Project 10073 Record Card — Mecca, Indiana, 19 January 1958

This document consists of a Project 10073 record card and associated teletype correspondence regarding an Unidentified Flying Object sighting reported on January 19, 1958, near Mecca, Indiana. A civilian witness reported observing a small, round, flashing red object for approximately ten minutes. The object was described as moving south before making a sharp turn to the north and disappearing. The witness reported the object was noiseless and estimated its altitude at 1,000 feet. The report was filed by the 782nd ACWRON at Rockville AFS, Indiana, and forwarded to the Air Technical Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The official conclusion reached by the investigating authorities was that the witness had likely observed only the flashing red navigation light of an aircraft. Handwritten notes on the document suggest that such occurrences are documented in other reports, where the geometry of the aircraft's position relative to the observer results in only one navigation light being visible. The report notes that while the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) considers such occurrences uncommon, they are known to happen. The documentation includes standard military teletype formatting, providing details on weather conditions, coordinates, and the nature of the observation, ultimately categorizing the event as an aircraft-related phenomenon rather than an unidentified aerial anomaly.