Baghdad, Iraq, November 1959November 1959

Insufficient Data

Summary

On the night of November 4, 1959, a military observer, an assistant air attache and pilot, saw an object over Baghdad, Iraq, near 33 degrees north and 44 degrees east. The sighting lasted a few seconds.

The object was round and bright white, several times larger than the North Star. It approached rapidly and low above the horizon, on a flight path that seemed straight and parallel to the earth, heading directly toward the observer. It broke apart just before reaching overhead. The white object disappeared after a quick burst of red fragments, similar to a roman candle. The night was clear with no haze.

The observer noted he had seen many shooting stars in 15 years of flying and that this was probably the same kind of event, seen head-on. The Air Force record card lists the case as astronomical, probably a meteor. This was part of Project 10073, the Air Force's official record for unidentified flying object reports.

Reported location

Baghdad, Iraq, November 1959

Date of incident

November 1959

State / country

? / XX

Page count

3 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 37

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 3

View transcribed text

- po {ITV ROOM IF ERR SERIA Te . : re ; .
: PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD ;
1. DATE 2. LOCATION RAR 12. CONCLUSIONS
0 Vous Balloon
Ee Nev Bp... Baghdad, fvaq  . |Q Probably Balloon
3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION 0 Possibly Balloon
z 3 3 0O Was Aircroft”
fi ealivstbiiot Samiti sta De CU ii ¥) Ground- Visual 0 Ground-Raodaor 0 Pratably Alrereft
GMT 0L/16007 SK 0 AirVisual O Air-Intercept Radar | DO Possibly Aircraft
5. PHOTOS 6. SOURCE fx Was Astronomical
0 Yes 0 Probably Astronomical
3 No Militar O Possibly Astronomical
Ps whe od ~ y
7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE 0 Other ids
O Insufficient Dato for Evaluation
0 Unrknown
; fou gong one WoW hr
] 10. BRIZZ SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS
j Rnd obj, several times larger than the North Probably a meteor.
‘star, bright white, approached very rapidly 1lqgw
| above horizon, disintegrated just prior to
reaching overhead. White obJ disappeared afte
1 urst of red fragments similar to roman candle.
ATIC FORM 329 (REV 25 SEP 52)
hy

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28985292