Project Blue Book Case File
Chula Vista, CaliforniaNovember 1960
Summary
On the evening of November 1960, two Navy fighter pilots and at least one other observer in Chula Vista, California, reported seeing a mysterious glowing object in the sky. The object appeared to be moving in unusual ways, including what looked like sudden directional changes, and displayed light characteristics that didn't match known aircraft or satellites.
The witnesses described the object as orange-red in color, somewhat brighter than the planet Mars. According to their account, it came to a sudden stop and hovered at one point. The light from the object was unlike anything the pilots said they had seen before, resembling "a steady stream of electric sparks" or "a sparkler on the 4th of July." One striking detail from the witness testimony: a bright white light seemed to go "in and out" on one side of the object's main body as it moved.
The sighting lasted roughly eight to ten minutes. The observers used binoculars to get a better look. One witness called the local Air Force office that oversees UFO investigations (Project Blue Book) to report what he had seen. An Air Force radar station on nearby Mt. Laguna, which tracked all aircraft approaching the San Diego area, reported that it did not detect an unidentified object during the time of the sighting. The case file indicates the Air Force concluded the object was probably a balloon, though observers noted characteristics they said a balloon would not normally display, such as the ability to hover and the unusual light behavior.
The full case file, consisting of 16 pages and held by the National Archives under microfilm reference T1206, Roll 41, is reproduced below.
Reported location
Chula Vista, California
Date of incident
November 1960
State / country
CA / US
Page count
16 scanned pages
USAF evaluation
unidentified
Microfilm
T1206, Roll 41