Project 10073 Record Card: Sighting in Northeast India, January 1961

This document consists of a Project 10073 record card and associated military cables regarding an aerial sighting in Northeast India in January 1961. A native guide reported seeing a ball of light rising in a straight line and burning out. A second observer, identified as Sub Lieutenant Mulgrew, reported seeing a white streak that had already formed in the sky at approximately 60 degrees above the horizon. The streak appeared to hook toward the North and was described as smoke illuminated by sun rays. The phenomenon diffused and distorted before disappearing after five minutes. The report notes that the duration was five minutes, not thirty as erroneously reported in the press. A Captain Nevison, who provided the details, suggested the sighting was similar to smoke from balloon launchings he had previously witnessed at Wallops Island, Virginia. Another observer, a doctor, also witnessed the event. The report includes geographic coordinates for the sightings and mentions that the origin point might be near Shigatse, Tibet, or Gyantse, where non-jet airstrips had been recently built. The ATIC evaluation concludes that the report is of very little value, noting it was likely a duplicate of a report previously sent to the 1127th FAG rather than ATIC. The document was later declassified in 1968.