Las Cruces AFS, New MexicoFebruary 1957

Unidentified

Summary

On February 7, 1957, at Las Cruces Air Force Station in New Mexico, radar operators detected 54 unidentified objects on their screens between 7:05 a.m. and 12:22 p.m. The targets appeared on radar traveling from north toward the station at speeds of 40 to 160 knots at altitudes of 6 to 14 degrees. The objects disappeared after moving north of the station. Fighter aircraft were scrambled but made no visual contact. An Air Force investigation concluded that the sighting was caused by anomalous propagation brought on by a temperature inversion in the atmosphere. The duration of the observation was 1 hour and 39 minutes.

Reported location

Las Cruces AFS, New Mexico

Date of incident

February 1957

State / country

NM / US

Page count

3 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 27

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 3

View transcribed text

PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD

1. DATE: 7 February 1957

2. LOCATION: Las Cruces AFS, New Mexico

3. DATE-TIME GROUP: Label GMT 07/10537

4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION: [X] Ground-Radar

5. PHOTOS: [X] Yes / [  ] No

6. SOURCE: Military

7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION: 1 hr 39 mins

8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS: 54

9. COURSE: see below

10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING: This sighting was classified For reference IR-01-57 from D/I, 34th Air Div (DEF).

12. CONCLUSIONS:
[  ] Was Balloon
[  ] Probably Balloon
[  ] Possibly Balloon
[  ] Was Aircraft
[  ] Probably Aircraft
[  ] Possibly Aircraft
[  ] Was Astronomical
[  ] Probably Astronomical
[  ] Possibly Astronomical
[X] Was anomalous
[  ] Other
[  ] Insufficient Data for Evaluation
[  ] Unknown

11. COMMENTS: Concur with Reporting Officer that this sighting was caused by Anomalous Propagation brought on by a temperature inversion.

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28968912