Aviano AB, Italy, March 1961March 1961

Insufficient Data

Summary

On March 3, 1961, military observers at Aviano Air Base, Italy, reported a bright object in the night sky. A tower observer saw it first and pointed it out to tower operators. The object was round and white, about the size of a silver dollar held at arm's length. It then broke into about five or six pieces, each roughly dime size, which seemed to burn up right away. The trail was faint and disappeared at times. The object first appeared about 45 degrees elevation on a 280 degree bearing and was last seen near 3 degrees on a 250 degree bearing. The sighting lasted about 10 to 35 seconds. The sky was clear.

The Air Force concluded the object was probably astronomical. Comments said the description matched a type of meteor called a bolide, which broke up before burning in the atmosphere.

Reported location

Aviano AB, Italy, 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

dd y Be ET) ATE ATE 0 55 0 Wh TAR MT FADE AAR fe gr + oy — ' a ;
3 oN PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD Hig |
| 1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS |
a ’ O Was Balloon |
| 3 Mar Ol Aviano iB, Italy O Probably Balloon |
| 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION ——|0 Possibly Balloon
Bl B Ground- Visual DO Ground-Rodor 5 Erbe Rivers
GMT 0318 382 QO Air Visual 0 Air-Intercept Radar D Possibly Aircraft i
5. PHOTOS SOURCE O Was Astronomical METEC EL
a Yes BB Probobly Astronomical
: & No Milita OD Possibly Astronemicel
ita STITT Le wiht tbe iss TAT NI tibia cassis
7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION | 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE a] Other — : |
d one which broke O Insufficient Data for Evaluation
10-15 into 5 or 6 part es
} - sec neo or
f 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTINRound white objt aprox |!). COMMENTS Description is characteristic
| & the size of a silver dollar at arm's length. |of a type of meteor called a bolide, whigh
When UFO began to break up, individual pieces [broke up prior to burning up in earth's
i were aprox dime size. Trail of objt was about [atmosphere.
| width of nickel at arms length. Trail was ve
faint and disappeared at times. Appeared 45°, |
280° bearing. Disappeared 300°, 250° bearing.
| Pieces seemed to burn up immediately.
i ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52)
\ ‘ fe
| %

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28991736