PROJECT 10073 ::O:ECO~O 3. SOURCE 10. CONCLUSION Civilian ~ Hil i tary Astre(meteor) ~ 4. NUMBER OF OBJECTS s. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 11. BRIEF SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS tet'l secends T.YPE OF P.BS:?.VATION r..AciLr ~ Ground Visual 8. PtiOTOS 9. PHYSICAL EVIOE~CE loiany gbserv~r~ r,..port.ed or-.tnge-yellow object of :suffic- ient b~illianc~ t.o li,~ht the ~re~ with a glow. One witness sa)d that. this w-s the largest mete~r he has ever seen. Object start~d off as a ball, turned t a str~e...":l and d ipp~d b~itind the horizn. . FTO 5EP ~3 0-329 (iDe) PNloa dlUOf\ ot IN toea be u" In the following sketch, imagine that you ore at the point shown. Place an "A" on the curved I ine to show how the obiect was above the horizon (skyline) when you lirst saw it. Place a "B" on the same curved line to show how high the obiect was above the horizon (skyline) when you last saw it. Place on ''-A" on the compass when you lirst saw it. Place a ''B" on the compass where you last sow the obiect. 28. Oraw a picture that will show the motion that the obiect or obiects rnade. Place on "A" at the beginning of the ' B" at the end of the path, end show any changes in direction during the course. 29. IF there was MORE THAN ONE oSject, then how mony were there? ----------- Draw o picture of how they were arranged, an.:f put an arrow to show the direction that they were traveling. 30. Hove you ever seen this, oro similar object before. If so give date or dates and location. 31. Was anyone else with you at the. time you so~ the object? (Circle One} 31.1 IF you answered YES, did they see the object too? (Circle One} 31.2 Please list their names and addresses: 32. Please give the following information about yourself: TELEPHONE NUMBE Indicate any additional information about yourself, including any special experience, which might be pertinent. 33. When and to whom did you report that you had seen the object? Day Month Year 34. Date you completed this questionnaire: 35. Information which you f .. l pertinent and which is not adequately covered in th. questionnaire or a narrative exP.Ianatlon of your sighting. lc polnta of the F'TD (TD:&rR) Wright-Patterson AFB 19 September l9o6 lvania 19115 Reference your unidentified obser ation of 17 September 1966. The inforuaation which we have received is not sufficient for evaluation. Request you compl.ete the attached F'rD Fo1m 1.64 and return it in the envelope provided. We wish to thank you for reporting your observation to the Air Force. Sincerely, LtVtLANO , '"Tilt.J I L.. LCVCLANO 4, OHIO FIR!!:BALL REPORT 2. Between Yellow Springs & Clifton, Ohio in Clark County (in John 3 17 September 1966, approximately 2000 hours ES'r 4 .. 5. Object seen in northern hemisphere traveling from the eRst to the west. Using Polaris as a reference, object traveling from the east did not quite reach Polaris but to about 100 of Polaris. Arc traveled was about 20 (ie, from 300 enst to about 10 east) 6. :Ieight of obaect, a:;>parently traveling slightly do1-mward noted to be 30 to 40 above the horizon. 7. Height did not change appreciably vrhen object disappeared, about 10. It did not pass overne8d, but w-an 30 to 1t-0 above the horizon or 10. It did not reach e horizon. Horizon wns clear since ahead were ope~ fields and the c~:? is relatively flat to the north from point or observation. 11. ~e flight path a~gle is estimated at 10 to the horizon. 12. T~e low angle of observation can only be relnted to Polaris as noted. :ro explosion. Flis~t duration -approximately four seconds !;0 t.::-ain was le~"t.. or at least noted. The brilliance of the basic ~=~Y g low ,..,as so ;srea t that a small trail would not be noticeable. glo~ disappeared nothing was noted in the sky as remains or 16. Iio!:e noted. Color orange-yel loH, of sufficient brilliance t o light the r-nea Hi th 19. The largest over observed. Other meteors noted to be th~ size of walnuts, this nppeared to b~ o.bout the size of a. srnnll grapefruit held at five feet. 'l'hc.! moon, by the sn.me comp:nison, wouln be about 2 -4 time~ larger 20. Only one body was Deen, no explosion. 21. 