Project 10073 Record Card: La Crosse, Wisconsin Sighting

This document file contains records regarding an unidentified aerial phenomenon reported in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on January 18, 1959. The primary record is a Project 10073 Record Card, which summarizes the incident as a sighting of a single object described as a 'flash of light' traveling from east to west at a high rate of speed. The sighting was reported by multiple witnesses, including local residents and a meteorological technician from the United States Weather Bureau. The La Crosse Tribune Company contacted the United States Air Force headquarters in Washington, D.C., on January 26, 1959, to inquire if the military had any information regarding the event, noting that the report was late but requesting any light the Air Force could shed on the matter. The Air Force responded on February 19, 1959, via Major Lawrence J. Tacker, stating that the sighting had not been reported to them through official channels. Major Tacker informed the newspaper that a search of Air Force radar and weather station records for the area failed to disclose any vehicles or balloons at the time of the sighting. Furthermore, he noted that Civil Aeronautics Administration personnel and local airport officials reported seeing nothing unusual. Internal Air Force communications, specifically a memo routing slip dated February 9, 1959, from Ted Hieatt of AFCIN-4X3, confirm that the Air Force had no information on the incident other than what was provided in the newspaper clipping. The official conclusion recorded on the Project 10073 card is that the object was a meteor, based on the wide area of observation and the description of a fast-flying light.