E of Misawa AB, Japan, October 1960October 1960

On the night of October 6, 1960, a witness near Misawa Air Base in Japan saw a brief but striking light in the sky. The object appeared as a half-moon shape, roughly the size of a baseball, and flashed orange with what the witness described as an explosive quality. The sighting lasted only about one and a half seconds. The witness first spotted the object at an angle of 63 degrees above the horizon, looking in a direction of roughly 325 degrees (toward the northwest).

The witness was positioned about one mile east of Misawa Air Base. Weather conditions at the time were clear, with no clouds and calm winds. An Air Force pilot at the base, flying at 20,000 feet on a northeasterly heading, also reported seeing the flash in the darkness at roughly the same time.

The Air Force investigation concluded that the object was most likely a meteor. The report noted that the brightness, duration, and general appearance of the flash were consistent with a meteor entering the atmosphere. Investigators also observed that because the witness may have been positioned nearly in line with the meteor's path, the lack of any visible sideways movement made sense. The unusually large apparent size was attributed to the difficulty observers normally have in judging the true distance and size of bright light sources in the night sky.

The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, consisting of 7 pages.