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Declassified UFO / UAP Document

Project 10073 Record Card — Sighting near Monticello, Illinois, 15 July 1961

📅 15 July 61 📍 4 miles east of Monticello, Illinois 🏛 ATIC 📄 sighting_report
UFOUAPProject 10073MonticelloIllinoisComanche aircraft1961

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AI-Generated Summary

TL;DR

A 1961 report detailing a sighting of three white lights in a V-formation near Monticello, Illinois. The Air Force investigation concluded the lights were likely a Comanche aircraft circling for a landing at a nearby airport.

This document is a Project 10073 record card and associated correspondence regarding a UFO sighting that occurred on July 15, 1961, near Monticello, Illinois. Three civilian witnesses, traveling in a car, reported observing three round, white, quarter-sized lights in a V-formation. The witnesses stated that the lights appeared to bank to the left, traveling parallel to their course, and remained in a relatively fixed position for approximately one to three minutes before fading out. The witnesses reported no sound during the observation. Captain Marshall G. Bennett, the investigating officer, conducted an inquiry into the incident. After consulting with the University of Illinois airport control tower manager and a flightline mechanic, Captain Bennett concluded that the lights were likely a transient Comanche-type light aircraft. He reasoned that the aircraft, which landed at the University of Illinois airport at approximately 2200 local time, possessed an additional landing or taxi light on its nose gear, which, combined with the two wing-tip lights, accounted for the three observed lights. The report notes that the pilot likely turned on these lights to signal the tower while circling the area. The witnesses experienced a brief moment of night blindness when the lights faded. The report concludes that the lights were likely misidentified aircraft lights.

There is no evidence available which would indicate that the object was anything other than the a/c reported by the investigating officer. It is easy to understand how under the circumstances the lights of the a/c could have been misidentified.

Official Assessment

There is no evidence available which would indicate that the object was anything other than the a/c reported by the investigating officer. It is easy to understand how under the circumstances the lights of the a/c could have been misidentified.

The lights were likely a transient Comanche type light aircraft circling for a landing at the University of Illinois airport, which had an additional landing or taxi light on its nose gear, accounting for the three lights.

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