Report of Unusual Flying Object — Oak Park, Illinois, 16 March 1954

On March 16, 1954, at 0853 hours, a sighting of an unusual flying object occurred in Oak Park, Illinois. The object was described by four witnesses—an optometrist and three teenagers—as a round, silver fireball moving at a high rate of speed on a straight, northward course. The observation lasted between two and five seconds. The witnesses reported that the object was at a very high altitude before it disappeared. The 755th AC&W Squadron at Williams Bay, Wisconsin, attempted to track the object via radar but was unable to make a contact. Weather conditions at the time were reported as scattered sky conditions at 250 feet, with seven miles of visibility, a temperature of 44 degrees, a dew point of 20, and winds from the west-northwest at 6 knots. Following the investigation conducted by 1st Lt. Harry J. Brask of the USAF, the incident was officially concluded as a meteor. The report was distributed to various military commands, including the Air Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson AFB and the Air Defense Command at Ent AFB.