Ft. Worth, TexasApril 1962

An amateur astronomer and his sons observed an unusual object in the sky near Fort Worth, Texas on the night of April 28-29, 1962. The man, a nuclear engineer, spotted the object three separate times over about two hours using binoculars and a telescope. The object appeared egg-shaped or elongated, bright as a star, and brighter than the Echo 1 satellite. It made no sound and had no visible tail or exhaust. The observers noted that it reflected sunlight and did not dim until it dropped below the horizon.

The object made three distinct appearances. At 0256Z (2:56 a.m.), it appeared in the north about 15 degrees above the horizon and disappeared toward the south after 30 seconds. Eighteen minutes later, at 0312Z (3:12 a.m.), it reappeared in the west heading east and remained visible for about 4 minutes. The third sighting occurred at 0420Z (4:20 a.m.), again in the west heading east, lasting about 10 minutes. The night was clear with 10-mile visibility. Local radio had reported meteorites in the area, but the observer noted his sightings were different from those reports.

Military radar stations corroborated the sightings. Radar operators at Duncanville and Sheppard Air Force Base reported unusual behavior during the same time period. At Carswell Air Force Base's radar facility, an unidentified target appeared 35 miles east of the base. The target did not move but split into three targets, merged back into one, and then disappeared from the scope. The Duncanville radar site reported similar activity.

The observer photographed the object with still cameras and filmed it with a 16-millimeter movie camera. The Air Force file notes these films were in development at the time of the report. The file indicates that the first two sightings appeared unusual in their movement and behavior. However, the third sighting conformed more closely to an Earth satellite, and the file states it "in all probability was such." The case file does not explicitly state an overall conclusion for all three sightings.

This case file contains 8 pages as held by the National Archives.