Project 10073 Record Card and Related Correspondence - November 1957

This document collection centers on an intelligence report regarding a sighting by James Stokes, an electronics engineer at the Air Force Missile Development Center, on November 4, 1957. Stokes reported observing an egg-shaped, mother-of-pearl colored object while driving on US Highway 54 near Orogrande, New Mexico. He claimed the object caused his car engine to stall and his radio to fade, and that he subsequently suffered a sunburn. The report includes detailed investigative efforts by the 1006th AISS, which concluded that the sighting was likely an optical phenomenon or a mirage. Investigators noted significant inconsistencies in Stokes's account, including his initial claim of a sunburn, which was not medically verified, and his changing estimates of the object's speed and duration. The report highlights that Stokes's account emerged shortly after the highly publicized Levelland, Texas UFO incident, suggesting the possibility of auto-suggestion or a desire for publicity. The collection also contains correspondence between civilian researchers, such as J. Allen Hynek and the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO), and Air Force officials, including Major Hector Quintanilla, Jr., regarding the official Air Force stance on these sightings. The Air Force consistently maintained that the incidents were not reported to the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) and were not considered significant. The documents reflect a period of intense public interest in UFOs and the Air Force's efforts to manage these reports through standard investigative procedures, often dismissing them as hoaxes, hallucinations, or misidentifications of natural phenomena.