Initial Report of Investigation of UFO — 20 April 1966

On 20 April 1966, at approximately 2335Z, two 16-year-old high school students in Newport News, Virginia, observed an unidentified object. The object was described as a bright silver, ballistic missile-shaped object, approximately two inches long from the observers' perspective. It was first seen 30 degrees above the horizon, traveling northwest, before descending slightly, leveling off, and executing a 90-degree right turn. The observation lasted for approximately one minute before the object was obscured by a house roofline. One observer used 7x50 binoculars. The investigation, conducted by Captain James R. Lewis, Jr. of the 4500th Air Base Wing, determined that a T-33 aircraft was approaching Langley AFB for a landing on runway 07 at the time of the sighting. Captain Lewis concluded that the object was indeed this T-33 aircraft. He noted that the flight path, descent, and turn of the object closely matched the aircraft's approach. He further suggested that the lack of audible engine noise was due to the aircraft's reduced power settings and local surface noise, and that the perceived shape was an optical illusion caused by the specific lighting conditions and viewing angle, which he claimed to have replicated during his own observations of T-33 aircraft.