Project 10073 Record — Tinker AFB, Oklahoma, 23 October 1954

This document is an Air Intelligence Evaluation Record (ATIC 204311) concerning a radar sighting reported on 23 October 1954 at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma. The initial report, filed under Project 10073, documented a radar contact observed on an FPS-10 PPI scope. The target was initially tracked at speeds exceeding 3200 nautical mph, before slowing to 250 nautical mph and executing a turn from a 340-degree heading to a 160-degree heading, moving away from the radar site. The target was described as having a size, shape, and brilliance comparable to a normal IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) return.

Following the initial report, the Air Technical Intelligence Center conducted an evaluation, signed by Captain C.A. Hardin on 13 January 1955. The evaluation concluded that the sighting was not an actual aerial object but rather radar frequency interference. The investigators determined that the interference was likely caused by a beacon signal, such as an AN/APW-11, which was triggered by a radar system other than the one operated by the 746th AC&W Squadron. This external radar was operating at a Pulse Repetition Frequency (PRF) nearly identical to that of the FPS-10 radar at Tinker AFB. The perceived movement of the target—its approach, turn, and departure—was explained as the result of the two radar signals drifting toward each other in frequency, crossing over at the turn-around point, and subsequently separating. The evaluation noted that if the return was coded, it was likely a beacon signal; if it was a single pip, it could have been an interfering signal from another radar set operating in the same frequency band with a similar PRF. The document serves as a technical assessment debunking the anomalous radar track as a known electronic phenomenon.