Dothan, AlabamaDecember 1957

Insufficient Data

Summary

On the night of December 9, 1957, Major Norman W. Goodwin and Captain George E. Thayer of the United States Army Aviation Center were flying over Dothan, Alabama in a small aircraft. The two officers, both considered reliable observers by the Army, were cruising at 8,000 feet and heading 240 degrees when they spotted an unusual light about 20 miles away. The time was approximately 1958 hours, or 7:58 p.m.

The object appeared as a bright red light roughly the size of a light on a distant aircraft or radio tower. As the pilots watched over the next seven minutes, the light changed colors in a striking pattern, fading from red to pink to white and back to red. The light moved up and down, rising and falling as much as 14,000 feet and dropping to as low as 100 feet, roughly once per minute. The object then faded away rapidly to the right at a bearing of 330 degrees (roughly northwest).

The two officers reported their sighting to the Army Aviation Center's intelligence office at Fort Rucker, Alabama, which in turn filed the report with Army headquarters. The investigating officer, Captain Marion E. Hill, noted in his analysis that the object was likely the light or exhaust of an aircraft flying in the direction of or toward Ozark, Alabama. He also noted that a helicopter was in flight over Ozark at the time of the sighting. The report was forwarded to Eglin Air Force Base and added to the Air Force's official record. The case was evaluated as unknown.

The full case file, comprising 9 pages as held by the National Archives (microfilm T1206, Roll 31), is reproduced below.

Reported location

Dothan, Alabama

Date of incident

December 1957

State / country

AL / US

Page count

9 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 31

| eh | | | 3 : PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD | | I. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS | 0 Was Balloon 9 December 1957 Dothan, Alabama o Probobly Baligon 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION FEINSVCRIONN © Looe — 0 Ground- Visual O Ground-Radar ¥ Danaea Ghats : omt_10/1958 to 20057 X% AirVisvol 0 Air-Intercept Radar O Possibly Aircraft S. PHOTOS . * Was Astronomical 0 Yes XX Probably Astronomical No bel .» Possibly Astronomical 7. LENGTM OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE DONE mami Lb D Insufficient Data for Evaluation 0 Unknown 7 minutes one t | 110. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS ! [One object shape and size of light as Concur with reporting officer | lon aircraft or radio tower, color red, [this probably was aircraft light { Bright red light faded to pink to or exhaust of aircraft, : | white and back to red. Helicopter in : flight in area, : ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 82) : soi f : yo . A [J : » : . a VE 2 a BB FUME 09000 09 1 5 ss a © el eo .