Project 10073 Record Card — Bitburg AB, Germany, 9 February 1961

This document consists of a Project 10073 record card and an associated military teletype report regarding an Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) sighting on February 9, 1961, at Bitburg Air Base in Germany. The report details a sighting by military personnel, including a dependent and a technical sergeant, who observed a yellow, circular object for approximately 30 minutes. The witnesses described the object as having a square in its center, a line extending from the center, and five antennae. The object was observed at an angle of 20 degrees to the horizon at an azimuth of 225 degrees, eventually moving to 7 degrees above the horizon at an azimuth of 270 degrees before fading to the west. The witnesses used a 100-power telescope from an amateur astronomy kit to observe the object. Major Walter D. Brown, Jr., the 36th Tactical Fighter Wing Intelligence Officer, conducted an interrogation of the witnesses. While the witnesses provided consistent data regarding the time, angle, and azimuth of the sighting, the official conclusion reached by the Air Technical Intelligence Center was that the object was the planet Venus. The report notes that the 'strange appearance' of the object was likely caused by the witness observing the planet near the horizon, where the light passed through a greater density of the Earth's atmosphere. The document is classified as 'UNCLAS EFTO' (Unclassified For Official Use Only) and includes detailed meteorological data for the time of the sighting, such as wind speeds and directions at various altitudes.