi are located throughout the Farmington area.

On March 17, 18. and 19, 1950, beginning between 11:00 am and 12:00 Noon and lasting for approximately two hours each day, an armada of 200 to 500 Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs)—"flying saucers"—was seen by approximately 1500 residents of Farmington, New Mexico.

Shortly after the first sighting on March 17th, government agents from an unspecified organization arrived in Farmington. Residents of the town—which had a population of approximately 3000 in 1950—were "encouraged" to not discuss the incident. World War II had ended just a few years earlier. The Farmington townspeople were told that for "national security reasons," they should forget what they saw.

All of the newspapers which reported the incident quickly disappeared from every location selling the papers. It isn't known whether the US government or residents of Farmington purchased every copy of each edition.

There isn't much information available online about what has been described as the largest armada of "flying saucers" seen anywhere in the world. It has been surmised that this is because the US government wanted the incident hushed up. I've gathered as much information as I could from multiple sources. Please add your thoughts about the 1950 UFO Armada when you post your comments at the end of the article.

• The "flying saucers" were silver-colored metallic disc-shaped objects without visible windows.
• Between 200 and 500 oblects appeared between 11:00 am and 12:00 Noon for a two-hour period on three consecutive days—March 17, 18, and 19, 1950.
• Visibility wasn't clear due to a dust storm fueled by high winds.
• The speed of the objects was estimated at as much as 1000 miles per hour (mph)—twice as fast as a B-29.
• The altitude of the "flying saucers" was estimated at 20,000 feet.
• One disc—faster and larger than the others—was red, rather than silver.
• The red disc appeared to be the leader of the armada.
• The discs seemed to be flying in formation.
• A resident who was a B-29 tail gunner during World War II said the formations in which the discs were flying, and the maneuvers they were making, couldn't be those of an airplane.
• The discs were able to make right-angle turns.
• The "flying saucers" could fly at different angles.
• The discs could fly with their edge perpendicular to the ground.
• There were no vapor trails.
• The objects didn't make any noise.