Ft Benning Ga, January 1951January 1951

Insufficient Data

Summary

On January 12, 1951, witnesses reported a bright object over Fort Benning, Georgia, starting about 11 a.m. The report is part of Project 10073, the Air Force's official record for unidentified flying object reports.

A witness engaged in fire maintenance had his attention drawn to a very bright object almost overhead. At first it looked like a very bright star. The sky was clear with a few thin clouds moving southeast, and the object stayed visible whenever clouds passed over it. It remained stationary for about 20 minutes, then moved directly south at a very high rate of speed, leaving a very thin, short, fan shaped wake before disappearing. It traveled about six times its own length before vanishing. The witness was not certain of the shape but said it looked round and possibly spherical. He estimated it was well above clouds at about 1,000 feet. Nine other people saw it at the same time.

A check found no weather balloons had been sent up by local air bases. The Air Force listed its conclusion as unidentified, noting the object appeared to be a star or other astronomical object or a balloon until it disappeared at sudden speed.

Reported location

Ft Benning Ga, January 1951

Date of incident

January 1951

State / country

? / XX

Page count

5 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 8

: oe PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD : Ef IRE 15 cOncLusIoNe | : A 0 Was Balloon 12 Jan 51 Ft Benning Ga D Probably Balloon 3 DATETIME GROUP |& TYPE OF oasERvATIoN —|O Possibly Balloon ; Local 7 TT pew ae mee 0D Ground-Visval DO Ground-Radar Probably Airera) op 1/0802 0 AlrVisuvol DO Air-Intorcept Rador O Possibly Aircroft 8. PHOTOS . 0 Was Astronomical OVYes 0 Probobly Astronomical . F No 9 Civilians 0 Possibly Astronomical 7. LENOTH OPOBSERVATION [4 NUMBER OF OBJECTS [9. CouRsE Kk Other. UNIDMNTIFIED 0 Insufficient Dato for Evaluation 20 Minutes | one SE » EE a ae. Shape - Round vi) fan shpped wake. Color very Object appeared to be a star, or bright star, Size = Star, Speed = Hover to hight other astronomical, or ballon until speed, Alt- lell above clouds. Remained object disasppeared at sudden speed, stationary 20 min then took off to SE. (Note, Clouds also moving SE) Left very thin visible wake, "ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SP 52)