Project 10073 Record Card and Associated Correspondence — Taiwan Vicinity, April 1961

This document consists of a Project 10073 Record Card and a series of follow-up intelligence reports regarding an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) sighting in the vicinity of Taiwan on April 10, 1961. The incident involved four Chinese Air Force (CAF) pilots who observed a bullet-like object with a flaming tail while flying at high altitudes. The pilots, identified as Major Tsu Lin Yung, Captain Nyang Ching Tsung, and Lieutenant Chuang Jen Liang, were flying F-104A aircraft. They reported the object moving from East to West at an estimated speed of 1.4 Mach at an altitude of approximately 45,000 feet. The observers described the object as having a red flame and white tail, with a blue-green center, and noted that it appeared to shed sparks like hot molten iron. The sighting lasted between 10 and 15 seconds. One pilot reported that the object appeared to separate into two parts during the final six seconds of observation. The report emphasizes that the sighting was purely visual, with no radar contact reported by the Chinese Air Force or the Taiwan Joint Operations Center. The investigation was conducted by Captain Donald A. Pickering of the Operational Intelligence Branch, ATF 13(P). The official conclusion reached by the evaluating agency, ATIC, was that the object was likely a meteor, as all reported characteristics were consistent with such a phenomenon. The report explicitly states that there was no alert for Operation 'Moon Dust' and that the investigation revealed no explainable phenomena, marking the report as final and barring further inquiry. The document includes detailed descriptions of the pilots' aircraft, their positions, and the weather conditions at the time, which were noted as having unlimited visibility with no cloud cover. The pilots were deemed reliable by their squadron commander, Lieutenant Colonel Yen Chung Hwo, though he himself did not observe the object. The documentation serves as a formal record of the military's assessment of the event, categorizing it as a meteor sighting and closing the case file.