Lanett, AlabamaMarch 1961

Insufficient Data

Summary

On March 5, 1961, a civilian in Lanett, Alabama, reported a fast moving object at 12:21 p.m. Eastern time. The witness was sitting in a backyard swing facing north and looked up at about 45 to 50 degrees. The object moved from southwest to northeast at high altitude. It made no noise and left no vapor trail. It looked orange with silver near the edges and was round or disk shaped, about the size of Venus. The witness said it traveled about four times as fast as the satellite Echo I. The sighting lasted about one minute. The witness identified himself as a private pilot.

On Project 10073, the Air Force's official record for unidentified flying object reports, the comments said the object was probably Echo I, viewed near the horizon, which can make a satellite seem faster overhead. There was no evidence it was not Echo I, though Space Track data was not obtained to confirm it.

Reported location

Lanett, Alabama

Date of incident

March 1961

State / country

AL / US

Page count

4 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 41

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 4

View transcribed text

oo PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD =~ | |
|. pate 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS |
; : 0 Was Balloo
5 Mar 61 Lanett, Alabama 0 Probably Balloon |
3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4 TYPE OF OBSERVATION And all |
er 8 Ground- Visual O Ground-Rodar : o Probebly Airer oft |
gE AE fe TR QO Air Visual O Air-intercept Radar O Possibly Aireraft
5. PHOTOS . SOURCE O Was Astronomical |
a Yes O Probably Astronomical
Ne Civilian OD Possibly Astronomical
7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION | 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE |& Other__Echo I |
y : O Insufficient Date for Evaluation
L min 1 NE 3 Unknown |
| [10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING Objt like Echo I only |''- COMMENTSIF first view of Echo by |
4 times as fast viewed from 45-50° elev in witness was made when Satellite was
SW. No noise, on vapor trail. Orange with sillver-: toward horizon, appearance over- 2
edges, round or disk shaped. Size of Venus. |head would lead observer to believe thaf
speed was much greater. No evidence to indi-i
| cate that this was not Echo I, although |
data not obtained frcm Space Track to
confirm this as a positive sighting cof
\ Echo I.

ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52)

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28991757