Greeville, Miss, December 1959December 1959

On a December day in 1959 near Greenville, Mississippi, a military link instructor saw something unusual in the sky while an F-100 fighter jet was passing overhead. The observer was standing about five miles south-southwest of Greenville Air Force Base when the noise of the F-100 caught his attention. That's when he noticed a white object, roughly the size of a golf ball, moving through the air at high altitude.

The object was traveling from east to west in a straight line, maintaining level flight. The observer watched it for about five to six seconds before it moved out of sight to the west, still flying straight and level. According to his account, the object was moving faster than any aircraft he knew of. The Air Force later described the witness, Technical Sergeant Johnny E. Reddick, as highly reliable. His commanding officers stated he was completely trustworthy and did not drink or wear glasses.

The weather that day was clear, with visibility of seven miles or better across an area covering roughly 200 miles around Greenville. There were several other military aircraft in the local area at the time, including one F-100 climbing from 2,000 feet and 35 T-33 trainer jets, but the observer insisted the object was distinctly different from any of them. No balloon releases had been reported in the area.

In their final assessment, the Air Force noted that a daylight meteor could not be ruled out as an explanation. However, they found the length of the sighting unusual for a meteor and did not have enough information to reach a definitive conclusion. The case was filed as insufficient data for evaluation. The full case file, consisting of 7 pages, is reproduced below as held by the National Archives.