2 Mi N Of Collins, MissouriSeptember 1958

Insufficient Data

Summary

On September 13, 1958, two U.S. Air Force Reserve pilots near Collins, Missouri, spotted an unusual object in the sky. The men were flying near Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base when they caught sight of something bright moving across the horizon. What they saw lasted only about ten seconds.

The object appeared as a greenish-blue flame that changed to white as it moved. To the pilots, it looked roughly the size of a volleyball held at arm's length. The object was traveling from north to south and disappeared from view after a brief moment. The pilots estimated the object was flying between 15,000 and 20,000 feet in altitude.

The Air Force investigated the sighting and initially recorded their conclusion as "unknown." However, the case file notes that the object's color, trajectory, how long it was visible, and its apparent speed all suggest the pilots likely saw a meteor, a rock from space that burns up as it enters Earth's atmosphere. The file preserves the pilots' account and the Air Force's analysis without confirming a final conclusion.

The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, consisting of 7 pages.

Reported location

2 Mi N Of Collins, Missouri

Date of incident

September 1958

State / country

MO / US

Page count

7 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 33

¢ ‘ PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD I. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS . D Was Balloon : 13 a embe 8 ‘ \ le : a - . {0 Probably Balloon 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4 TYPE OF OBSERVATION © Possiniy Suileon ODO Was Aircraft SOI cio ama —— RGround- Visual O Ground-Rader QO Probably Aircraft GMT, 13/1138Z Q Air Visual O Air-Intercept Rader O Possibly Aireroft S. ‘PHOTOS u TX Was Astronomical .[ LEOr Q Yes - Atva-c44 bad ens XX No vilitary : ossibly Astronemic 7. LENGTH OF.OBSERVATION 6. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE J ORS —— : O Insufficient Deta for Evaluction O Unknown : § S ) » ? T - " 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS Greenish blue flame, changing to whit: Color, trajectory, duration size of volley bali, of sighting, and apparent speed all point toward this obj being & meteor, ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 82) i | E [] :