20 Mi E of Richmond, VA., January 1959January 1959

Insufficient Data

Summary

On January 22, 1959, a civilian about 20 miles east of Richmond, Virginia, reported lights in the sky. The sighting was about 8:45 p.m. local time (0145 GMT) and the lights were in sight about 30 minutes. The witness, a student, was driving on Highway 60.

He described three white objects and one orange object that appeared as light clusters in a triangular shape, each no bigger than a dime held at arm's length. The first two white lights traveled side by side. The orange light joined up, then broke off. The white objects moved north to south, stopped, then went west; the orange object paralleled them and disappeared. A fourth white light appeared from the north and seemed to intercept the other white lights before all faded out.

The Air Force concluded the objects were probably aircraft. The record card said they were probably lights of high altitude aircraft on a refueling or intercept mission.

Reported location

20 Mi E of Richmond, VA., January 1959

Date of incident

January 1959

State / country

? / XX

Page count

4 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 35

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 4

View transcribed text

tis ag PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD Ae
1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
O Was Balloon |
22 Jen 59 20 Mi E of Richmond, VA - iy +14 nm |
3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION SR |
O Wes Aircraft |
oMr__23/01452 01457 a 0 AirVisvol O Air-Intercept Rader | Possibly Aircraft |
S. DTC OUR O Was Astronomical
O Yes O Probably Astronomical
ONe A Civilian 0 Possibly Astronomicel
7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE ER VERTRR—,
8 wi co Dete for Evaluation
nown
0 min L Varied :
BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS :
Three white objs, 1 orange obj. .ppecred Probably lights of high alt
| as light clusters in a triangular shape, no a/c on a refueling or intercept
bigger than a dime, First two white lights mission,
traveled side by side. Orange light joined
up, then broke off, Fourth light seemed to
intercept other thite lights.
. . i
ATIC FORM 339 (REV 26 SEP $2)
A
. . ;
.
s
REE PR a ta A SRR bi as Sleds is Sy

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28981767