PROJECT 10073 RECORD 2. LOCATION l. DATE TIME GRuUP 4 . NUMBER OF OBJECTS 6. TYPE OF OBSERVAT ION l1ROUND VISUAL 8 . PHOTOS 9. PHYSICAL EVIDENCE FESTUS , MISSOURI 10. CONCLUSION O'l'HER: DEBRIS/ REFLECTION 11. BRIEF SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS Shape o f fla t cyclinder "Larg e Picnic PJate" first yellowish- >lhl t e to greyis h ,.,hi te to glowing whit c . Observed fro:n c a r going 55 mph. Obj in ro~ld went over hood of car. CmR-\ENTS : Possible refl e ction from debris. FTD SEP 63 0-329 (TOE) Pre11ioua edltlona of this Corm may b& used. NAVY DEfA R T MENT REFF.R TO I N ITIALS SUREAU OF AERONAUTICS REPRESENTATIVE M CDONNELL AIRCRAFT CORPt;>RATI O N A9/ Flying Objects /1SC: me p J..II?l<!AI L S T . LOUI S 3, MISSOURI Bureau of _oeronautics Representative, St. louis, .l<~issou.-ri Director of Intelligence, Heat.lqua:rters USAF, hashington 25, D. C. ~.'r"'--~,:-,{ Air 'Iechnical Intelligence Center, Hright- :ratterson Air Force Ba s e , Ohi o Col1liT'.ander, Ai r Defense Command, Ent AFB, Colorado Springs , Colorado Commander, Eastern Air Defense Force, St ewart AFB, Newbur gh , N. Y., Unidentifie d flying object; r eporting of ( F'LYOBR.PT) Encl: (1) Nr . v~. On 14 October flying objecto sightin g . this activity receive d a t e lephone c all from }rr~ ~ Columbia, Nissouri concerning slghting of a n unidentif i e d requested to submit a complete report of t .he 2 . Reference ( a ) requests that sighting of unidentified flying objects be r e- ported to the addressees. Accordingly, Nr report i s fozwarded hereHith as enclosur e (1). The report is considered complete in itself therefore the report format set forth in r eference ( a ) has not b een utilized. 'c:if. S NURPHY I ~ Director of Nava l Intelligence Com~ander Eastern Sea Frontier, 90 Church St r e e t , New York 7 , New York BJ\GR CEND:!:ST CONNAB, 9ND 16 Octob-?:r 1n54 HE: u~ITDF'NTT.FIEfJ OB,JF.CT PFPOET Slr{l1t.ed on 1.3 October l05lt at arproximately 2Dl0 ( du:r1..ng the Pcr:r:-1 Como Sho;.1) G'bo'lit-ILt miles south of Festu.s on the Fer:;tus-St. Gen~vit::ve hiE-;rWty. E>at.her : Scud at about 1000 f't:":lt, very light r r1in, visib:Lli'f,y unlimitJed. t.lmo::>t. i\i'firiiOon clt!arly visible on the r.ight (East). \-,ind Direction~ \1lest or \'Jest No:cthwest Velocity: \iind velocity e stimated at a tout 35 mph. E3 t.irr.ate based on blo~-irg papers-~-)n parking lot of drive-in re::>tr11rant in vicinity. 1-.JLnd \IRs about Khat you vroulcl .::;dt across a car1ie:r deck. Description of object: Ob;iect appeared to be a very flat cyliP..der or near- 'cylinder abotit-t.;,.eive ( 12) to fourteen ( lh) inches j_n diameter' and one ( 1) to t~1o ( 2) inch~s thick. I cc;nnot be c:erlain of t.he thickne:ss because of distance and c onditions of sighting, but I got an extremely close look at the cliar11~ter (the ob,iect coming within five (S) o r six (6) feet of my \,indshield) and am sure that it Has larger than ten (10) inches and smalle r than sixteen (lh) incl:es. There is n o doubt that it was solid, and opaou~. It looked very like, e.nd. may have been, a large picnic_n].~t~ or "'hite pap<3.r pie...til'"'l . ..... '!'hrea color s r,rere obs~rved. l~hen first sighted ( narrat.ive follo't!S) it i..r3.s refTecf.Ion--from the headlig ht s of ihe m)proach;_ng car. J)l.iring the secmH.l perasP. -it was seen in silhoue ~-te and apoearect to be greyish Hhite. \'Jhen very close ar.d vi..ewed at it' s ful l diameter it aope~red a 'r.:rilliant glowing ilhite. It is n ot c ertain whether the object r;anerated any li~ht. of it' s orn or w-1hetrer the brilliant r.l m1ing white ias the result of a reflection of My ovm car l:leadlights on <m extremely Hhite surface at close range. As f a r as coultl be observed tl:ere 1...ras no trail or exhaust , and no discernable I maka no estimate of the speed of tl1e object, but I believe a rna t:,herJatician could figure i t out Hith reasonable accuracy. I Has running about sixty (60) mph and the approaching car must have been goin g ...,.;ithin t e n ( 10) miles plus or rni.nus of this speed. The rat'= of closure betveen the object. and my co.r wco.s at leas r. three ( 3 ) to four ( 4) time~ the rate of closure b<::t:veen the cars" ~la:rrative: On the night of 13 October lG5L~ I was enroute from Cape Girarde::tu, Hissouri, t. o F'estus, Ni.ssouri.. I h~1d been driving for about an hour ~ml tbrRe-q1;arters at a speed of about fifty-five (55) r.:ph. I Has not cxc<e3siv2ly fatigued. 1 had been driving through tnt~rmittent light rain for about n hqli hour. Visibility Has unlimited, and an almost full noon could be ""aen through breaks i n the scud. A strong vlind wa s blolrfing frorr tJhe left (1-I?St,) , ar.d uS I passed .:1 drive-in :cc.strur.:mt about 200) I notice1l a good bit. of debris blm1ing across the parking lot. I remember thinking that the l-Jaste p:tper Has n.oving about. as f<Jst. as paper dropped on o. carrier deck- -probably about 35 mph-- ellthough I could fee l occasional gusts hit the car '1-Ihich r.pp Gecl to be so'!"leHhat higtie r velocity. Abovt a mile on pc>st (north) tre res t.rur;mt I sa~.; a car crw:e over a rise. 