Project 10073 Record Card and Staff Message — Union, Maine, 16 Feb 61

On February 16, 1961, at approximately 1735 local time, an unidentified object was observed near Union, Maine. The witness, identified as an ex-USAF pilot, described the object as a ball of flame with no smoke or trail, comparing its brilliance to burning magnesium. The object was observed momentarily as it traveled low in a flat trajectory from east to west before disappearing behind a barn. The observer was unable to estimate the size of the object. Official military documentation, including a Project 10073 record card and a staff message from the 4038th Strategic Wing at Dow AFB, categorized the event as an astronomical sighting, specifically a meteor. The report notes that the description is characteristic of a fireball and that the object was apparently large and very high. Combat Intelligence Officer Captain Harry T. Schueren, Jr. noted that the Bangor Daily News reported numerous sightings of an object on the same night, visible across a wide area of Maine from Portland to Belfast, though the newspaper reports did not specify a time. Meteorological data from the Dow AFB weather station indicated CAVU conditions with a slight temperature inversion at the time of the sighting.