Kimpo, AB, Korea, September 1954September 1954

Insufficient Data

Summary

On the morning of September 18, 1954, military personnel at Kimpo Air Base in Korea spotted a bright, round object in the sky. The object appeared to shine like polished aluminum reflecting sunlight, and it remained visible for roughly 11 to 13 minutes starting around 5:55 a.m.

The witnesses, stationed at the base control tower, first noticed the object with their naked eyes, then watched it through binoculars (7x50 power). Looking at approximately 175 degrees azimuth (roughly south-southwest) and about 50 degrees elevation (halfway up the sky), they saw what they described as a white light with no tail, streamers, or visible structure. Through the binoculars, the object resembled the glare of strong sunlight reflecting off a polished aluminum surface. The observers estimated the object was very high in altitude and appeared to move slowly during the viewing period.

The control tower staff immediately called a nearby fighter intercept group and asked whether the object could be a weather balloon. The fighter group replied that it could not be, because weather balloons would show different characteristics. The control tower operators continued to observe and report their findings. The object eventually disappeared above cloud cover around 0608 hours (6:08 a.m.). No distinct shape, size measurements, or structural details could be determined, and no radar sighting data appears in the file. The Air Force marked this case as unidentified.

The full case file, eight pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.

Reported location

Kimpo, AB, Korea, September 1954

Date of incident

September 1954

State / country

? / XX

Page count

8 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 21

¢ ~ 2 me SUE AA I a Bn SL a ly Rd : / PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD £ 1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS | % 0 Was Balloon : 18 September 1954 Kimma A 7 £1 O Probably Balloon | % 3 Ala dd MLO eA INST RAY & 0120 To 5 Dl (oo 7 RSI I Ei O Possibly Balloon & 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION By aT 2 s i Local 05551 - 0608T & Ground- Visual 0 Ground-Radar 2 Noa Alrerdes § 9 17/205 5-210¢ (nD ar) = Pos ol 4 Aisa g [Fn J SRA fan Et Bl mira tsi i O AirVisual 0 Air-Intercept Radar DE RLY AA CEC i 5. PHOTOS . SOURCE 0 Was Astronomical £ O Yes O0 Probably Astronomical ¥ B No Military O Possibly Astronomical a 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE O Other UNIDENTIFITD 8 Insufficient Data for Evaluation § 19 SA rs A DE oF oS : . ©) Unknown i 11 - 13 Minutes a Staticnary | [i 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS y § Coler resambled glar= of strong sunlight Apparently too bright fcr star at damm & on polished alum, Round, although Rigel at 50 deg elev, 180 dag = N ST: Sse i ae 4 22%, Possibility of bzlloon, Rulad cut du g to objects being stations and balloon i track indicates motion, UNIDENTIFIED : E 4 ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52) i : : +