PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD I. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS 0 Was Balloe" 3. DATETIMI G-OUft ._ TYP! 0, OIS!RVATION D Possibly Bolloon 0 Cround-Visuol xa GroundRoclor D Was Aircroft D Proltaltly Aircraft S. PHOTOS I. SOURCE 0 Was Astronafft1 col XD Y h! i 1 it a l~y 0 Prohall., Astrono,..ical 0 No 0 Possibly Astrono,..ical 7. lENGTH 0, OISERVATION I. NUMBER OF OBJECTS 9. COURSE :o-~ Other .fa 1 ~;l Q 1.'2 tu 1 n S 0 lr"uffi ci ent Date for Evaluation 0 Unlcno.., not given one down 10. BRIEfl SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS Radar pickod nptar~et 1 5 miles l o n g and 10 miles wide .. Civil air- planes were unable to pick u p target. Lacking any visual oiJservation of s o hu~re a n object, it must be considered a false return .. ATIC J'ORM 329 CRP.V 26 S~P 52) _ . _ CPS 001 L FOR C I C S TEVJA RT A FB NF:tJBURGH. ~':'LOCATE M-126, 22 NOVF.tvlBSR 57, OBSERVATION TI11:;:s FROt~ 21 NCV[~lBER 57 06~02 TO 08502 OR 00Z1 TC 025;0 CE:NTPAL STP.t,!DARD TIME:. WILLIAM H STUCD SECOND LT UNITED STATES AIR FORCE ,\0 3 ~S5S19 OF 657 AC FT CONTRCL AND HARNI NG SQ UAfJRON NA Dt.: DU::. 03SERVAT.ION. THE GEO REF OT THIS STATICN IF FJQ 334.ti. STAFF SERGEANT SHE:NKL?BURG, AIR FORCE SPECIP.LITY CODE 2735Z, STAFF S~RGZA1~T STE~JART, AIR FORCE SPECIP.LITY CODE 27350 AND hiRtJAN FIRST CLASS HR ICHT, AIR FORCE S Pi::C lP.L ITY C CDE 273 5Z. ALL OEs:::RVi.D THIS TRACK SERGE:ANT SHE.NKLEBURGS EXPERIENC 5 YEARS, SERGEANTS STEWARTS ZXPERIENCE 4 YEARS AND AIR11AN WRIGHTS XPRI~.NCE 2 A~!D 1 HALF Y~ARs. 11 FROt~ THIS STATICN VISUALLY OBSLRVED "!liE TARGET. NO KNC~JN VISUAL OBSERVATIONS t-JERE 11ADE BY ANYONE . SCOPE PHOTOS WERE TAKEN WITH A PICTUR~ BEING TAKEN EVERY 15 MINUTES DUE TO TARGETS LOW SPEED. THE FIS WILL BE FCR~ARDED AT A LATER DATE. THE TRACK NUMBER WAS QD59. THE TARGET HAD A SPEED 55 l\NOTs THS TOP OF HEIGHT RANGE INDICATOR INDICATION ~lAS 16, 020 f~ET A~D THE AVERAGE BEING 12, 00 FEET. SEE REMARKS SECTION. . 0 ACFT {ifERZ SCRAMBLED CN THIS TRACK. CIVIL AERONAUTICS .. ~:; .. At~iiN IS TRATI ON HAD BEEN NOT IF lED OF THE SITUATION ADN 2 COI~f~Rc IAL , .... AIRLINiRS PASSING 35 NILES NORTH OF THE TRACl< S EARCHED OV::R IT Or~ TH: IR RAD~R EQU IP!-'lENT WITH NF.GATIVE RESULTS IT SHOULD BE CONSIDERED TE AT T H IS tl As AT A T I E T;JH EN T H r: TRACK tv AS 0 N L Y 3 /J M I L ' S F R 0 t1 TEIS STATICN AND IT HAt BECOi''lE VERY ~1EAK AND WAS BEGI~NIKG TO FADE INTO THr: GROUt\D C LUTTE:R. IT ALS 0 HAS AT A ~1UCH LO~JER ALTITUDE AT THIS TIME. WE FIRST PICKED 'up THIS TARGET I TALKED TO BOTH SHCRTliORN (747 AIRCRAFT CONTROL AND WARNII~G SQUADRON) AND GOATEE (653 AIRCRAFT CONTROL AND WARNING SQUADRON). THEY BOTH HAD RADAR CONTACT AND BOTH ASSUt1ED TO BE WEATHER. I DID NOT BECOME CONCERNED WITH THE TRACK UNTIL WE HAD OBSERVED IT FOR A ~{ILE AND IT HAD MOVED ABOUT 40 MILES TOtlARDS THIS STATION. AT THIS TIM~ BOTH THE OTH~R SITES HAD LOST CONTACT WITH IT DUE TO RA~lG~. LIEUTENANT BSCK WAS ON DUTY AT 747 AIRCRAFT CONTROL AND WARNING SQUADRON AND LT CAHILL AT 553 AIRCRAFT CONTROL AND WARNING SQUADROtJ. THE TARGET WAS OBSERVED ON MPS-7 AND MPS-14 RADAR EQUIPMENT THE .SEARCH SCOP!:S t~ERE UPA-35 AND OA-175. PAC THHEE THE HEIGHT RANGE SCOPE tifAS OA-27~. NO MAINTFNANC DIFFICULTIE:s HAD BEEN LNCOl:NTE.RED R::CENTLY. A THYRATERCN TYPE MOVULATOR IS USED I~ BOTH SETS. THE AUTOMATIC FREQUENCY RADAR CONTROL CIRCUIT . t~JA.S-OP..ERA T.I.NG .EB..QEERt.Y._ .JJilS ....S..IA!.l..Cill_.