Great Falls, MontanaMarch 1961

Insufficient Data

Summary

On March 2, 1961, a witness near Great Falls, Montana, reported a bright object in the sky. The sighting was made from a car around dusk while the person watched the sunset. The object itself was not seen, only a burst of light. The initial burst was green and the trail was white. The size was between a pinhead and a pea. The trail fell straight down, stopped for a second, then resumed. The burst and fall lasted about 5 to 10 seconds, though streaks stayed visible for at least 10 minutes. It appeared about 30 to 40 degrees and disappeared behind a cloud bank at 10 to 15 degrees in the west.

The report was tied to at least three other visual sightings that night. On Project 10073, the Air Force's official record for unidentified flying object reports, the conclusion was probably astronomical, a meteor. Comments said the description matched a meteor and that the burst pointed to a bolide. The wide area of observation suggested it was at a high altitude.

Reported location

Great Falls, Montana

Date of incident

March 1961

State / country

MT / US

Page count

5 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 41

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 5

View transcribed text

BiH Be TTT Ei TT .
i |
| |
te ey PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD |
| I. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS |
| 3 Was Ball
2 Mar 61 Great Falls, Montana 0 Probably Belloon
| 3. DATETIME GROUP | 4 TYPE OF OBSERVATION |2 Possibly Belleon
PRR 6 Oe RR &X Ground- Visual O Ground-Radar = Probes Ridviti
emt 930 0135Z Pa 0 Air Visual O Air-Intercept Radar O Possibly Aircraft :
5. PHOTOS . SOURCE O Was Astronomical MeTeoee
a Yes &X Probably Astronomical
: B No | Mild 1 Civili OD Possibly Astronomical
| 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION " NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE BD DI iii iin
. O Insufficient Dota for Evaluation
O Unknown
5-10 sec 1
; 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF. SIGHTING Between head of pin and |11. COMMENTS Description is characteristic of
pea, initial burst was green; trail white. meteor, and "burst" indicates a bolide.
: 0jt not sight'd only burst, although trail Objt apparently observed over a wide
1 stopped for a second and then resumed. Dis- | area indicating it was at a high altitude.
{ appeared behind cloud bank. Initial burst &
1 fall lasted aprox 5-10 sec, although streams
1 were visible for at least 10 min. Appeared
i 30-40°, Disappeared 10-15°,
; ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52)
; ! y 4 ‘ :
2 %
CE I ES CC Dt Pr a

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28991726