PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD Dcnoqn, At.!:~ona 3. OATETIME GROUP . " ... TYPE OF OU~ERVATION 0 CrounciRodar . CI.T \-lc;2'l 0 Alr-VIsuol 0 Air-Intercept Radar -s-:-P'H'O'foT ---,,:-tcHITfce 1. LCNGTH OF Ou5E~VATION 8. NUMBER OP ODJECTS 9. COURSE . 52 minutes l. CONCLUSIONS Wns Balloon Probably Oolloon Po sa Ll y Uulloon Wos Aircraft Probobly Aircroh PouiUy Aircroh Wu, Astronomical Probohly A!.tronomicot rouibly Astronomical Orher _ In svffl c:i nt Ooto for E valuotion 10. ElRIEF ~UMM.\RY OF $IGHTING 11. COMMENU Sil vcr color. Cireulnr. nov~red. ' . fulloon launchod from D.:lvio Monthan MD o.t 1500. Durst Bt 2B,8o7 matere. . Vo.u not Vonus ol "Skyhook" Observers VQtch~d minutes. BearinB vna elevaition at 268 dcg ouj:.!ct for 52 70 dag -75 dec . . . ATlC JI'ORM .Uf(AEV 26 BJ::P 52) ))O?TH TRAINING SQUADRON (CONTRACT FLYING) Ml\RANA AIR BASE Marana, Arizona SUBJECT: Sighting of Unidentified Aerial Object TO: Whom it May Concern On 3 April 1952, I landed T-6D number 406 at the Benson, Arizona, airport at approximately 0745 for the execution of "ground control" for s t cross-country flights. I was in the company of , ~1o is also a civilian instructor at Marana Air Base. Shortly after taxiine into position for the best observation of aircraft which would be turnine over Benson air ort and shutting off my engine, \ore were joined by r. " nager of the airport. The position of my aircra t \tas in the N\J corner of the airport approximately 100 yards east of the hangar and facing a direction of 255 degrees M. At approximately 0805, Mr. the position of patrol, landed his close proximity to my aircraft and direction. T-6D aircra"' .... parked facing was assigned and t axied in in the opposite With my radio on and remaining seated in the front seat of my aircraft I was a\'laiting radio transmission from the students when lwir lled my attention to a bright object which appe e size of a bright star and was prominent enough so that ones' attention wa s dra\~ to it even though attention might be distracted ~emantarily. In other words, there was no necessity to scan to relocate the object. At the time my attention was called to this object I thought nothing of it t when, approximately six or seven minutes later, Mr inted out the fact tha t it \-laS still there, it im sed me as being rather odd that any airborne object could rna tain the same position for this length of time. It occured to me to take a fix on this object in relation to the top of the canopy and take note of the time, which I did. The time was 0823 (I time checked with the tower before t ake-off from Marana) and the object was approximately two and one-half inche s above the canopy when I was centered in the seat. During this tirne Mr Mr attention h a d bean drawn to the obje approxima e 0830 f1r. Lognn took off to see if he could eet a better look; I kept in touch with him by radio and I believe he climbed to 13,500 ft. (elevation of Benson airport is 3500 ft.). He reported he could see it slightly be estimated its altitude nt frotn 30,000 to 40,000 ft. Mr en descended and landed again at During this time, and until it disappeared, I kept takin~ sights on thio object and it never moved the slightest fract).on in relation to the ca nopy of my aircraft, which durin[~ this time, hud not moved. 