PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD 12. CONCLUSIONS 3. OA.TITIM! GROUII' Local dawn 0 Was Balloon ~!!:! ---------1 0 Probably Balloon ~ 0 Poui Oly Balloon -G -'VI I 0 GrondRoclar 0 Waa Aircraft .._ roun. "a .. llX Probably Aircraft ========== a Ai,.. V_l.,_al o_A_Ir ln_to_r_cep...;_t_R_a_ll , 0 Possibly Aircraft 0 Woa Ash'Onomicol Yea 0 ProbaWy Astronomical ~ C i vi 1 ian a Possibly Astronomical 7. LIHO'nt Ofl OISIRVATION I. HUMI!R 0,. OIJ!c:TS 9. COURS! 0 Othor:---=--~-=-~-- a lnaufflciont Data for Evolwotlon a Unlcnown IRIIfl SUMMARY OP SIGHTING R p t of s t r a n 6 ~ a, 'c w,. a e r i a 1 s abo u t sh~pe & st~e o f stratn-cruis~r. O er A'I'IC POUI 121 (IIZV 21 IU' 12) 11. COMMeNTS Ol1servntion of one of the new WR-2 type a/c w/radar s~arch aer i~ ls. A/ C l!as saae general configuration as a strnto-cruise :1rigi. t-Patte rso r Day ton, Oh ic Ge ntl e:nen : Air Force Bc;se After spendin~ U. e night of January 3rd at t r e Sleepy Hollow Motel in Mankato, Kan~A~, my wife and I 1otored east on Highw~y 36. I started out wi tr t l e headligt ts on but switched t o tt~ park- i.ng liEr,hts after a few mil';s. We were driving at a:1proximately 60 miles per hour wren my wife said, "\-lhat isthat ?" and motioned to tte rig:t. To sa)' I was surprised at what I saw woulc be an understater.tent. At about h5 degrees to tr.e r igr:t a nd at a distance ~ t l our,r.t tc ce less than a r.ile trere w~ s an airplane a~d a large one, Possibly a stratc cr1; iser. It appeared to be in flight not f a r above t r e ~ori?-on, and I was afraid it would lar.d before we got to a -point wt re we could take a good picture, acd we creve ~ossibly 3/h or ~ m:le befor-e stcppim:; on top of a low ~Ira~ w?.s sc astound ng: ~bout t i ::.s pl::n~ was its appearance. I t was entirely a l~ninvas r i n color a nd tle outline of its forr t wa s clear. ~iendir.;.; abov~J t , ~ cockpit tc a d is- tr~ ce e qual tot: at .. :-c.rr. t l ~ CL.~kpit tc tt,e nose of tre ~:!.?:-19 wr s .?!1 aeriaj wi -.; a wl ~te ligrt at tt.e top. Tr.e aerial WCJ~ ~c: rsd or lum:..~ 0 1..45 but its form was c learly outli ne d . -,.~;-ec: we steeped we cc. .tld see t h.::t t!-e plane wa s not. fly ir.g Jt. wa~ stAt ion a ry a 'cove t : e l:orizon. t . e point wra:-e we first saw ti-e plane a nd ...,here we stonoed !ny wife had b~er. adjust iCJt:-; tr. e camera for a picture. As we stopped sre lo~1ered t . e w i r1dow anrl got t l e t-3 r~et cer,tered wi en s Le s a ici, " I've e-ot tr i s ad.jtJsted for a moving obj~c t s c I'd better reRdjust it.n rfr ile s he was de. ing t l. i~ I s aw t bat anotrH~r aerial extendd up hal f way frc:m t r e cocknit t c tl.e tail but was not l i ghted a t i t s tip SPfore s!.e could get her c amera focused again I saw tt.at t Le nose of t r H plnne wa s disar'oea rin~ and tol e her to hurry or sl:e would be too late tc get a pictur~. She lc:-ok . .'d an'J rais~d tr.e camera but didn't tat e t he picture as tl.e pl~me w<"s d) sappearing in a :. irregular line and continued to d o so back t~rot1qh t he cockpit anrl ~ naJly tttro~Kh tte tail until all tt at was left was t be white light of t he aerial whict' srowed for a few moments and then was gone. The sky wes clouded i n t hat. direction a nd only two lines o+' ligrt frorrt r e sun could be seer! after t : e pl~ne d isappeared. One was in line wit: t he spot wrere t he plane had been a nd ti'e oth: r farther abov t he horizon. The t:me lapse f rom ~h~n we rirst sig l ted i t until it dis- appeared was several minutes, possibly rive. wrat w::s tris phenomenon? wr~t caus d i:? Are trer~ nlanes ir. exist e-:ce to~hich have aerials s imilar tc. t~e ones ~entioned? r~ wrat we saw ~as t e image of a plane wler e w~ s tre original lee at ~d? Fc:w:: .. c . .i rsce.:.ved F.l!":j' reports from otf1ars "1t:o saw tt:is object ? Tta Y' U for any i~fcr aticn. Raspactfully, fh1a 1a to aclmovle<lp and thank :10" tor ~ l.fttAr ~ 20 1958 to Wriibt-Patterson At r Porce Ob1 o aD m1 dftDt1r1ecl 1'l.y1ns fte ;you probabq one or tl:e .., aircnrt wa-2. This ail~ ..... baa tbe -..-nl configura.tlcm or a atrato-cruiser .. .aticmecl1D ~letter. ,acr 1Dfortat101'l illn3tratiou or th1a eype a.1rcra:tt are , toget'wr vl th latest o~ DdeDae Pact Sheet on this , datecl 5 ~ ~ar )'OUZ" interest 1D t;b1 a subJect. I,A10WJC1 J. 'J'N:It<R MaJor, USA7 ~ve Ot:t1cer P\tb11 c D1 vision otn.ce ~ Information Service a VCCliiP!BACK-SAFIS-3 READER-S:~S-1 STAYBACK-SAFIS-3