Knoxville, TennesseeJune 1958

On June 22, 1958, Major General Carl A. Brandt, the Vice Commander of Air Transport Command, sighted an unidentified object while flying in a T-29 military transport plane over Tennessee. The plane was at 12,000 feet near the Daly intersection on Victor Airway 140, flying a heading of 260 degrees toward Randolph Air Force Base in Texas. General Brandt was looking at thunderstorms in the area when he spotted the object. The object was brilliant white, roughly the size of a pencil, and left a white streak across the sky. The general observed it for only two to three seconds before it vanished, descending in a straight line toward the southwest and disappearing into clouds near the Norris Reservoir, north of Knoxville. He heard no sound and saw no residual trail.

The Air Force launched an investigation because of the observer's rank and the incomplete nature of the initial report. Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) analysts considered several explanations. A cursory plot of the sun's position, the object's descent path, and the large body of water below suggested that the brilliant white appearance could have been light refracting off an aircraft fuselage in the distance, an optical effect known as specular reflection. This type of reflection can wash out an aircraft's wing and tail surfaces, making it appear thin and pencil-like. Ground checks revealed no balloon activity in the area, no radar contacts, and no reports of unusual activity from other military and civil aviation sources.

A follow-up communication from the 1006th Air Intelligence Squadron (based in Colorado Springs) reported that General Brandt himself did not believe the object was anything exotic. Speaking through his aide, Captain Soard, the general suggested the object might have been a daytime meteorite or, remotely, a falling Earth satellite. He felt further investigation was unwarranted. Given these circumstances and the additional analysis supporting the aircraft reflection hypothesis, ATIC closed the case on July 28, 1958, with no final determination recorded.

The full case file, 20 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.