Project 10073 Record Card and Air Intelligence Information Report — Great Falls, Montana, 22 May 1951

This document consists of a Project 10073 record card and an accompanying Air Intelligence Information Report (IR-94-51) detailing a sighting of an unidentified aerial object over Great Falls, Montana, on 22 May 1951. The report was prepared by Captain A. G. Love of the Intelligence Division, HQ MATS. The primary witness, a local resident, reported observing an object between 1430 and 1500 hours that appeared as a silver or bluish-white ball or a three-pointed star. The witness described the object as having a glow similar to an electric light bulb, moving slowly in a west-to-east direction at a very high altitude. The object was noted to disappear and reappear against the blue sky. The report also mentions that the sighting was corroborated by a report from a Northwest Airlines pilot. Upon investigation, the Intelligence Division contacted the Great Falls AFB weather detachment and the Core Field weather station. While the former had no balloons in the air, the latter confirmed the release of a white weather balloon at 1400 hours on the same day. The official conclusion reached by the military investigators was that the unidentified object was, in fact, this weather balloon. The report also briefly notes a separate, unrelated sighting of an object with a similar description reported over Kansas City on 23 May 1951.