Project 10073 Record Card: Catalina Island, California, 11 Nov 61

This document collection details the recovery of an unidentified object on Santa Catalina Island, California, on November 11, 1961. The object was initially reported by a DCAS FT officer and subsequently investigated by the Foreign Technology Division (FTD) under Project 10073. The object, which descended via a 15-foot diameter parachute, was described as a pale pink-yellow device made of hard plastic with a lead ring at the bottom. It contained a battery section, a clock mechanism, and an electronic gadget. Detailed sketches and notes indicate the object had English-language markings, specifically 'Reg US Pat Off GENTEX CORP,' and serial number 257. The gears in the bottom of the device were found to be jammed with sticks to stop the clock mechanism. Following an investigation, the object was identified as a U.S. Navy drop sonde. The correspondence between military personnel highlights the routine nature of such recoveries, with the author of the memo expressing a desire to maintain the reporting officer's enthusiasm for recovering objects falling from the sky, while noting that the device was clearly of domestic origin and not a foreign technology concern. The file includes a Project 10073 record card, a joint message form, and internal memo routing slips documenting the identification process.