Project 10073 Record Card and Associated Correspondence - Coraopolis, PA, 17 November 1957

This document collection details a UFO sighting reported on 17 November 1957 near the Greater Pittsburgh Airport in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. The primary witness, a secretary for the 54th Fighter Group, reported seeing a disc-shaped object, approximately 25 feet in diameter, hovering 150 feet above the ground. The object featured two red lights and one blue light, all of which were blinking. The observation lasted approximately five seconds while the witness was driving in an automobile. The report was treated with significant sensitivity by the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) due to the witness's position within the USAF and the potential for negative publicity following other recent UFO incidents in Kearney, Levelland, and White Sands. ATIC requested a follow-up investigation to obtain more conclusive data, specifically to prevent a repetition of the large volume of reports and phone calls that had disrupted normal intelligence activities. Despite the witness being considered reliable and having eight years of experience at the base, no other personnel, tower operators, or radar units in the vicinity reported the object. Battery A of the 505th AAA Missile Battalion, located within 400 yards of the sighting, confirmed they were not operating search radar at the time. The intelligence officer suggested the object might have been an optical illusion caused by aircraft landing or taking off, though the observer maintained the object was closer than a nearby hilltop. The final assessment concluded there was insufficient data for a definitive evaluation, and the source requested that the incident remain confidential to avoid public attention.