Unidentified Flying Object Report — Penns Park, Pennsylvania, 29 May 1960

This document is a Project 10073 record card and accompanying report regarding an unidentified flying object sighting that occurred on May 29, 1960, near Penns Park, Pennsylvania. The witness, a Captain in the United States Navy affiliated with the Aviation Acceleration Development Laboratory, reported observing an oval-shaped, orange light, approximately the size of a grapefruit, while traveling in an automobile. The object was initially stationary before moving in a westerly direction, changing in size, and eventually vanishing. The sighting lasted for approximately five minutes. The report was processed by the New York Air Defense Sector and forwarded to the Air Technical Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The investigation, led by Captain William S. Barnett, considered two primary possibilities for the phenomenon. The first was that the observer witnessed the exhaust of a jet aircraft climbing out of the Philadelphia area, which would have disappeared upon entering the low cloud cover. The second possibility, which was discussed with the observer, involved advertising searchlights in the Philadelphia area. The report concludes that the reflection of these searchlights on broken cloud cover is a likely explanation for the orange light and the observed shape and size of the object. The witness was noted as being completely reliable.