~.P..~Rl_c:NCI:..~. J}LS-JJ..:SU~J~. _I_t\rJ':R ) N.r~ . .F: ENCOUNTERED IN RADAR A~ID ALL PERSON~ELL ARE FAMILIAR WITH IT. ALL PERSONNEL ARE FAMILIAR tvlTH AP ON TH:S EQUIP~1ENT USED. TilER WAS NO AP EXTENDI~G THE GROUND CLUTTER AT THE TIMS OF THE 03SERVAT l ON THE TARGET i;JAS iJUC H LARGER TI-tAN NOR~;AL._JRA.~-~1-C..- PJiDJ\R RETURt~S. T;JHEN FIRST OBSERVED IT HAS! 10. t1ILEs - IN D !A METER) AND AS IT APPROI\CH[D THIS STATIO!~ IT ELO~lGAI'E.n,---BF.COr1!N'C"-t5 ---~ I1ILES LOtJG AND 10 Mil.ES WIDE. NO OTHER TARGETS WERE OBSERVED N::AR THIS ONE. I INTERROGAT:D 10DETEL CN ItENTIF'ICATION FRIEND OR FOE LOOKit\G FOR STRATEGIC AIR C0~1t1AND AIRCftAFT ~JITH NEGATIVE RESULTs.PLP.NN!:D POSITICN INDICATOR TYPE SCOPES HERE USED GIVING A STRO G SIGNAL AT FIRsT. TO BETTER OBSERVE TH~: TARGET I OFF CENTERED AND EXPANDED OUT A UPA-3 TO A RANGE CF 50 MILES. THE SIGNAL lJJAS LIGHT YELLOl.J IN ITS ENTIRE AREA lvlTH GROUPS OF S~ALL INTENSE SPOTS. THE SIGNAL BECAME WEAKER WHEN IT REAC}{ED LA~D AND IN THE END BEFORE IT FADED IN THE GROUND CLUTTER THE SIGNAL WAS NOTHI~G BUT A GROUP OF SMALL !~TENSE SPOTS. A SCAN RATE OF 5 REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE WAS USED. T}lE FREQUENCE OF THE SEARCH WAS 1295 MEGACYCLES AND THE RANGE I~DICATOR 2785 MEGACYCLES REMARKS: THE REASONS FOR MY COtJCERN O~l THIS TRACK WERE (l) IT SEErlt:D UNLIKELY THAT THIS v1AS tvEATHER MOVING SO FAST AND ALL STATIONS WERE FOLLOWING CLEAR WEATHER, (2) THE POSSIBILITY OF CHAFF ~lAS CO~SIDERED BUT THE HEIGHT RANGE INDICATCR INDICATICN ~-lAS' .11, Jl. FEET LONG AND 1a MILES WIDE MAKING. IT SEEM r UNLI~l.Y _I,O_ Bi_C.HAFF_.J_URTHERMCRE, CHAFF SUREl.Y WOULD_ HA'lE.. DlS.2t::RSED -.. - -... -.... l NOR IN THE DISTANCE: .IT TR.~VELLED UNDER OBSERVATION. : AN OTHER UNUSUAL FACT WAS THAT IT STEADILY DECREASED IN ALTITUDE c: ENDING UP AT ABOUT 3 0 FEET BEFORE IT FADED. IT ALSO SLOtJED TO 3~ KNOTS UPON REACHING LAND. 3 HOURS AFTER TH[ TRACK HAD FADED IT HAS DISCOVERED THAT THE CURVATURE OF EARTH CORRECTION ON DU2 HEIGHT RANGE INDICATOR WAS NOT FUNCTIO~l!NG PROPERLY THIS ~1AKES OUR ALTITUDES IN ERROR. THE ERROR I NCREASED ITH RANGE. BY EXPERIMENTATICtJ I FOUND THE ERROR TO BE 15, 000 FEET AT THE RJ\NG OF INITIAL PLOT THEREFORE, THE I NITIAL RANGE MUST HAVE BEEN 31, 000 FEET INSTEAD OF 16, 000 FEET~ THE ALTITUDES CLOSER IN THE STATICtJ ARE SUFFICIENTLY.ACCURATE SECURiTY CLASS&F&CATJON W tOf) UFO Report T57-3l737 l:H ASSIFIEID ,ro AFCIN-4E4 DAlE 17 Dec 57 COMMENT NO.1 AFCIN-4Ela/V. D. Bryant/jc :~ :,::\:l e~The subject. report, submitted by .657 .ACTrlRON, Honm, Alabama, refers to a target'-"15 miles long and 10 miles wide". Lackins any visual observation of so huge a~ , and inability of airborne rad..ars to pick up the target (while searching the :.area ... tor it) at 35 miles, it must be considered a.s obviously a false return tbi!''.' . ~y. ,Just .wbat cans~ th:i.s false return is not known, and while the weather n~."~ilOtSnove f'ast~.::the ~results of such weather. changes frequently do move at h~;ra~s of speed ~due to reflections, and the angles at vhich the.signals retleeted. Returns. such as the one under discussion usually are about by some weather condition. The fact that no aircraft were tor: such:an unusual target: indicates there must have been com.Pelling doubts in targets. minds 'ot. the. operatiDg personnel as.to .the authenticity of the subject HOFF! .fAN ~Colonel, USAF. REft.AClS NME FORM M, I OCI a. 'NH1Q( MAY U USED.