Project 10073 Record Card — Sighting West of Gibraltar, 18 December 1957

This document consists of a Project 10073 record card and subsequent internal routing slips regarding an aerial sighting that occurred on 18 December 1957, west of Gibraltar. The primary witnesses were Captain William J. Castro, co-pilot Donald L. Hall, and flight attendant Betty H. Owens, all of the 76th Air Transport Squadron. The witnesses reported observing a single, round object, described as the size of a pea, with a long greenish-yellow tail covering 10 degrees of arc. The object maintained a straight and level flight path for a duration of 30 seconds. The sighting was initially evaluated by the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC). Due to the nature of the report, internal military correspondence was initiated to determine if the object could have been a foreign guided missile. Captain Gregory requested a review from the intelligence office to rule out missile activity. Major Barnes of AFCIN-4F3 responded on 18 March 1958, stating that there were no known guided missile test ranges in the area and that no missile operations had been reported. The final conclusion recorded on the project card is that the sighting was very possibly an astronomical meteor.