Project 10073 Record Card and Air Intelligence Information Report — Washington, D.C., 7 April 1957

On 7 April 1957, at 0047Z, an observer located at 1121 8th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., reported sighting two circular, dull pink objects. The observer, a 39-year-old electronics installations and repairman at Bolling Air Force Base, described the objects as being approximately one-third the size of a dime and moving in a trail formation. The objects were initially observed at an altitude of 45 degrees above the horizon, moving in a southerly direction. The observer reported that the objects turned east and then north, with an estimated speed 15 times that of a jet aircraft. The sighting lasted four to five seconds, and the observer noted a sound resembling distant thunder after the objects disappeared from sight. The weather conditions at the time were reported as broken to scattered clouds at 6500 feet with 15 miles visibility. The official conclusion reached by the Air Intelligence Information Report, prepared by Major James E. Geertz, was that the objects were meteors. The report suggests that the perceived maneuvers and the speed were optical illusions. Regarding the reported sound, the investigator noted that the thunder-like boom was likely caused by jet interceptors penetrating the sonic barrier, rather than the objects themselves. The report explicitly states that the reliability of the observer's account is unknown and that the individual was not seeking personal notoriety.