Project 10073 Record Card and Incident Report — Oklahoma, 5 August 1956

This document consists of a Project 10073 record card and associated military teletype reports regarding an unidentified aerial phenomenon observed on August 5, 1956, in Oklahoma. The primary witnesses, radar operators from the 745th ACWRON, reported observing a cigar-shaped object emitting a yellow light with a reddish tail for a duration of approximately three hours. The object was initially described as being the size of a grapefruit when viewed through binoculars and was observed moving from a 230-degree azimuth in a WSW to SSW direction. The report includes detailed meteorological data, including wind speeds at various altitudes, which were used to correlate the object's movement. The official conclusion reached by the military investigators was that the object was a weather balloon released from Tinker Air Force Base at 0830Z. The report suggests that the balloon, which had a light attached, was tracked until approximately 1020Z, at which point it was believed to have burst, with the equipment continuing in flight via an attached parachute. The investigators noted a slight discrepancy in the reported time of the sighting but attributed this to observer uncertainty regarding the initial time and duration of the event. The document includes sketches of the object's appearance and its flight path relative to the observers.