0914 .w~1o had b~en an intent observer of this object, wa a position on the right sid~ of tho fusilage and. took up a position nt the right wing tip. This change of position took approximately fifteen seconds. ~fuen he reached this ne\1 position he remarl-:ed that the object hn d disappeared. I checked, u sin14 my sighting r eference nnd found the object had vanished. Two or three of the students had also noticed the object while passine ove r Benson. During the time of timed observation, from 0 $23 to 0911~, this object did not chnne e size, position, nor intensity and vanished completely i n approximately 15 seconds JOINT MESSAGEFORM 1---------s .ACl: ABOVE FOR COMMUNICATIONS CC'.VTEH O .Vl. Y r-------------------------1 fROM: (Ot~'Jj1n.u~r) DAT"TI:lt <.f!OUI' ! rnrcEnFr-.cc I Acrn~ jvu.c .A nt' [loooK t.lr;>S\GE [)"~ OillC'I~\1. t.lc'.l..oCE 0 MULTI;>LE ADDn;::;') CRYrrvf'Al.CAU 110~ IOl 'ITIFICATI0/4 llNCU\SSIFlED o~.arT!.It; 1'1~ ... ! (t1!4 l lfi'J'tr, 1d!" r~t:irt~) Rfl..U.SING OffiCEII'S SIG:IATUo~E f'oLACtS tit'" fOollt UJ, l f.\AY U. WhiCH P.!AY &E l.j!:<J. UNCU\SSlFIEO . JtJINT MESSAGEFORM ,H!CA TIO'IS CENfLR fjOo FROM: (Or'''" tor) on!:~d~ co, A'r:tl OIV.FT Cilo.i N4M (11nd llfrt tlft, ltl:t n rtqulr,;l) RrP1..ACt.S HHE F'ORM 11l. l MAY (). WIIICH MAY 8~ U~ED. FOR: }o'OUtizlo 0 BOOK lol rsS"oG E [:foRIGIHAL Mt:SSAC CRYPTOI'RtCAU TION [] Yr'S U NO 0 MULTIPLF. Al10RC:S:O REF"EHS TO t.1 ESSAC.(: JO:.IITII'ICATION CLAS'lltiCATION DOWNGRADED AT DECLASSI~IED A3P1~o otP. IN'i''""PV DOD DlR s2oo.lo"' l:o4AUC. l1l'lCLAS5 :F iF:: l:'LYn;cr) [;tJ.JJ:t::Ct& t:nick:ntlfiou "\erial 0bj~ct ~ic;i1tou by c. L. J:..r.::J;..o:t on . J.>ril 1)152, l'rotn .l~anson, iw:i zouo. ;..il :purt Cor:.1n.endint:; Oi'ficar Air 'l'ochnical lntellicenco Cout~r \'ri[ih ~-?ut tcrson i .. r:'l:), v hio l. Hei'cn'Cnce I:;0:;:;~[.;c you.r i .cauquc.ztcrs, ...rc::J:-.l;.~.er;,..(~-h-G 2-j ;Jl'il 1~.:,)2, the follo1.tin 3 c.ucj,i t ionu.l illfor.t . .:.utiO"a i~ ~u.b:'.d. ttcLl ,,i th l'0i'orcnc o llid cbnti~'icd nc1ial object sichteu on 3 .:~iail 17.52. 2. ~-:.o o.~1L.;lo of th~ object i'l'C.::l ti.1e holizontul ;)orJi~ic.u ;,u:; fj:o: tt 70 t o /'j clut.;:::\:;o ::.:. ~'he J ~awtic be urin e . tc.l:cn fl'O'Cl the ~il'cr:.o.:~ cvll~ . ..:.. ~objoct \.us ~l't>I.l t \io o.ucl onc- huli' to tlu,c;)e inchoo cu zec t l y own tl!o ccn ~..:::c oi' fi:hu6. l i\..11--i. o:L i'1ont ;: ... c:ction oi' cono '), \/Us <J.S u0ercer; 3 Ti1e !...:l:nl1~.:r ill :hich tho objoc~ C::i:;H .. q.J;c::nod is t .. .ncortaln. ~D O"tl.lJ"ed in l}I'CViOt\S r ol.-O:::'t, ob::;e=va:iiion \/El.S Ui!JCOHtint,od. ~or U,LJlJI'O:d.L..!.:.tely i'ittoen seco.nd!J cluxi.llg llhich tir.le t he object i;ool: l e:"'vc. 4. l lhis ofrica is unable to ft..rni~h ltO lo d~i..'-Liled iui'orr..uti un b1.tt fi'ers o.ll pooa i ble ns.::dsta.ncc on eny furthe r <lov..;lolX;::...on t . JOINT MESSAGEFORM r 4 N UNICA l ll.lhj ClN rt,K HO . 1--------S,.AC~ ABOVE I'Olf COMMUrttCAf'IOI'tS CENTER ON Y r-----------~-----------1 fROM: (Ori~in~ttor) DA1C11Ml. G"OUI" I Sl.<.