Project 10073 Record Card — Sighting Incident, Hutchinson, Kansas, 16 December 1960

This document contains a Project 10073 record card and associated military message traffic regarding a UFO sighting that occurred on December 16, 1960, near Hutchinson, Kansas. Three witnesses—Captain Wickersham, a Technical Sergeant, and a civilian named Mr. [illegible]—observed an object while driving to work at the Hutchinson Air Station. The witnesses were in separate vehicles, traveling south at speeds ranging from 15 to 60 mph. They reported seeing a round, bluish-white, pea-to-egg-shaped object. The sighting lasted for one to two seconds, with the object appearing at 60 degrees above the horizon and disappearing at 20 degrees above the horizon, with an azimuth of 160 degrees. The military investigation, conducted by the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC), concluded that the object was likely a meteor. The report notes that the duration of the sighting was too short for a satellite and that the earth was passing through several meteor showers at the time. The investigators also expressed skepticism regarding the reported elevation of 60 degrees, noting that it is highly improbable for a driver to maintain such a field of view while operating a vehicle. The document includes detailed meteorological data for the area at the time of the incident, which indicated unlimited visibility. The report was processed through the 4347th Combat Crew Training Wing at McConnell Air Force Base and forwarded to the Air Technical Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base for evaluation.