Buckingham, IowaDecember 1960

Unidentified

Summary

On the evening of December 22, 1960, a resident of Buckingham, Iowa witnessed an unusual aerial phenomenon. The object first appeared in the northeast sky at 1750 hours (5:50 p.m.) local time, positioned about 45 to 50 degrees above the horizon. It began as a small, bright spot, roughly the size of a large orange star, resembling either a jet aircraft or satellite.

Within two or three seconds of the initial sighting, the object developed a tail and transformed into a white, tear-shaped ball that expanded to roughly one hundred times its original size. Behind this glowing white core, the witness observed large orange spots or sparks that trailed a considerable distance behind. The entire display lasted about three to four seconds and ended at approximately 10 to 15 degrees above the horizon. The witness noted that the transformation happened too slowly to be an explosion, and carefully reported the object's trajectory, angular position, and apparent motion in a detailed letter sent to Patrick Air Force Base in Florida on December 23, 1960.

The Air Force received a questionnaire response from the witness and forwarded the report to the Air Force Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. The Air Force investigation concluded that the object had all the characteristics of a meteor. The report was noted as similar to others received from across the country during that same time period.

The full case file, 13 pages, is reproduced below as held by the National Archives.

Reported location

Buckingham, Iowa

Date of incident

December 1960

State / country

IA / US

Page count

13 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 41

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 13

View transcribed text

.
PROJECT 10073.RECORD CARD |
1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
a O Was Balloon
22 Dec 60 Buckingham, Iowa 0 Probably Balloon
3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4 TYPE OF OBSERVATION iN. FRwNY Soe
1750 a od 0 Was Aircraft
Local Ae . {i Ground- Visual 0 Ground-Redor = Probably Aircraft
CMT 22/ 23502 0 AirVisal 0 Air-Intercept Rodar 0 Possibly Aircraft
5. PHOTOS . SOURCE ' id Was Astronomical Meteor
0 Yes Civilian : La 1 SEs
[ tronomic
B Ne 0SsIDly Ss :
7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE TRE TR ———
a : O Insufficient Data for Evaluation
T sec one SE-ITW 0 Unknown
10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS
"hen first spotted, it was about 45-50° high The report submitted by the witness is
in the sky and started as an o2j2ct that very similar to that raceived from other
appeared to be a jet or satellife--a spot parts of the couwalry this time of year.
about the size of a large orange star. Traveled| The object has all the characteristics of
aout 2-3 sec then developed 2 tail. Then it a neteor,
became white in a tear shaped ball that appeare
| about 100 times its origiral size. Behind this
+ hite spot were spots or sparks (very large)
| +hat were orange and trailed a long vay behind
+he ball of white. Ended at about 10-15° above :
he horizon.
ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SRP 52)
Rs aonilii

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28990664