Austin, TexasJanuary 1953

Unidentified

Summary

On January 14, 1953, at about 11:34 a.m., a civilian in the northeast section of Austin, Texas, saw an object. The witness was a high school petroleum teacher who was throwing a ball with students when a plane passed overhead and drew his attention to the sky.

The object appeared round and completely circular, about 18 to 24 inches across at arm's length. It was silvery in color, or had a silvery reflection. There was only one object, with no sound and no exhaust. The witness estimated the speed at about 500 to 750 miles per hour.

The object traveled in a straight line toward the south, a little east of south. It was in sight for about 10 to 60 seconds before it appeared to pass into very high, thin clouds. Weather was clear with high scattered clouds at about 30,000 feet and visibility of about 12 miles.

The record notes the object rose into clouds and that the description indicates a balloon. The card lists the conclusion as probably balloon.

Reported location

Austin, Texas

Date of incident

January 1953

State / country

TX / US

Page count

5 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 17

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 5

View transcribed text

| .
|
| I. DATe - 7/Me GROUP “LOCATION : |
] 1 Jon 53 1L/16°0% fustin, Devas ; |
i - = - |
i 3. SOURCE 10. CONCLUSION L
Civ ln PROBABLY BALLOON |
4. NUMBER OF OBJECTS Hea ag : 2
y Object 10se into clouds, Descriplion indicates balloon
4 One onsarvation, :
5. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 11. BRIEF SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS
{ 10 - 60 Sec, Object appeared 18-241 in diameter, conpletely circular,
5. TYPE OF OBSERYATION Silvery olor, no sound, no exhaust, HNstireted speed zlout ;
| 3 500-750 mph. ~ (Jet a/c in aren).
Ea YC
: C-ound=Visual
7. COURSE
3 5-35
8. PHOTOS
i 0 Yes
E XX Neo
i 9. PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
] i! 0 Yes ;
L YX No
i FORM
1 FTD sep 63 0-329 (TDE) previous editions of this form may be used,

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28952638