Dover AFB, DelawareOctober 1959

On October 15, 1959, at 11:01 p.m., two air traffic controllers at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware saw a white fireball with a colored tail streak across the sky from the control tower. The object appeared to be about the size of a pea held at arm's length, with a tail measuring one to one and one-quarter inches by the same measurement. The tail changed color from white to blue-green as the object moved.

The fireball appeared suddenly in the sky, traveled in a nearly horizontal path at low elevation, and disappeared within 14 seconds. The controllers observed it moving on a bearing of approximately 152 degrees, traveling through an arc of 45 degrees toward the east-southeast before vanishing at 145 degrees. The night was clear with good visibility and a full moon rising. The tower chief, Technical Sergeant William C. Carn Jr., had eight years of experience and was considered extremely reliable. A second controller, Airman John D. Olive, with three months of experience, corroborated his account.

The Air Force intelligence officer noted that the exact bearings, precise timing, and level trajectory at considerable distance raised the possibility that the object could be a missile of some kind. A similar object was reported at nearly the same time by a radar station at Patuxent, Maryland. However, the official conclusion, as recorded on the case card, was that the sighting was probably a meteor.

The full case file, reproduced below as held by the National Archives, comprises 8 scanned pages.