3ky was very dear. Also, about 17 boy scouts. ltl~l.'l TO DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE HEADQUAPITEPIS f'OPIEION TECHNOLOGY DIVISION CA,.SC) WPtiOHTPATTERSON AIPt FORCE BASK. OHIO 45433 TDEER/V. D. Bryant/mJb/70401/6 Oct 66 Evaluation of 17 $eptember .66 UFO Sighting TOa TD:::T~ 1. There is insufficient information pertaining to the rad.:::.r sighting to allo'"' a detailed evaluation t o be made. How~ver, in view of the fact that the time of t his sighting (~hich appears to b e an approximation) is given as OlOOZ, a n .:i the large meteor sighting in the Michigan area (seen in a Je r of northeastern states) occurred at 00h5Z, a logica l ass.:nption can be rr~ade that the two occurrences are one and the a:tme. 2 . I.,~any articles have been written confirmins the fact that missiles, meteors, etc., frequently leave a n ionized path or wake which h~s n very large radar echo ar eu, and hence wot:.!.C: provide a size~t::.e rada r return. This ionized cloud may ~aic: been the target(-:.) which were seen to rise from 75000 to 85000 ft. on the heig finder. JE.RJ.~ J s, Colo!1'2l, ~ec o. s Directo rate Dep\l-cy for Technolog;-, e.nd Subsystems FTD WORK. ORDER 1. Description of Work: (Include title of unscheduled tasks.) TITLE: UFO REPORT (RADAR) 18 SEP 66 Re~est analysis as to the probable cause of the unidentified radar ~eturns. a. Extensive Analysis See the attached unclassified message from Sault Ste Marie AFS, Hi~higan 753-QOP 09:) 9/66, subject: UFO. Additional iufo!"z~tion on radar will follow under separate cover. 18. Div. Chiefs Instructions I Modification or Expansion of Work Description 5. DIA Tas No. . I A Priority 8. Consequence Co e assa acateon o All Source lO.Ciassification of End Product ..... ...... classified 11. PPTD or qep Sig. I 12. Div./ Dir. Symbol 13. M-H Estimate 14. Monitor 1 15. Phones I 16. Div. Precedence 17. Div.Chief/Dir. Sig.l THE GREAT FIREBALL of 1966 SEPTEMBER 17 On this date n rcmnrkoble fireball or bolide appeared at about 7 :52 p.m., E .S. T . It wa~ seen from a!' far west as Wisconsin, cast for m01ny plnces in New York, Pennsylvania <~nd Canndn, and the light of the explosion(?) as far so:.&th as Roanoke, Va., though from there the body was below the horizon. Its brilliancy was excessively great and it left a long enduring train visible from considerable distances. One of our very active A.M.S. members, Wm. Werner, Wooster, Ohio, obscrved it and at once began gathering reports. Later reports from Sky and Telescope, Wright- Patterson A .F.B., Adler Planetarium, and other institutions. as well O!l from rnany individunls, arrived. To all who reported we arc most grateful. Perhaps the total was 70. At first glance, it appee1red that for once almost a perfect solution could b e obtained, as R number plotted the path on A .M.S. charts and others drew diagrams with respect to stars. However, when ~he azimuth lines were plotted on the usual regional chart for beginning point and for end point, immedi:ttcly it appeared that there were serious errors in some reports. The fact that it was not fully dark in most arc&s made plotting difficult. To be brief, during the following months, no less than four complete diagrams were prepared and much work done on solutions which further dota and study proved incorrect. The solution here given is the bes t that the writer can derive from the data in his hands. Four Canadian reports came, one only giving usable data for both begin- ning and end heights. As the body began over southwestern Onta rio, this lack of more compkte reports was serious. Had all the plotted paths been correct, even approximately, when replotted on a single chart, their projectio n s would h ave given the radiant. With this derived, the rest woulc have been much easier. But the many plots did not give even an approximate radiant. Hence the solution had to depend entirely on reported azimuths and altitudes. Eventually the most probable sub-beginning point and sub-end point were fixed. Next the observed altitudes, corrected for curvature, gave n series of heights for the beginning and end points. It is notorious that most observers tend to overestimate altitudes fo: 30 o:-over. Hence those of 35 or more are practically useless, so discarding a few such a~titude", the beginning height was 141 27 km., end height ~4 21 km. In addition . the=-e were 9 points scattered