Ft Bragg, N. Carolina, May 1958May 1958

Insufficient Data

Summary

On the night of May 16, 1958, at 0257 hours (just after 2:30 a.m.), two military officers at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, observed an unidentified object in the sky. One witness was a Lieutenant Colonel named William D. Chrietzberg, the Executive Officer of the 56th Field Artillery Group. The other was a Doctor of Psychology stationed with the American Embassy in The Hague, Netherlands, who was visiting the area. Both men saw the object from a location about a quarter mile east of the U.S. Army Hospital at Fort Bragg. The night was clear with good visibility.

The object appeared as a round, red-orange light, roughly the size of a baseball held at arm's length, or slightly larger than the planet Mars. It moved across the sky at what the witnesses described as terrific speed, traveling in a complete circle (360 degrees) from a northeast direction to the south. One witness estimated the sighting lasted about two minutes. The other estimated five minutes. The object eventually faded from sight, disappearing into broken cloud cover in the north.

The Air Force investigated the sighting through its official intelligence channels at Pope Air Force Base. In their analysis, officers noted that the sighting had characteristics typical of satellite observations. They considered it a probable match for 1958 Gamma, an early Soviet satellite (also known as Sputnik III) that was visible in Earth orbit from late March through late June 1958. However, they found no direct confirmation of the satellite's track at the time and place of the sighting. The official Air Force evaluation lists the case as "unknown."

The complete case file, as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below in 8 scanned pages.

Reported location

Ft Bragg, N. Carolina, May 1958

Date of incident

May 1958

State / country

? / XX

Page count

8 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 32

{ Jo | ¢ A ; i ! i 2 Ei : Pd . E i Re PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD 1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS 0 Was Balloon 15 May 58 Ft Rrage, N.Carolina O Probably Balloon 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4 TYPE OF OBSERVATION ot Easily bol oon TF. 0o] [Cif SHE a rRNA 0 Ground- Visual 0 Ground-Radar a Nehally Atrapatr (217 § ett HARA 1 AAA XOF Air Visual O Air-Intercept Radar O Possibly Aircraft 5. PHOTOS : 6. SOURCE DO Was Astronomical O Yes O Probably Astronomical <B-No Military & Civilian O Possibly Astronomical 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE Wo oisenitel lito oo O Insufficient Data for Evaluation : 0 Unk 2 mins/5 mins one North atonal 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS Rnd obj, appeared to be slightly lar- | No confirmation of satellite ‘ger than the planet Mars, red-orange. | track; however, sighting is Traveling at terrific speed. Two rpts, characteristic of orbital obser- both cssentially same w/the exception vation, 1958 Gamma was visible that one estimates the duration as 2 fm 26 Mar - Jun 28 '58, Case mins and the other, 5 mins. Both give | considered probable 1958 Gamma the same DTG but no mention 1s made ofl or Sputnik III. observers being together at the time of observation. ; " ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52) YY E. ; : i i : Ei F 3 » } 4