Project 10073 Record Card and Related Correspondence — Dubuque, Iowa, March 1960

This document collection details the investigation into a UFO sighting that occurred on 4 March 1960, near Dubuque, Iowa. At approximately 1755 local time, multiple witnesses, including a commercial pilot named Charles Morris, observed three silvery, elliptical, saucer-shaped objects travelling in a NNE direction. Witnesses estimated the objects to be at an altitude of 20,000 feet, moving at approximately 200 mph, and described them as silent and bright, similar to a star. Charles Morris captured 19 feet of 8mm color film of the objects, which he subsequently provided to the federal government for analysis. The investigation involved significant coordination between the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC), the Strategic Air Command (SAC), and the Chicago Air Defense Sector. ATIC conducted a thorough examination of the film provided by Morris but concluded that it contained nothing of an unusual nature. Furthermore, inquiries to SAC and local radar stations, including Waverly AFS, yielded no record of military aircraft in the Dubuque area at the time of the sighting, despite SAC's admission that they had flights operating in the region during that 25-hour period. The case became a point of contention between the Air Force and the civilian organization Civilian UFO Research (CUFOR), which conducted its own investigation. CUFOR members expressed frustration over the Air Force's classification of the incident as 'Insufficient Evidence' and the lack of transparency regarding the film analysis. Correspondence between Major Lawrence J. Tacker, Major William T. Coleman, Jr., and the witnesses highlights the ongoing dispute, with the Air Force maintaining that the film showed nothing unusual and the witnesses insisting on the validity of their observations. The documents reflect the tension between official military assessments and civilian reports, as well as the challenges in reconciling conflicting data regarding military flight schedules and eyewitness accounts of unidentified aerial phenomena.