Great Falls, VirginiaOctober 1957

Insufficient Data

Summary

On October 13, 1957, observers near Great Falls, Virginia, saw a small dark object in the sky. The sighting happened about a half mile south of Great Falls, near the bank of the Potomac River. The witnesses were two young civilians who said they were trying to spot Sputnik when the moving black speck came into view.

The object was round and black. It looked about the size of the head of a pin held at arm's length. It moved in a straight line on a true course of 7 degrees, passing directly overhead. The witnesses used a compass to find the course. The object was in sight for five to six seconds before trees blocked the view. The sky was mostly cloudy with haze.

The report is part of Project 10073, the Air Force's official record for unidentified flying object reports. The Air Force listed the case as insufficient data for evaluation. Officers noted the object was lost behind trees, which suggested it was probably far away.

Reported location

Great Falls, Virginia

Date of incident

October 1957

State / country

VA / US

Page count

4 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 29

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 4

View transcribed text

( AE, PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD oo ra
| I. DATE ’ 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
: D Woes Bolloon ;
13 October 19357 Great Falls, Virginia O Probably Bolloon |
3. OATE-TIME GROUP 4 TYPE OF OBSERVATION ¥ FOU emo |
O Wes Aircraft |
OM sss m———— XR Ground-Visual D Ground-Rodor O Probably Aircraft | |
GM _13 / 21057 0 Air Visuvel O Air-Intercopt Rader |O Possibly Airereft
5. PHOTOS . SOU O Was Astronemicol
O Yes O Probably Astronomical
! *% 0 No Civilian O Possibly Astronemicel
7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE CAR TORE ANC TRCN |
i BX Insufficient Dete for Evaluation
: . OD Unknown
five to six seconds one 007 dgr
10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS
One round black object the size of Duration of 5-6 seconds, Object
the head of a pin at arm's length. passed overhead on course of 007
Object was seen moving on a true dgr. Lost from view behind trces
| course of 007 dgr, Obj was in sight indicating probably considerable
for five to six seconds, distance. Insufficient data for
evaluation,
| ATIC PORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52)
/
I] A :
: :
Ad C0000 di 8 i | dick

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28972170