Project 10073 Record Card — Whiteman AFB, Missouri, 6 November 1957

This document is a collection of reports, correspondence, and radar plots concerning a series of unidentified radar returns observed at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, on 6 November 1957. The primary report, a Project 10073 Record Card, summarizes the event as a series of radar tracks observed on the evening of 6 November. Military radar personnel reported multiple objects, with up to seven separate sightings occurring over a period of approximately ten minutes. The objects were described as having varied courses and low speeds, which led investigators to initially categorize them as ground targets rather than airborne ones. The radar returns were noted to be round and clear, comparable in size and brightness to a B-47 aircraft, but they did not exhibit the elongation typically caused by the radar sweep on the search scope.

Correspondence between the 340th Bombardment Wing and the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) highlights the frustration of the base personnel, who felt the radar returns were significant. The base provided extensive documentation, including six diagrams plotting the tracks of the objects and several radar photographs taken with a C-6 Speed Graphic camera. Despite the volume of data, ATIC officials, including Colonel Gordon C. Hoffman, concluded that the information was insufficient for a thorough analysis. They noted that the greatest activity occurred within three miles of the runway, often within one mile, and that there were no corresponding visual sightings. The official conclusion reached by the Air Technical Intelligence Center was that the returns were likely 'spurious' in nature, possibly caused by a combination of local factors, weather conditions, and temperatures affecting the radar equipment. The report emphasizes that the radar returns were not consistent with airborne targets, and the lack of visual confirmation or intercepts further supported the assessment that the phenomena were not genuine aircraft. The documentation includes detailed radar plots and photographs, which were used to support the conclusion that the objects were not of an anomalous nature, but rather artifacts of the radar system's operation under specific environmental conditions.