3853N 7951W ELKINS, W. VA, March 1961March 1961

Insufficient Data

Summary

On March 14, 1961, an observer in an aircraft reported a dark object near 38 degrees 53 minutes north, 79 degrees 51 minutes west, in the area of Elkins. The object had an orange tail. It was about the size of an F-86 or F-94 and about 15 feet long. The observer's aircraft was heading 268 degrees.

On Project 10073, the Air Force's official record for unidentified flying object reports, the conclusion was probably astronomical. The comments said the object had all the characteristics of a meteor, and there was no evidence to indicate otherwise.

Reported location

3853N 7951W ELKINS, W. VA, March 1961

Date of incident

March 1961

State / country

? / XX

Page count

4 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 41

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 4

View transcribed text

PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD
1 I. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS :
: 0 Wos Ball
14 Mar 61 3853N  7951W ELK IN, ifA |{D Probably Balloon
3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION lll tlil fovons oi |
RR RY O Ground- Visual O Ground-Radar a Probabl y Aircraft
] ET Tey n 8 AirVisval QO Air-interc2pt Radar O Possibly Aircraft
| |sProtos . SOURCE 0 Was Astronomical MeTeai
a Yes 8B Probobly Astronomical
2 No Civilian O Possibly Astronomical |
: 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE I CITI iii |
3 . ; 5 lira Data for Evaluation
Ere TRA TR SRE [SRE © OR eit SCENE
3 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING Dork objt with orange 11. COMMENTS(Ob jt of this sighting has all :
4 tail size of F-86 or F-94 and about 15' in characteristics of a meteor. There is n
1 length. Observer in a/c heading 268°. Objt evidence which would indicate that this |
j 45° fwd of right wing when sighted. Disappearpd objt was not a meteor. Was probably a
1 45° rear of right wing. Objt's altitude aprox| meteor of "fireball" class and initial
: 60,000", Speed extimate 5000 mph. experience of observer with type; there
ko fore resulting in misidentification. It
E is concluded that objt of sighting was
4 probably a metero.
3 ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52)
1 / :

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28991849