Keflauik Airport, Iceland, February 1953February 1953

On February 3, 1953, radar operators at Keflavik Airport in Iceland detected four unidentified objects on their radar scopes. The objects appeared at various distances and bearings from the airport, the closest at 70 nautical miles away. What made this sighting unusual was that one object remained completely motionless on the radar screen for two full minutes before disappearing. The Air Force later noted that this lack of movement was still unexplained.

The radar operators checked with all known military and civilian sources. No aircraft, American or otherwise, were supposed to be operating in that part of Iceland at the time. The only nearby plane was a civilian airliner that landed in Reykjavik some distance away. The identification team at the 932nd Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron could not identify any of the radar targets.

Weather conditions in the area included winds at various altitudes and a small amount of frontal weather, meaning active weather along a weather system boundary. The report also noted that large flocks of geese were observed near the airport around the same time, flying at about 1,000 feet. However, the radar signatures and the behavior of the objects, especially the target that remained stationary, did not match what geese or known weather phenomena would produce.

The case file does not provide a definitive conclusion about what caused the radar returns. The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives across 7 pages.