Project 10073 Record Card — Stockton, California, 3 March 1959

This document consists of a Project 10073 record card and supporting correspondence regarding an unidentified aerial object sighted near Stockton, California, on 3 March 1959. The report includes summaries of observations from three witnesses, including a housewife, a student, and an ex-US Army Air Force pilot with 2600 hours of flying experience. The witnesses described a boomerang-shaped object that was solid, smooth, and dirty white in color, with visible projections and a tapered upsweep at one end. The object was observed at an altitude of 25,000 feet or higher, moving slowly from the east toward the southwest. One witness, the former pilot, estimated the object to be approximately five times the size of a B-52 aircraft. The sky was reported to be clear of clouds or other phenomena, and the object was observed for approximately three to five minutes. The sun, setting on the western horizon, was reflected by the object, which the witnesses felt helped define its outline. The Fourth Air Force forwarded the 115th CIC Group report to the Air Technical Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson AFB, noting that time delays had prevented electrical transmission of the report. The official conclusion recorded on the Project 10073 card is that the object was 'Probably Balloon,' with the comments section noting that the object's appearance, slow flight, and metallic color reflecting the sun's rays tended to substantiate this conclusion.