Project 10073 Record Card: Sighting East of Kyushu Island, Japan, 11 August 1960

On 11 August 1960, at 1103Z, two crew members of a KB-50 aircraft (tail number 081/KB-50/421) assigned to the 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing at Yokota Air Base, Japan, observed an unidentified aerial phenomenon. The aircraft was flying at an altitude of 17,000 feet on a heading of 057 degrees when the crew spotted an orange ball of light approximately 50 miles in front of the aircraft. The object was observed for 3 to 4 seconds, moving across the horizon from left to right in a slight arch. The observers noted that the object left a slight fluorescent trail that appeared to follow the curvature of the earth. One observer estimated the speed of the object to be several thousand miles per hour. The visibility at the time of the sighting was reported as unlimited. The incident was reported via an APEX PACAF Hot News Report (Number 61) to the Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force in Washington, D.C. Subsequent analysis conducted by the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) concluded that the object was a meteor. The analysis ruled out aircraft, balloons, and airships, and noted that there were no satellites reported to be reentering the atmosphere at that time. The investigators determined that the extreme speed and the trajectory of the object were consistent with a meteor entering the earth's atmosphere.