5 Mi S of Hutchinson, KansasDecember 1960

Unidentified

Summary

On December 16, 1960, three men driving separately on roads near Hutchinson, Kansas, saw a bright bluish-white object move across the sky. All were on their way to work at Hutchinson Air Station. The object appeared at 60 degrees above the horizon and descended to about 20 degrees before vanishing. The witnesses saw it through their windshields as they traveled south at speeds ranging from 15 to 55 miles per hour.

The men watched the object for only one to two seconds. Because of the short duration and the object's characteristics, the Air Force concluded it was most likely a meteor. The observation occurred during a period when Earth was passing through several meteor showers, and the Air Force had received multiple meteor reports around the same time.

The 94-page case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives.

Reported location

5 Mi S of Hutchinson, Kansas

Date of incident

December 1960

State / country

KS / US

Page count

94 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 41

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 94

View transcribed text

4 )
SENN -r0cCT 10073 RECORD CARD
] [1 DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS |
+ 16 Dec 60 5 mi S of Hutchinson, Kansas 0 Wos Bolloon
0 Probably Balloon
. Be DATETING CRORID  ————————————————— . . t
3. DATE-TIME GROUP 3. TYPE OF OBSERVATION w Teemy Seven
0714 0 Was Aiveralt
Local BC a C1 Ground-Visvel O Ground-Rodar 8 Probobly Airerefs
CMT 16/13 +4 01 Air Visuol G Air-Intereopt Roder |D Possibly Aircraft
— ee eee pt ou
5. PHOTOS 3. SOURCE 0 Was Astronomical
0 Yes 0% 1 2d shat Blac 4. DO. Probobly Astronomical Matacr
M No Military and Civilian 00 Possibly Astronomical
7. LENGTH CZ OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE Cd | NER SRE Re
Om 2 TE 0 insufficient Dota for Evaluation
L-< Sec one N=0 J Unknown |
E LE a ———— pest rei SUE— = A  ——————————————————— EE —— TE ——
10. BRIER SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS
Pound, bluish-white, pea to 2g8 shape, Sighted | Duration not long encugh for satellite.
060° above horizon and disappeared at 20° above All observers were driving and elevation
| wrizon, Azimuth was 160°, was reported to be 60°, While driving a
: car, it is highly improbable that the
d fleld of view extends that high. Duration
and description are characteristic or a
neteor, The earth is rassing through a
numoer of meteor showers this time of
: sear, and several reports of meteor
3ightings have been received by the AF.
Object was probably one of these metaors.
i
ATIC FORM 329 227 25 SEP 52)

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28990515