Project 10073 Record Card — Newport News, Virginia, 4 July 1951

On July 4, 1951, at approximately 2305 hours, two soldiers from the 110th T Harborcraft Company stationed at Fort Eustis, Virginia, observed an unidentified aerial phenomenon. The witnesses, a Corporal and a Private, were located in a park near the Greyhound Bus Station in Newport News, Virginia, when they sighted a spherical object exhibiting a gaseous glow. The object remained stationary in the northwestern sky at an elevation of approximately 45 to 50 degrees for roughly 25 minutes. At approximately 2330 hours, the witnesses reported that the object suddenly blacked out and appeared to plunge toward the northwestern horizon. Following the report, the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff, G 2, at Fort Eustis conducted a local check of the informants, concluding that they were truthful, reliable, and intelligent soldiers with no apparent motive for fabrication. The report was subsequently forwarded through the Headquarters of the Second Army and the First Air Force to the Air Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base for further evaluation. The official investigation into the incident, documented on a Project 10073 record card, concluded that the sighting was characteristic of an astronomical body. Specifically, the object was identified as the star Arcturus, with the disappearance attributed to cloud conditions.