nlong the path, mostly about :~idway, which very roughly !i<&Vc 84 km. This probably is the point at which the farcball flared to greatest brilliancy. Th~ projected path wns 204 km long, the true pnth 226 km. 7hc fireball was very brillic:.:1:. T~c m ean of 8 numerical estimates is -14~ another said orishter than m idday Sun. c~e brighter than full Moon, several that landscape was ~ri~ht as day, others tha~ s:-:ado ... :s were cast . For what it is worth, the mean of 14 estir.1ates of diameter is 1 S : ethers merely state it had a disk. A long-enduring train is =nentioned by 24. The d u ratior. given is very variable, the longest being 20 to 30 minutes , o :1d a;:>parent length 30. it was probably orange in color. The observers when writing eir r eports evidently had ;reat difficulty in separating color of fireball from that of t:ain. For those not affectec by great atmospheric absorption it was blue-white, but at exp:osion or flareup a ceciced green. As said, this latter was so intense as to be seen o,. in northern sky from so~::-.westcrn Virginia. It is a pity nobody reported the drift o: the t:ain. The duration cf f.i~ht, leaving out 5 estimates of under 2 sec., but based o n 36 o~!-.ers from 2 sec. to one of 15 sec. was 5.35 2. 77 sec. Hence observed velocity was 42.3 km/sec or corrected fo: Ea:th's attraction 40.8 km/sec. As in this case the helio- c~ntric vdocity is greater than the geocentric, we could conclude that the orbit was ~'lj';>.::~o:ic. Due, however, to t:, e large probable error in the duration, only the parabolic 0:-o:t i!. ca:culated. As t o ... vhet:.er there was an actual explosion, about an equal number :!!:>~ed yes and no. Ex;>losi~n or not, at some distance from beginning point there was a s:..:::.e:-. t,:-!at increase . .in briiiiancy. Numerical data and elements of the parabolic orbit He as Attacl\:ed A meteorite lightened skies over much of the eastern p<ut of the nation tonight, and a flaming chunk fell off and dtopped into a soybean field near . . ~farion, I nrl. The m eteorite prom pte d floods of fPlephon'! cetJls to police n~ It streaked ac-r,Jss skies from N e w Yoak to IJli- There were reports it Cell to f'BJ'th In rough country ne~r Huntsville, Ont. l\lichigan Gov. Genr~e Rom- n ey , who was flying In his private plnne t o St. Clair, Milh ., said t he meteorite cam e close 1o his cralt and li.;hted till! sky as "bright as "\Ve tho ught w e were under attack," Romney sa.id. Hu:~dreds of people t!lrough- ~e northern part of the M jami valley flooded the sw: rchboard:s of newspaper of- fices and police and sheriff's d "';,artments with calls that the .. had seen a bright object in the northeast skjes. JT WAS a tremendous thing,'' said George Otto, 2168 F i n 1 a n d Dr., Dayton. "I t houiht it may have been a n0:;e cone and I was ready to Ot:.o d<?scrlhed the object as g r,_n then fading out into yel- 'T\e seen a Jot of meteors,' ~aid another caller, ''but I've nP\'t-r sPe n anything lil<e that JO~};PH 1\JOORE, 112 Eh- onr Lane, ~aid he was dl'iv- in., e ast on Patter'SOn Rd. w h en he saw somethlng ''light up and filii at about a 4s.de- grt'e angle. It had a tail about 1.000 lf'et long. At rirst it WAS creenish blue, then htmPd to a greenish red and . finally wa~ all red and orange when it dls&PfJeared. '' 'fhe object wa~ sighted around 7:4;; p.m. Many call- ers said they thought a plane had crashed. ~len from \Vright-Patt~rson Ait .ftorce base we-re detailed b) search ~me ot the coun- ti(l'~ to thtt north atter r~ JlOl"t~ that fragments may hav~ lancl~d. said they had no information on the object. "From its h eight and the distance it covered. it ap- pea~ fo be a meteor," said the U .S. WPf\thc-ar hureRu GO. Sf'l'\'Pr <tt the Greater Pit1s- burgh ajrport. A rrt l'Onc~<; o c f i c e r s at Wdght-Pa tterson Air Joorce base said they had received several calls from a rea resi- d ents about the object but rle- clined to say where they. be- lieved it originated . The FAA said the bright Jight was seen by several air- line pilo ts. Burning fragments plunked down in a farm field near the tiny town of Sweester, Ind., where witnesses said they burne d se\reraJ . minutes be- fore flickering out. ONE R f; P 0 R T said th@ lragrnents "were big as a In Ca ro, 1\Iic h ., a d eputy