Elk, New MexicoApril 1955

Unidentified

Summary

On April 5, 1955, a civilian in Elk, New Mexico reported seeing one object with a fan-shaped tail about the size of a baseball held at arm's length. The object was bright green-purple with an orange tail. It was first seen at a 30-degree angle due south. It disappeared while exploding two feet above the ground. The object appeared to fall at the same rate as a stone would. The observer was seated in a truck at the time of the sighting. The sighting lasted ten seconds. The Air Force concluded it was probably a meteor.

Reported location

Elk, New Mexico

Date of incident

April 1955

State / country

NM / US

Page count

2 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 22

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 2

View transcribed text

PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD

1. DATE: 5 April 1955

2. LOCATION: Elk, New Mexico

12. CONCLUSIONS:
[ ] Balloon
[ ] Probably Balloon
[ ] Possibly Balloon
[ ] Was Aircraft
[ ] Probably Aircraft
[ ] Possibly Aircraft
[X] Was Astronomical Meteor
[ ] Probably Astronomical
[ ] Possibly Astronomical
[ ] Insufficient Data for Evaluation
[ ] Unknown

3. DATE-TIME GROUP: Local
GMT: 05/1745Z

4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION:
[X] Ground-Visual
[ ] Ground-Radar
[ ] Air-Visual
[ ] Air-Intercept Radar

5. PHOTOS:
[ ] Yes
[X] No

6. SOURCE: Civilian

7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION: ten seconds

8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS: one

9. COURSE: straight down

10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING:
One round object with a fan shaped tail the size of a baseball held at arm's length was seen in the bright sunlight. Color of object was a green-purple with an orange tail. Object first seen at an angle of 30 degrees due south. Upon disappearing it exploded two feet above the ground. Object appeared to fall at same rate as stone would. Observer seated in a truck at time of observing.

No Report In File

11. COMMENTS:
Probable meteor sighting-see attached news clipping.

ATIC FORM 329 (REV 25 SEP 52)

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28961669