Project 10073 Record Card — Anacostia, D.C., December 10, 1956

On December 10, 1956, at approximately 0235Z, a civilian witness in Anacostia, D.C., reported observing an unidentified aerial object for fifteen minutes. The witness, a twenty-year-old secretary, described the object as oval-shaped, flat, and larger than a basketball. Initially white, the object reportedly turned orange before disappearing at the moment the witness attempted to report the sighting via telephone. At the time of the incident, weather conditions were reported as CAVU (Ceiling and Visibility Unlimited), and there were at least four aircraft operating in the vicinity of Bolling Air Force Base. The report was processed under Project 10073. Military intelligence officers, including 1st Lt. Clarence E. Belinn and Joseph H. Mendenhall, reviewed the report. While the official conclusion on the record card states the sighting was characteristic of a weather balloon, internal intelligence commentary suggested the object might have been an experimental USAF reconnaissance aircraft. A check with the SLAPSTICK I GCI radar station at the base yielded negative results, indicating no radar contact was made with the object. A handwritten note on the document, signed by a Captain, expresses frustration that the object was identified as an aircraft, noting that if it was not a UFO, it should not have been processed under the scope of AFR 200-2 and should have been sent to the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC).