Project 10073 Record Card — Keesler AFB, 7 March 1954

On March 7, 1954, at approximately 10:30 AM, a military crew flying a C-45 aircraft observed an unidentified object high over Mobile, Alabama. The sighting occurred after the crew had been alerted by the control tower at Brookley, Alabama, regarding an object previously sighted over Wiggens, Mississippi. Upon arriving in the vicinity of Mobile at an altitude of 10,000 feet, the crew spotted the object, which they estimated to be at an altitude of 50,000 feet. The object was described as a round, white, translucent entity with a white streamer hanging from its bottom, measuring approximately one-third of the object's diameter in length. The crew observed the object for two hours, noting that it drifted in an easterly direction at approximately 20 miles per hour. During the observation, a T-33 jet aircraft was dispatched to investigate; the pilot of the T-33 reported the object was approximately 7,000 feet above him, placing it at an altitude of 47,000 feet. The crew of the C-45 utilized a stereoscopic camera to capture five photographs of the object, though they noted that the film broke during the initial attempt, requiring re-threading. They also observed the object through 7x50 binoculars, comparing its apparent size to that of a pea. The witness, a control tower operator, noted that he had previously seen weather balloons that appeared identical to this object. The official conclusion reached by the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) was that the object was a balloon reflecting sunlight, based on the photographic evidence which revealed a brilliant blob of light. The case file includes two 5x5 black and white photographs and a roll of film stored in a separate folder.