Clark AFB, Luzon, Philippines, November 1957November 1957

On the evening of November 12, 1957, a man leaving a movie theater at Clark Air Base in the Philippines noticed three other people pointing at the sky. Looking up, he saw a round object about the size of a grapefruit held at arm's length, glowing with a white light. The man thought at first it might be a helicopter.

The object appeared stationary directly overhead, hanging at an estimated altitude of 2,000 feet. The light flickered on and off at intervals of about four seconds. The man's eleven-year-old son, who was with him, reported that the object appeared dull red when the light flickered off. After two or three minutes of observation, the object suddenly shot away at high speed, climbing steeply toward the east and vanishing from sight.

The investigation included a weather check and a search for nearby aircraft activity. A weather balloon had been released from the base at 1213 (12:13 p.m.), climbing at about 1,000 feet per minute and disappearing from view within three minutes. However, investigators noted a time discrepancy, since the sighting occurred in the evening, well after the balloon launch. No air traffic was reported within fifty miles of Clark AFB at the time.

The Air Force evaluator noted that the object's description, particularly the flickering light and round shape, was typical of a balloon, but could not explain the gap between when the balloon was launched and when the object was sighted. No definitive conclusion appears in the file. The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, spanning 8 pages.