at sea 215 Mi SE of Burmuda, January 1956January 1956

On January 21, 1956, the second mate of a Danish vessel saw a strange object at sea, about 210 miles southeast of Bermuda. The Greenwich time was 0804Z. The night was clear with many stars and visibility of at least 15 miles. The observer was a civilian merchant officer described as apparently reliable.

When first seen, the object looked round and light colored like a star, and it was falling like a falling star. It then hovered for one or two seconds. It made an abrupt right angle turn to the north and flew parallel to the horizon before disappearing about four seconds later. When it turned north, a long red tail like a flame appeared, about five times the diameter of the object. The object kept a very high, constant speed with no visible acceleration. The whole sighting lasted only a few seconds.

The officer, who had 15 years at sea, said he had never seen a natural or man made object that could change its appearance this way. The report was sent through Navy intelligence and forwarded to the Air Force.

The case is filed under Project 10073, the Air Force's official record for unidentified flying object reports. The Air Force conclusion was that the object was a possible meteor, with the apparent change in course possibly caused by atmospheric distortion.