Gettysburg AFS, South DakotaOctober 1961

Insufficient Data

Summary

On October 16, 1961, military witnesses at Gettysburg Air Force Station, South Dakota, reported an object at about 10:05 a.m. local time. The object was about the size of a baseball and left a heavy contrail that appeared heavier than usual at times. One object was seen, moving on a varied course over about 20 minutes. It appeared from the northeast, turned to the south, then went back to the southwest along the same track. The turns seemed abrupt. The Air Force noted that two B-52 aircraft were in the area at the time, with flight paths close to the reported track. It concluded the witnesses probably saw one of these aircraft, and that uneven contrails could come from layers of air at slightly different temperatures. The record card lists the conclusion as probably aircraft.

Reported location

Gettysburg AFS, South Dakota

Date of incident

October 1961

State / country

SD / US

Page count

5 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 44

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 5

View transcribed text

1 ~ ’

ie PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD ts

1 1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS

4 i ; pe & : D3 Wos Bolloon

i 16 Oct 61 Gettysburg AFS, South Dakota QO Probobly Balloon

4 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION tH os Bit

OY A 5

4 1CC5 ) ; \ 0 Was Aircraft
1 i TNE Th RR SO foes 0 Ground-Yisval BO Ground-Rador HX Probobly Aircroft

| GMT 1700052 D Air Visvol O Air-Intercept Radar |B Possibly Aircraft

, 1 EC ee ess

= || 5. PHOTOS - SOURCE 0 Was Astronomical
E \ O Yes 0 Probably Astronomical
i \ Ole Military OD Possibly Astronomical
7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE CT RR |
4 | 0 Insufficient Data for Evaluation

by 5 & A : 0 Unknown
20 nin 1 Varied :

4 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTINGOD jt size of bacetall, 11. COMMENTS Witnesses cigated what they thofgh

A Heavy contrail, apparently heavier at tine, re-|to be a contrail heavier than that normally |
EE portedly disappearing during maneuvers. Objt left by ajc. There were 2 B-52's in area

: j{eppeared fm 260° aprox, proceeding in NE track,|at time whi with a flight path closely

E ffurning to S, proceeding SW along same track as|paralleling that of reported objt. Witnesges

4 inbound sighting. Initially appeared fm norizon|probably saw 1 of these a/c and inter-
i and was under visual observation until ti dis- |mittently heavy contrail could have been

E appeared cover horizon MRAXMRASENMIZUAT CHZIr¥AX| caused py layers of air of slightly diffetent

E tkmn at 0° con outbound track. Turns were abruptltemperatures. It is therefore concluded

4 | that objt reported was probably 1 of a/c

E x in area. :

EE

; TIC FORM 329 (REV 26 BEP $2)

E: 3 x ;

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28995171