Project 10073 Record Card and UFO Report — 14 September 1961

This document consists of a Project 10073 Record Card and an associated Air Force staff message regarding a UFO sighting that occurred on September 14, 1961, near Yokota Air Base, Japan. Two pilots, Captain Donald C. Windrath and 1st Lieutenant Soren A. Poz-Ielsn, both of the 40th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, reported observing an unidentified aerial phenomenon while flying at 35,000 feet. The object was described as a bright white ball of fire, approximately the size of a silver dollar, with an extremely short tail. The witnesses reported that the object exhibited very little movement before it appeared to explode instantaneously. The light emitted by the object was described as blinding, and it was intense enough to illuminate the entire cockpit of the aircraft. The duration of the sighting was estimated at two to three seconds, with the explosion itself lasting approximately one-tenth to one-half of a second. Intelligence Officer 1st Lieutenant Richard A. Flagg, Jr. evaluated the report. He noted that the high altitude of the object and the direction of observation ruled out an atomic explosion. Furthermore, he explicitly stated that the intensity of the light, which illuminated the cockpit, tended to rule out the possibility of a standard falling star. Despite these observations, the official conclusion reached by the Air Force was that the most logical explanation for the phenomenon was a large meteor exploding in the Earth's atmosphere, and the report was formally categorized as a 'probable bolide.' The documentation includes technical details such as the aircraft type (F-102A), the pilots' flight parameters (Mach .85, 35,000 feet), and weather conditions at the time of the sighting.