Project 10073 Record: Sighting at Ketchikan, Alaska, 4 September 1965

This document contains records and incoming Air Force messages regarding a sighting reported on 4 September 1965 near Ketchikan, Alaska. The initial report, classified as a CIRVIS (Communication Instructions for Reporting Vital Intelligence Sightings) report, described a 'flying ball of fire' observed by a resident of Ketchikan. Subsequent amplifying information provided by the Air Force indicates that the object was sighted by three adults and several children at Herring Cove, southeast of Ketchikan. The object was described as an unusual bright light, 15 to 20 feet in diameter, traveling at an altitude of approximately 20,000 feet on a course of approximately 337 degrees, with an estimated speed in excess of 300 knots. The official conclusion recorded on the Project 10073 form is that the object was an 'Astro (METEOR)' and that the description indicated a meteor sighting. The file also includes a separate memorandum dated 17 September 1965 from Colonel Eric T. de Jonckheere, Deputy for Technology and Subsystems, regarding a different sighting in Pike County, Missouri, which discusses the characteristics of helicopter observations and the potential for misidentification of landmarks.