Air Intelligence Information Report: Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) Sighting, Mangham, Louisiana, 22 May 1960

This document is an Air Intelligence Information Report regarding a UFO sighting that occurred on 22 May 1960 in Mangham, Louisiana. The report, prepared by Captain Chester B. Hanson of the 4238th Strategic Wing at Barksdale Air Force Base, details an investigation conducted in response to a request from the Aerospace Technical Intelligence Center. The primary witness, a line maintenance man for the Olin Matheson Gas Company, observed a round object that changed shape to tubular and back to round over a two-hour period. The witness described the object as being the size of a basketball, shiny, and glittering, with a tail approximately as long as the object itself. The sighting occurred on a clear, cloudless morning. The witness, who was preparing to shoot blackbirds, alerted his wife to the object. The investigation also involved a local Parish Sheriff. Following the initial report, Major R. F. Grodhaus of England Air Force Base, Louisiana, was contacted. Major Grodhaus reported that two interceptor aircraft were dispatched from England AFB to intercept the object, but they were unsuccessful. The England AFB Weather Office subsequently identified the object as a weather balloon that had been released from Natchez, Mississippi. Based on this information, the investigating officers concluded that the object was a weather balloon, and the case was closed as an identified object rather than an Unidentified Flying Object. The report includes meteorological data from Shreveport and Jackson weather stations to support the findings. The document is marked as unclassified and was distributed only to the United States Air Force.