Cacoda, MichiganJanuary 1954

On the night of January 13, 1954, personnel at Wurtsmith Air Force Base near Oscoda, Michigan saw an unusual object streak across the sky. The observers described a small, circular, red sphere with sparks coming from it. It left behind a double contrail, or vapor trail, that hung in the sky for about three minutes. The object moved from west to east, its bright flash briefly outlining the clouds above. From start to finish, the sighting lasted only a fraction of a second.

The Air Force later interviewed additional base personnel who reported seeing contrails that morning. These trails seemed to move southwest at first, then turn east, come together, and fade into a cloud bank. The entire formation disappeared by around 10:29 a.m. EST. A second sighting report from the same general area that night described an oval object the size of a dime, glowing white, that lit up the sky and appeared to travel in an arc before fading out over three to four seconds.

An acting intelligence officer on base conducted a preliminary analysis but found no clue to the object's identity. The file notes that weather conditions at the time included scattered clouds and good visibility, with winds from the west-southwest. The Air Force's official conclusion, recorded on the case card, was that the object was probably a balloon.

The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, comprising 7 scanned pages from microfilm T1206, Roll 20.