10 Mi NW Of Palmdale, Calif, November 1958November 1958

Insufficient Data

Summary

In November 1958, an observer near Palmdale, California, about ten miles northwest of the city, reported seeing a bright spherical object that resembled magnesium in color. The object gave off a fluorescent flash and then descended in a nearly vertical path. The sighting occurred during daylight hours, though the exact time is difficult to determine from the available case file text due to OCR degradation.

An Air Force investigation quickly followed. The Air Force contacted Edwards Air Force Base and George Air Force Base in California to determine if either facility was conducting any operation that could explain the sighting. Both bases reported they had no active operations at the time that would account for what the observer had seen. The investigating officer also confirmed with the reporter that he was facing forward when the flash occurred and that the object's elevation was above the cloud cover at the time.

The case file includes internal Air Force correspondence requesting specific details about the sighting and the investigative findings from the two bases. However, the OCR text becomes increasingly difficult to read in the later pages, making it challenging to extract a clear final conclusion from the available documentation.

The Air Force's official evaluation of this case was listed as "unknown." The full case file, comprising 8 pages of documents held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.

Reported location

10 Mi NW Of Palmdale, Calif, November 1958

Date of incident

November 1958

State / country

? / XX

Page count

8 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 34

| 5 PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD ny ————— 4 , 1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS | : 3B § 7 4 3 0 Was Balloon t 24 i Mowvempa ll Ax 15 AD Gin ee May, RY Bt. gra ntdale Co tij0 Probably Balloon a a ee Pa) TE RAEI Cee SA Eo art 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION D Possibly Balloon g 0 Was Aircraft 2 i Boegle - oT ER IR lah Sed 0 Ground- Visual O Ground-Radar 0 Probably Aircraft GMT abl woe ee SO Air Visual 0 Air-Intercept Radar DO Possibly Aircraft 5. PHOTOS TTtOURGE FT EI O Was Astronomical O Yes O Prabably Astronomical a No CSE RIE TEEN DO Possibly Astronomical : ~ {38 & Ab HSA ; 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS 9. COURSE 0. Other—— sv 0 Insufficient Data for Evaluation a3 : Fs al 0 Unknown Foy SEG Onads One £a11ing 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS Sonherical obj, white like magne ium, | Qhsgrver sighted flare, Contact size Of pd, gave filnoraascent flash, w/Ldwards & George AFB failed descend. su vertica 1 3 SHY bo roveal oT isin, UB i however was a flare yf soma SOTL, ATIC FORM 329 (REV 28 SEP 52) 1 FS a Lan SL RHR A pod i SHEET rap ha afd a 24 ot Lama 6 ad in Rea SRL Hie A) ASIN