Project 10073 Record Card and Related Correspondence — Harlingen AFB, Texas, October 1961

This document contains a series of communications regarding a UFO sighting reported on October 27, 1961, by the crew of a T-29 aircraft from the 3610th Navigational Training Wing at Harlingen Air Force Base, Texas. The sighting occurred at 0100Z while the aircraft was flying at 13,000 feet. The witnesses, a captain and a first lieutenant, described an oblong object that appeared to be the size of a half-dollar. The object featured a brilliant white front quarter with an aureole on the leading edge, while the aft three-quarters were a glowing red color. A trail, estimated to be ten times the length of the object, extended behind it, which the observers attributed to fragmentation. The object followed a flat, straight trajectory from the east-southeast to the west-northwest for approximately 20 seconds. The weather conditions were reported as clear above ragged-topped clouds with scattered cirrus. Following the initial report, Major Robert J. Friend of the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) requested clarification, noting that the reported azimuths did not align with the described flight path. In a subsequent message dated November 8, 1961, the 3610th Navigational Training Wing clarified that the object was first sighted 60 degrees to the observers' right and disappeared 12 degrees to their left, noting that the object appeared much closer when first sighted than when it disappeared. The official intelligence assessment concluded that the sighting was likely a meteor or a rocket body entering the atmosphere.