29 Mi W of Oceanside, Calif., February 1959February 1959

Insufficient Data

Summary

On February 27, 1959, two military pilots about 29 miles west of Oceanside, California, reported an object high in the sky. The sighting was about 10:45 a.m. (1845Z) and lasted up to about 10 minutes. The witnesses were two Marine Corps naval aviators flying F4D aircraft, who first detected the object on radar and then saw it.

The first pilot described a heart shaped, white-buff object resembling an F4D without a nose cone, with no trail or exhaust. It was the size of a dime held at arm's length and estimated to be above 60,000 feet. It appeared to hold its position without forward speed while the pilot circled. The second pilot described it as resembling a delta wing, white, that hung in the air and made no turns. The radar broke lock during the climbs.

The Air Force concluded the object was a balloon. The record card said an object at such high altitude without apparent forward speed was undoubtedly a weather balloon.

Reported location

29 Mi W of Oceanside, Calif., February 1959

Date of incident

February 1959

State / country

? / XX

Page count

5 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 35

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 5

View transcribed text

. rag .
ts PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD
1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
O Was Balloon
27 Feb 59 Mi W of Oceanside. Calif. Sa en |
"3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4 TYPE OF OBSERVATION Get ec |
0 Was Aircraft
LOH a ——————— O Ground-Visvel O Ground-Radar QO Probably Aircroft
OMT aL57 Ain Vi suol 0 Air-Intercept Radar O Possibly Aircraft |
5. PHOTOS JOUR O Was Astronomical
O Yes O Probably Astronomical
& Neo j Military O Possibly Astronomical
|
7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE 0 Othe moo :
~ snd Dete for Evaluation] -
10 mins one Stationary I
10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS
Heart-chaped, white-buff obj, size of dimk. Obj at such high alt without apparent
1 First seen on radar, then visually. ObJ forward speed was undoubtedly a weather
estinuted to be apr 60,000 Feet altitude. balloon.
ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52)
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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28982075