Mayer, ArizonaApril 1962

Insufficient Data

Summary

In April 1962, a resident of Mayer, Arizona, found some shiny metal strips and reported them to the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a possible UFO sighting. The person wondered what these mysterious pieces might be.

The Air Force quickly identified the strips as chaff, a military countermeasure used during training exercises. Chaff consists of thin metal strips dropped from aircraft in bundles. When released, the strips separate and float slowly downward. Each piece reflects radar signals, making it appear as an aircraft on radar scopes. This helps hide the actual aircraft's movement from enemy radar systems. The Air Force explained that chaff was dropped frequently in the Mayer area during practice missions.

The Air Force concluded that the material submitted for analysis was chaff and noted in their final evaluation that these strips are commonly dropped in the region as part of routine training. No indication appears in the file that the investigation uncovered anything unusual or unidentifiable about the case.

The full case file, consisting of 8 pages, is reproduced below as held by the National Archives.

Reported location

Mayer, Arizona

Date of incident

April 1962

State / country

AZ / US

Page count

8 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 45

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 8

View transcribed text

33 a EWP AE 0 ET  ——— > rs —
’
i ak PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD
1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS Fi
a ‘Was Balloon
RT § 3) adhd SW Mayer, Arizona 0 Probably Balloon
3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION : H Pessimy Gallon
PRs 1 ig 0 ‘Was Aircraft
Loco ooo “13 Ground- Visual 0 Ground-Radar Q Probably Aircraft
GMT nov given Q AirVisuadl 0 Air-Interceapt Radar 0 Possibly Aircraft
5. PHOTOS . SOURCE 0 Was Astronomical
GO Yes O Probably Astronomical
Ne Physical Spep Civilian niet Baral
7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE 0 JE 0) TER GT Tu de lh
0 Insufficient Data for Evaluation
0 Unknown
Oe CT RE ER Se eee Rk 1 2 1 WN ARERR TR reads Se SMAI] Stati oe A GA A TE
10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS
Tin foil strips submitted for andlysig., Chaff, Indications are that
: these strips are drppped
frequently in this area on
training missions. :
ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52)
3 ’

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28996722