Lake Charles, AFB, LouisianaFebruary 1956

Insufficient Data

Summary

# Lake Charles AFB Sighting, February 1956

On a February evening in 1956, an observer at Lake Charles Air Force Base in Louisiana saw an unusual object in the sky just after sunset. The witness reported that the object first appeared to have a pentagonal shape, with bright spots at each point. As the observer watched, the shape seemed to change into a triangle, again with bright spots at the corners. The object was seen at approximately 30,000 feet in altitude.

The Air Force investigation noted that another report from the same area concluded the object was a balloon. The case file summary indicates the sighting was classified as a balloon sighting, and the official evaluation was marked as "unknown" on the record card.

The full case file, comprising 10 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.

Reported location

Lake Charles, AFB, Louisiana

Date of incident

February 1956

State / country

LA / US

Page count

10 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 24

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 10

View transcribed text

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i PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD
4 1. ‘DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
1 a RX Was Balloon
E ruary 1956 Lake Charles AFB, Louisiana |O Probably Balloon
1 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION 0 Possibly Balloon
i: i O Was Aircraft i
1 x7 { ees Be RB Sh re fr Ne Cl XX Ground- Visual 0 Ground-Radar O Probably Aircraft
3 GMT 07/00102 0 Air Visual O Air-Intercept Radar O Possibly Aircraft
3 SSIAPHOTOS ET a re ee tsi SOURERC He emia sees TO TE ET Le We? Aghronomiedl
3 FoR O Probably Astronomical
E & military O Possibly Astronomical {
3 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE 0, Other_
oo O Insufficient Data for Evaluation i
b ; i 0 Unknown |
: oc 20 minnges 0 CF DORE pn iRknewa fC 0 oo a nk
i 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS :
4 Object appeared to be pentagonal with Balloon sighting. }
4 bright spots at points, Changed to
E triangle bright spots at points, seen : ;
E at approx 30,000 ft. just after sun :
E went down, From other report in same
- area this was a balloon, p |
i
1 ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52)
: : +

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28964795