Project 10073 Record — Cuming County, Nebraska, 28 July 1968

This document is a comprehensive record of a UFO sighting reported on July 28, 1968, in Cuming County, Nebraska. The primary witness was a retired US Army Colonel with a background in the Transportation Corps. The witness reported observing a stationary, tear-drop-shaped object that was 'incondescent-ultra-violet' in color. The object was positioned slightly higher than local high-tension power lines but was not connected to them. After approximately 30 seconds, the object burst open and disintegrated into a shower of gold-colored sparks. The witness explicitly noted the absence of noise. The official conclusion reached by the Aerial Phenomena Office was that the sighting was likely a plasma phenomenon caused by electromagnetic effects from a daylight meteor that occurred in the same region at the approximate time of the sighting. The file contains extensive correspondence between Lt. Col. Hector Quintanilla of the Air Force and Philip J. Klass, a prominent aviation journalist and UFO investigator. Klass was deeply interested in the case, viewing it as a potential example of plasma phenomena created by meteor wakes, a hypothesis he discussed with researchers at the University of Arizona. The document also includes meteorological data, including surface observations and upper-air soundings, to support the investigation into the meteor event. The file further documents the efforts of the Air Force to coordinate with other agencies, such as the Smithsonian Institution and various local law enforcement offices, to gather additional reports of the meteor, which was also sighted by an airline crew and other ground observers in Iowa and Nebraska.