Project 10073 Record Card and Incoming Classified Message: St. Lawrence Island Sighting, 19 March 1951

This document contains a Project 10073 record card and an associated incoming classified message regarding an aerial sighting near Gambel, St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, on 19 March 1951. At approximately 2200Z, one officer and two enlisted men from the US Army Security Agency observed an unidentified jet-type aircraft flying at an altitude of 3,500 to 4,000 feet. The object was described as having clean lines with no visible markings, smoke, or contrails, and was estimated to be similar in size to a USAF C-47 or F-82. The observers noted that the object moved in and out of a heavy fog bank and eventually banked or turned to the north. The duration of the sighting was approximately two and a half to three minutes. The observers, who had previously seen other aircraft in the vicinity, stated that this object was definitely not of the types they had seen before. They believed the object resembled a Soviet MIG-15 due to its high speed and configuration. Local radar at Gambel was inoperative at the time due to maintenance, and no other reports were received from the Civil Aeronautics Administration or local natives. Weather conditions at the time included heavy fog, though the area to the north was clear. The official evaluation concluded that the object was likely a Soviet aircraft conducting reconnaissance of the Bering Straits, assigning it an evaluation of B-2. Additionally, the document includes a brief, unrelated note regarding a luminous object observed over the Soviet-Iranian border on 21 March 1951, which was evaluated as a probable meteor.