Falls Church, VirginiaJanuary 1955

Unidentified

Summary

On January 9, 1955, at 8:05 p.m. EST, three unidentified objects were observed flying near Falls Church, Virginia. A civilian witness reported seeing three objects that resembled stars with no shape or size visible. The objects had no trail or exhaust and showed no aerodynamic features. They were in wedge formation and heading northeast toward Washington, D.C. The witness first reported them at 1,000 feet altitude, then later said they changed to 10,000 feet due to angle. The objects changed position while being observed and lasted five minutes total. A commercial airliner making approach to Washington National Airport was noted at the same time. One object fell behind, then all three accelerated and turned toward the northwest section of Washington before disappearing. The Air Force evaluated the sighting as unidentified.

Reported location

Falls Church, Virginia

Date of incident

January 1955

State / country

VA / US

Page count

3 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 22

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 3

View transcribed text

PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD

1. DATE: 9 January 1955
2. LOCATION: Falls Church, Virginia
3. DATE-TIME GROUP: Local 2005 EST
4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION: X Ground-Visual, O Air-Visual, O Ground-Radar, O Air-Intercept Radar
5. PHOTOS: X No, Yes
6. SOURCE: Civilian
7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION: 5 minutes
8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS: three
9. COURSE: Northwest
10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING: Object resembled stars, no trail, no sound, object in wedge formation. Changed position, maneuvered, heading toward Washington, D.C.
11. COMMENTS: Probable a/c.
12. CONCLUSIONS: [Checkboxes for various conclusions, with evaluation as shown]

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28960839