Marietta & Duncannon, PennsylvaniaDecember 1960

Insufficient Data

Summary

On December 14, 1960, civilians at Marietta and Duncannon, Pennsylvania, reported an object at 0550 (5:50 a.m.) local. They described a round object the size of a softball. One witness saw it as blue and red, another as blue and white. One witness said the object left a trail at least 10 miles long. It moved across the sky from west to east and faded out in the east. One witness thought it dropped behind buildings at an Air Force station, but found nothing there. The sighting lasted 5 to 10 seconds. The sky was clear. A pilot near Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, separately saw a meteor at about the same time and had no doubt it was a meteor. The Air Force listed the case as a meteor of the fireball class, noting the witness's belief that it landed could be explained as an illusion.

Reported location

Marietta & Duncannon, Pennsylvania

Date of incident

December 1960

State / country

PA / US

Page count

6 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 41

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 6

View transcribed text

p BE a ——————— hid
;
en PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD
EE — ————————~ ——————————'. — ts tr. WE 0 GH SO 0 0 Ft SE 0 i A 8 Al 5 AES HO 5. et HD 1 0 FS A SA eit SR.
| [ 1. DATE 2. LOCATION ig CONCLUSIONS
: LY Dac 60 Mariecta & Duncannon, PennosvlivaniiD Ves Bolloon
; X 3 Probobly Bolloon
: ¥ RE SR Es dA Eo ERE TT gE EY EE ET or amr —— > si b ¢
3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION rh tbincorkiod, il conte
0550 , 0D Was Aiicraft
{ TT SRE. PSL Sr Se J Ground-Yizsual O Ground-Rodar te ge Snag
: ey : of 0 Proboebly Aireralt
14% /1.0507 i
Bs: OMT emt V2 04 we O AirYisudl 0 Alrelntarcspt Rodar 0 Possibly Aireroft
5. PHOTOS 8. SOURCE 0 Wos Astronomical :
O Yes Civilian 3. Probably Astrenomicol [>t 202
é No vavddia J Possibly Astronomical
| 7. LENGTH OF C35Z2YATION 8. NUMBER OF O3JECTS | 9. COURSE CE TOC em——"
0 Insufficient Dota for Evaluation
a a 0 Unknown
JRL SeC one Ve of +
10, BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 1h. COMMENTS
found object size of mush ball. Blue and red-- | It was not considered unusual for the wii
| one witnzss; blue and white--ancther witness. ness to indicate that the object had
L One witness stated object left a trail at landed. Brightness of these neteors leavek
least 10 miles long. us with the impression that they are n ol
| y closer than they really ere. This is due |
to the judgment of distance being estimatpa
from the brightness as related to other
meteors, Object of this sighthg displayed
3 salient characteristics of a mateor of tl 4
Fireball class.
— —— ———— a ——— —— a  — — 0, — tp — A — > ————— — —— ————— ————————  ————— ——— i —— ———— — — ——— A] — | ——— O_O ———— ———— CT ————. —
] ATIC FORM 329% (REV 26 SEP 2D)

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28990489