Detroit Lakes, MinnesotaSeptember 1961

Insufficient Data

Summary

On September 25, 1961, at about 0018Z (Greenwich time), at dusk just before sunset, a civilian near Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, reported an object in the sky while driving. The report was filed on the Project 10073 record card, the Air Force's official record for unidentified flying object reports.

The object was round, about the size of a dime at arm's length, and black turning to a red glow. Black smoke trailed about three inches at arm's length. It was seen low, at about 20 to 30 degrees elevation, and seemed to move toward the southeast and gain a little altitude. The witness compared its fading to turning out a light with a rheostat. It was sighted twice, about one and a half minutes each time. The sky was clear except for a few clouds. The witness was a former Air Force jet mechanic, and the investigation found no aircraft or balloons to explain it.

The card's conclusion notes a condensation trail and that the object was probably one, though the text is partly faded.

Reported location

Detroit Lakes, Minnesota

Date of incident

September 1961

State / country

MN / US

Page count

5 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 44

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 5

View transcribed text

4 PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD -

BE I. DATE 2 LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS

| Ea) a 31 SRS A is Sl 0 Wes Balloon

1 <) Sep bl JeTIXOoIT Lukes, [[innesot: QO Probably Balloon

. — Iie h ec i :

EB 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4 TYPE OF OBSERVATION sinha Jul le

Ee O Was Aircraft

1 Loco! oon -Ground- Visual 0 Ground-Radar n Probably Aireraft

E GMT_ <Q 10, : 0 Air VYisvol 0 Air-Intercept Radar | Possibly Aircraft

gv eres

: 5. PHOTOS « SOUR O Was Astronomical

B 0 Yes 0 Probably Astronomical

: ‘BNe ari lSdn [=] Possibly Astronomical 4 r: d 1
3 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE B° Other-=2¢ _“Ondensation
- O Insufficient Data for Evaluation
i : 0 Unknown

E 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING __ round oogt, blocs COMMENTS CJU: PTODac.. ronisncntisr

E Bars bile 1 3 . = 5) - 1 + Sty: 7c. = vee i i . V8 ars 4 J { i frp “et SL v cow Tn :

1 ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP $2) i
4 |
f

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28994863