Colville, WashingtonJuly 1953

Unidentified

Summary

On July 6, 1953, in the early morning over Colville, Washington, civilians reported an object in the sky. Three watchers at an observation tower saw it, and the sighting was reported in a local newspaper.

The witnesses said they first saw it about 3:45 a.m. It looked like a small disk or a bright star but did not stay in one place. It moved in a narrow arc several miles to the east and northeast of the tower. It seemed to move against the wind. It stayed in the same general area for more than two hours. Some witnesses said the object seemed to shoot suddenly to the northeast and then disappear behind a cloud.

They doubted it was a weather balloon because it seemed to move against the wind. The paper also reported a separate sighting on July 8 of a bright reflecting object that vanished rapidly without gaining altitude. The Air Force note suggested the observation could be explained by a distant plane igniting a magnesium flare attached to a wing tip. The file lists the conclusion as astronomical (a star or planet).

Reported location

Colville, Washington

Date of incident

July 1953

State / country

WA / US

Page count

3 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 19

a Gi We UEUNESUS danni LE ie Ll Sh i Ea eV : | | I. DATE - TIME GROUP 2. LOCATION - 7 aa 1nd . “oe ! & July 53 &/1200% Colville, "csiin_ton 3. SOURCE 10. CONCLUSION ! Civilitn \staono teal (Vin3) | 4. NUMBER OF OBJECTS ] Can Venus 3 laa 56 dn, 20 deg azimuth 20 deg elav: ‘ony, movin: to. dnd 5S. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION [11. BRIEF SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS tase 2 Hours o shi daive nen DOS5L 0Rscrvaed JECT S00 av looked like a star, 6. TYPE OF OBSERVATION row -Visun 7. COURSE : 35 # 8. PHOTOS 0 Yes : JINe : 9. PHYSICAL EVIDENCE 0 Yes I Ne FORM FTD sep 63 0-329 (TDE) previeus editions of this form may be used, 8 BE 4 sik Eas