Project 10073 Record Card: Sighting in Orange, Connecticut, March 1964

This document contains a Project 10073 record card and subsequent correspondence regarding a UFO sighting reported by students at the Race Brook School in Orange, Connecticut. On March 16, 1964, students and community members observed an object described as resembling a flying saucer from a book. The object was reported to be stationary, flying at a low altitude at a slow speed, and emitting a heavy, continuous buzzing sound. It displayed white, red, green, and orange lights. The students provided a drawing of the object and noted that the Yale Observatory had also spotted an unidentified flying object. The official Air Force evaluation on the record card concluded that there was insufficient data for a proper assessment, citing missing positional information and other essential elements. In a follow-up letter dated March 24, 1964, Major Maston M. Jacks of the USAF Office of Information thanked the students for their report and drawing. He addressed the students' interest in the subject by recommending the book 'The World of Flying Saucers' by Menzel and Boyd, noting that Dr. Menzel was an astronomer and Director of the Harvard College Observatory. Major Jacks also provided the students with an Air Force Fact Sheet on Unidentified Flying Objects. In his letter, he explained that the Air Force had investigated over 8,000 cases in the previous 16 years and had never found evidence that such objects were spacecraft from another planet. He explained that reports often involve familiar objects seen under unusual circumstances, such as experimental balloons, airplanes, birds reflecting light, or atmospheric phenomena like meteors and fireballs, which can be distorted and misinterpreted by observers.