Project Blue Book Case File
Maxwell AFB, AlabamaJanuary 1961
Summary
On the night of January 23, 1961, multiple witnesses at and near Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama saw a bright blue or blue-white object streak across the sky. The object appeared round or disc-like, roughly the size of a half-dollar to a basketball. It was moving from east to west, or possibly southeast to northwest, and disappeared after burning out in the atmosphere, apparently over the Gulf of Mexico. The entire sighting lasted only about two seconds.
The object first appeared at roughly 180 degrees from true north at an angle of 45 to 60 degrees above the horizon. It disappeared at the same bearing but at a lower angle of 30 degrees. One observer estimated the object's speed at 450 miles per hour or faster. Another guessed its altitude at above 30,000 feet. The Air Force interviewed multiple witnesses at Maxwell and received reports from observers in Montgomery, Alabama, who also saw the event.
The Air Force concluded that the sighting was consistent with a meteor entering Earth's atmosphere. The file notes that the large number of witnesses suggested it was a fairly large meteor that burned up at a lower altitude before reaching the ground. The case was marked as "unknown" in the official evaluation, though the technical summary leans heavily toward the meteor explanation.
The full case file, comprising 10 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.
Reported location
Maxwell AFB, Alabama
Date of incident
January 1961
State / country
AL / US
Page count
10 scanned pages
USAF evaluation
unknown
Microfilm
T1206, Roll 41