'I'hB car }1ad T:loderately br ight li~rts, and J"lust hwe been a half to thrf:e- eight.s of A mile diste nt tJhen sighted. At approxi.JrJately one <Jua:rtcr ( ~) 1ni1~ KE'! both dimmed our headlights,;; nd a t this tine I not iced a yelJo .. .rish H !-ht (about the same color es the headlight,s) slightly l righer t hm the L~"ld.dlights <nd about e i ght ( R) feet to the wes t of the approaching c.:'r . I estimate it at eight feet because it t.;as Hest of 'Lhe car by about tt~ice the distance center to cent,er betw?.en the cars h eadlights. 'l'hiG light w:-:~s pacing the ce~r, and I took it to be ( and it probably v;as) a transient re- flt'!c;t ton or stray light from the h eadlights. I couple of seconds later this stray light disappeared (that ssemed natural enough) , but about the s ame ti1ne I noti ce d o. dark bar like shado~-1 in the r eflection from t he wet pavement. This appe:ared to be about t,> .;enty ( 20) f eet ahead of the car and about b-1elve (12) to eighteen (1~) inches above the ground. ~gain it was p acing t.be c a r . I notic e d i t but it only :reeist.ered as a shadmv cast by something on the car. All of a sudden I became a'dare that the shadow had changed f rom a bar o r sb.ck slw.;>e to an oval s hope and that it 't-]as moving rapidly from a position in front. of his \-Tes t headlight cJ iagonally across in front of my c ar. The t Ho cars 't-Jere rrobably about three hundred ( 300) to four hundrerl ( L:00) feP-t vpart a t, t..his time. It also appeared to be rising slightly. J,b:lut this time I saw it quite distinctly for the first t illle . The picture la\S ver:r clc;>r , the ob,iect heing front lighted by my c ar--backlighted by t.he ol:J r car--and stron?, light being refl ected off the 't- et pave:rr.ent. The shape vas changing from ov3l to a fulle r circle and I r emamher the thought flashed t.l:rou~h my mind: Hhy there' s a big picnic din ner p late rolling to':-lards me . The color Has grey-white, and the rot.ating motion v1as very distinct. There is no doubt that the object vias rotating although at a fairly slow speed. (About like a heliocopte r turning up) . 11/hen the two cars were maybe a hundr e d fift.y ( 150) feet apart the t hing suddenly zipped at t errific spee d directly at my v7indshield . ame right up from just above the pavement . as it came ove r the hood i t Has a full circle, brilliant glor..Jing whi.te, and impressed rr:e as being a lot rr.ore solid than a picnic p late . I duc ke d and sr..1erved the c a r to t he right . As I ducked it seemed to change course, and I believe i t Hent off to the r j eht (east) at an angle of a bout seventy-five ( 75) or eighty (PO) degrees to the p ath of the c a r . This l ast is an impression only I can't .b e sure of tl-te path. I do knot<~ it. did not go over the top o f the car, or by the right side at the Hind ow level. Ny impression i s _that v:he n p::l.Cing t h e othe r c a r its diometer 'l-JCJS nearly p arallel or parall(~l lvith the ground (hence the stick or bn r shape). h'hen it. began to accelerate it ti~)ped this axis, hut in the opposite H:an::ar .fron a heliocopter getting underHay. It appe<~rc<l t o chmge t o a brilliant '<.hi.te as it carne through my headlights, and it' s di~.uneter v1as about vertical vith the ground rt~ben it changed course a n d missed me. ( Ar,ain I \:ant. to say tha t this brilliant white color may have bean a reflection at close :cane~ froT"' 8 very ~.rhite suTfoce) ~ I stopped, calmed rio:m a little, then drove on. tly first thoughts \:e't'a th,t it had be-::n a picnic plate or similar ob.iect. I felt that the transie:crt l;ght, th<:! dark bar shape, and the platB Plight rrally not hnve had any con!'lection except in my mm mind. The sudden shock of havinc; this thinv accelerRte right toward my Hindshield might have colorerl my rnemory. I analyzed it during the rest of the drive into Festus, ~everal hours that night and next rnorning. The angle of approach was not one v!hich could not be r econciled wi.th the l-Jind direction. Jf Lhe opoarent pacin~ of the oth<>r car h.:~d been an opticel illusion unconnected with t h e concrete objec t -vhicb crashect into 1re , the approach speed of the object. seemed freakish <-~nd j mprobable, but not impossible to explain by natural means. Th change in direction, h owever, uould be extremely difficult t0 explain. Considerinp, the speed I v1as going, the speed it v'as r,oinP,, the apparent collision cot!rse, and the nearness of the ob~ect lhen I ducked, I could not completely reconcile t hd facts ,:ith a blo'tling paper plete. It ,.as hood distance v;hen I d ucked; ri~ht over the radiator ornament; avoidance of collision Hould require more :Jpeed and maneuver s than the 1tind could eive :Lt. I finally decided to report the occurence, and did a te]ephone conversation 1-:ith A. S . Greider, Lt.., firmation and amplification of our con1ersation. Sincerely, 14 October 1?54 in The above is a con-