\.tlllrY CLAS!>IFICATlON IUPLACU HMI FOIIM IJJ, I MAY ~. WHICH loiAY 8f u:.;~o. 1 ACTION IINFOR'o\AriON PRECLOF.NCE IIOOK MLSSA.:l CRYrrO.I'aFCAU riON L"J YES LJ NO D MULlll"lE Af)Of!ESS IOlNTI~ICATION Sl:.t:ORI rY CLA:>SifiC:ATION ~ffl:.~:.i TO MF'>SAGF: IIFLEASIHQ OFFICEfi' S $1GNATURI! F11 C 0 6Tlt HE I\ 50. T I tJK~H AFD TO /\TIC HHIGH'!-PATTERSOU AFD OHIO 6f1~ US 78 PD Ur.t~SG AFOIN D/\SH ATIAt\ D.'\SH SIX D/\Slf riO ECHO PD Di\T.~. a,: BALLOON LAUfJCHitJGS FOn APH FIVE THO FR Dl~VIS i~Oi'lT: Itd: A;.'D ~n:n~ F~JD T O DATA COrJTROL CtL'\ GROVE /'\RCADE DLDG Ct'IA ASHVILLE Cl':t-\ NC P D 17/15L~1Z JUIJ JHFNl~ ( ,tJ-IN-T -tA-S-SA-G-EF-OR-M~( ; JI'UCA llll'IS Ct N f[R " 0 1---------S,.ACE ABOVE FOR COf-fMUNICATlONS CENTER ONLY ,_----------~------,.,..-,....~;--1 fROM: (Orllintor> ::::i'Z l\ia c:JI~!tl~..o ~;.?a:cns cow D ISOOK ME':iS\GE t::l ORIC:INAL NI:.SSAGE CP.YI'lOPREC.\UTIO't D YFS D NO 0 r.IULTii'LE AOO:l<:S:> RFFEH5 TO MESSAGE: IOSNTirtCUIOlt CLA:i31FICA TIOH :,_:.::r;1NG1-!ADED AT 3 YP.AR 'rNT.T~RVAT.:; DECLASS!FlED AF'l'l:~R 12 YE.AHS. J)OD DIH. G2o0.10 TELFEH").i...? .. Rl:rLACES tiME FORM 17l, I MAY tl, w atCII M/1.'( BE U:>0, O~FICIAL TITLE JJ ~\ c:L.AS5tFl ED AP7t:IIDIX III I. ~I?,l'IO!l 0:' ItcCIU::ln' OD 3 lpril 195~ at 0815 MST, ee civilian AF pilot 1nstiUctors nnd severol other people obnerved an object rro~ the Benson) Arizona, ai rt. The object wo about the size ot a bright ste.:' but was pror.dncnt e11.ourh til be continunlly observ~d (i.e. not necessary to Dean the sky to find tt). At 082) }5T, one ot the in~tn:etors took a tix on the objeet by sittine in a T-6 and sichting acro~s the cano?l with the aircraft on a -netic headine or 255 at tho tbc. Fixes vcre takc:1 nt intcrve.ls tmti 1 0911. at \lhieh tine the: object dis:!ppcared, The: object c!:i~ not nove: durinr. the 51 t:'J::u+...e periodo lfr:>\.1 tto object. disa!>:-enrcd is n~t r.no .. -:1 ns cne of the obser-ver'~ ~:tE:ntion wa~ r.!l~ tracted for aoou t 15 seconds and \.-::en he: lookt.~ up the obj cct vas cone .. One or the in&t.ructors ne\.1 a ~-6 up to 1),500 ft ... in (I.Il attetlr.>t to bettor observe tho object., hotrever, there wa s no rolativo ch!L.'1Ce in the si~e. Several cadets flying T-6's in the area also ob~erv~d the object li. STATUS 0~ TEB IlW"iSTIGATION The excellent torethought or t:'le instructor to take continual. fixes or. th~ object has eliminated the ?OssibUity or the object beine an drcraft or ba11oon eince no I!\Otion vas observed. In addition, an investigo.tior.. vas Illl.de and 1 t. -..rns dete~ned that there vcre no b~lloons in the area" It' is possible that the object vas a bright planeto This is doubtful, bovever, since a planet would &j"1peer to I'OO\c son41! in 51 !Unut<a., The ar;>}Jroxinate elevation or the fb: has been reques ted., In the origir.al. report it vas given as "two inches above the canopy", This ~gle wi~l dopen.d on height or the pilot, height or seat, et.c... When this inf'o~..ation 1.s received, a nearly exact fix can be obtai ned and knovn astronor.U.cal bvCies checked., III. COtlCLUSIO~lS UNCLASSlflED JNICATtONS C:H TCR 10. JtJINT r~ESSAGEFORM iUNClASSJFIEQ.. I Sf.CURITY CLA~IFICATION FROM: (On'~intor)