Project 10073 Record Card — Sighting Report 14 Sep 60

This document is a Project 10073 record card and associated teletype report detailing an unidentified aerial phenomenon sighting on September 14, 1960. The incident occurred at 0908Z, approximately 40 miles southeast of Misawa Air Base, Japan. The witness, Lieutenant John L. Holody of the 4th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, was piloting an F-86 aircraft at the time. According to the report, the pilot observed a greenish-white, circular object with a faint trail of smoke. The object appeared from above an overcast layer and descended straight down before either fading out or disappearing into the overcast below. The duration of the observation was approximately two seconds. The pilot was flying between an overcast layer at the time of the sighting. The report notes that preliminary investigations by the 39th Air Division at Misawa Air Base ruled out known balloons or other objects in the area. The official conclusion recorded on the project card states that the description is characteristic of a meteor. The documentation includes the original teletype transmission, which provides detailed coordinates (40 01 5 N, 142 50 E) and weather conditions, noting scattered to clear conditions at the surface with overcast layers at higher altitudes. The pilot was described as completely reliable. The report was submitted in accordance with AFR 200-2. The final analysis by the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) maintained that the sighting was likely a meteor, noting that while it could possibly have been a falling star, the object's trajectory between layers of overcast prompted the formal filing of the UFO report.