Project 10073 Records and Related Correspondence — Colorado Springs, March 1966

This document collection contains a series of Project 10073 records and associated military correspondence regarding UFO sightings in the vicinity of Colorado Springs, Colorado, during March 1966. The reports detail three distinct incidents involving civilian witnesses. The first incident, on March 25, involved four witnesses observing four lights (red, blue, green, and white) that moved erratically and hovered for one hour. The conclusion for this event was that the lights were astronomical in nature, potentially obscured by scattered clouds. The second incident, on March 28, involved a single object described as egg-shaped, blue-white, and resembling a 'pineapple with legs,' which was visible for 1.5 hours before fading at dawn; this was identified as the planet Venus. The third incident, on March 31, involved a single object described as the size of a grapefruit, white, red, and green, which hovered and bounced before disappearing behind a hill. This was identified as the planet Jupiter. The documentation includes technical details regarding the photography of these events, noting that the sightings were captured using a Yashica Lynx 35mm camera with Kodak Ektachrome High Speed film. Military officials, including Lt Col M.J. Loftus and Maj Quintanilla, processed these reports. A significant portion of the correspondence addresses administrative errors, specifically the misrouting of UFO-related photographic packages to Andrews AFB instead of the Foreign Technology Division (FTD) at Wright-Patterson AFB. The reports emphasize that the sighting locations were in areas frequently used by military and commercial aviation, and that some sightings were likely caused by vehicle or spotlight reflections.