Project 10073 Record: Astoria, Washington Area Sighting, 20 August 1950

This document collection details the investigation of a sighting reported on August 20, 1950, in the Astoria, Washington area. Multiple witnesses across the Pacific Northwest reported seeing a luminous object, described as a 'ball of fire' with a bluish-gray tail, traveling at high speed from the northeast to the southwest. The object was observed in broad daylight and was variously described by witnesses as a rocket, a crashing jet plane, or a flying saucer. The Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) investigated the incident under Project 10073 and concluded that the object was a bolide, or fireball, likely a straggler from the annual Perseid meteor shower. The file includes correspondence from 1958 between a congressional staffer and Dr. A. Francis Arcier, a Scientific Advisor at ATIC. The staffer, who had witnessed the event, sought official clarification years later. Dr. Arcier confirmed that the incident was not classified and provided scientific context, explaining that fireballs are large meteors that remain intact until they disintegrate at lower levels or strike the earth. He noted that such encounters are rare and often startling for the average person. The documentation includes press clippings from the Tacoma News Tribune and the Sunday Ledger, which captured the public reaction at the time, as well as internal ATIC records summarizing the sighting and the subsequent scientific evaluation.