Project 10073 Record Card — Morristown, Tennessee, 3 October 1952

This document collection details a sighting of an unidentified aerial object that occurred on October 3, 1952, in Morristown, Tennessee. Approximately 100 factory workers observed a round, transparent object of indefinite size traveling in a straight flight path from north to south, at an altitude estimated between 2,000 and 3,000 feet. The object was described as leaving a trail of smoke and moving at a speed comparable to a transport plane. The report notes that the object appeared to head or crab into the wind. The sighting was reported to an Air Force unit by a local publisher associated with the Civil Defense. Military authorities, specifically the 663rd Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, investigated the report. Controller Winstenley, who was on duty at the time, confirmed that no aircraft were detected on radar in the immediate area, although there was general air traffic in the region. The official conclusion reached by the Air Technical Intelligence Center was that the object was likely a jet aircraft, with the observed smoke trail being a vapor trail. The documentation includes the original Project 10073 record card, internal military correspondence between the 663rd AC&W Squadron and the 35th Air Division, and a teletype message confirming the lack of recorded air traffic over Morristown at the time of the incident. The reliability of the source was noted as questionable by military evaluators.