Bakersfield, CaliforniaAugust 1956

Unidentified

Summary

On August 10, 1956, near Bakersfield, California, a civilian witness reported seeing a round, bright object with a grapefruit shape. The object was red, white, and yellow in color. It appeared in the southeastern part of the sky at 25,000 feet altitude and remained stationary without movement for approximately four and one-half hours. The observation occurred at dusk night under clear skies with thin cirrus clouds. A senior director noted the sighting appeared to be a star blinking through cirrus clouds. The Air Force evaluation was unidentified.

Reported location

Bakersfield, California

Date of incident

August 1956

State / country

CA / US

Page count

3 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 25

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 3

View transcribed text

PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD

1. DATE
10 August 1956

2. LOCATION
Bakersfield, California

3. DATE-TIME GROUP
Local ___
GMT 11/0400Z

4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION
Ground-Visual
Ground-Radar

5. PHOTOS
Yes
No.

6. SOURCE
Civilian (COO)

7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION
4 1/2 hrs still in sight

8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS
one

9. COURSE
stationary

12. CONCLUSIONS
Was Balloon
Probably Balloon
Possibly Balloon
Was Aircraft
Probably Aircraft
Possibly Aircraft
Was Astronomical
Probably Astronomical
Possibly Astronomical
Insufficient Data for Evaluation
Unknown

10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING
One round bright object, size of a grapefruit at arm's length. Color was red, white and yellow. Object observed in southeast portion of sky at 25,000 feet. Object appeared to have no movement and was still in sight after approximately four and one-half hours.

11. COMMENTS
Contact with reporting officer that this sighting was probably astronomical. Opinion of this sighting is probably planet Mars. Planet shining through cirrus clouds.

/ 3

Use ← → keys to navigate · scans hosted by the U.S. National Archives

Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28966805