Charleston, West VirginiaSeptember 1961

Insufficient Data

Summary

On September 25, 1961, at about 0517Z (Greenwich time), at dawn, a civilian in Charleston, West Virginia, reported an object in the sky. The witness was a chemical plant worker. The report was filed on the Project 10073 record card, the Air Force's official record for unidentified flying object reports.

The object was described as oblong, blue, with a yellow flame trail, appearing as a brilliant flash. It was a single object that flew in a wide arc, straight and level, at about 10,000 feet, then moved instantly to the southeast. The sighting lasted about 6 to 8 seconds. The sky was clear except for light haze, with drifting ground fog.

The Air Force concluded the sighting had the characteristics of a meteor. The local investigating officer offered an alternate idea that it could be the reflection of a large controlled fire at a chemical plant, but the official record card conclusion was meteor.

Reported location

Charleston, West Virginia

Date of incident

September 1961

State / country

WV / US

Page count

4 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 44

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 4

View transcribed text

i : PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD
1 : I. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
E Eee 1 id 3 iit {eisai hy DO Was Balloon
1 2): Sep Ol Charleston, West Virginia 0 Probably Balloon
1 3. DATE-TIME GROUP EB TYPE OF OBSERVATION Le hid nd dda
0 Was Aircraft
Dp rea a SN AOA Ce] EKGround- Visual 0 Ground-Radar O Probably Aircraft
i GMT 2510177 0 Air Visual O Air-Intercept Radar DO Possibly Aircraft
i 5. PHOTOS « SOURCE O Was Astronomical MTEek.
E 0 Yes F< Probably Astronomical
i BNo Civilian O Possibly Astronomical
4 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE 7 BG of || [TY pure a tS I eR)
bE O Insufficient Data for Evaluation
4 og 2 J! 0 Unknown
1 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING "1: objt with ello 11. COMMENTS =ighting nas characteristics of |
3 Plame tail gppearing 23 brilliant flash. Flew meteor observation.
a Ena
5 ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP $2)
fe j -
FE
1
I:

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28994838