38.44N 44.45W Atlantic Ocean, October 1961October 1961

On October 21, 1961, a U.S. Air Force C-97 transport plane was flying over the Atlantic Ocean when its crew spotted an unusual object. The aircraft was at 8,000 feet altitude near coordinates 38.44 degrees north, 44.45 degrees west, traveling on a heading of 297 degrees magnetic. At 0722 Greenwich Mean Time, an object about one-quarter the width of a finger appeared to the crew's right side, roughly 45 degrees above the horizon. It was accompanied by a very bright, very white flash.

The object moved at extremely high speed in an arc across the sky, disappearing from view about two minutes later in the direction of eleven o'clock. The bright part of the sighting lasted roughly one second, but a luminous streak remained visible for about one and one-quarter seconds. The sky was clear with thin high clouds, visibility was unlimited, and it was dark outside. About two minutes after the first sighting, a much fainter object with a yellowish color repeated the same path across the sky.

The observer acknowledged that the object might have been a meteor, but felt puzzled by how extremely bright it appeared. The Air Force investigators noted in their summary that meteors can indeed be very bright, which may account for the sighting. The file indicates the case was evaluated as unknown, though the specific reasoning for that conclusion is not fully explained in the available pages.

The complete case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives across 13 pages.