Miami Beach, Fla., November 1957November 1957

Insufficient Data

Summary

On November 17, 1957, a civilian aircraft mechanic near Riverside, California saw a bright purple-maroon object streak across the sky above Norton Air Force Base. The object left a crooked trail of smoke as it moved. The witness watched it for about four seconds before the object faded, but the smoke trail remained visible for five more minutes.

The Air Force received a report of the sighting and investigated it as a possible unidentified flying object. Based on the object's appearance, its brief duration, and the distinctive smoke trail it left behind, the Air Force concluded the sighting was most likely a meteor. No other details about the investigation appear in the case file.

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

Reported location

Miami Beach, Fla., November 1957

Date of incident

November 1957

State / country

? / XX

Page count

8 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 30

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 8

View transcribed text

: ye aos EEE————— TO — Bt a bt RI A TE RT TRE ERT IOS pT 4 dw a rr
: UFCB INDEX CARD yas |
y ATSS-UFOB=H12~=57 :
2 rn eo . LOCATION 112. CONCLUSIONS :
LL OATE 7) floor JS hess | r
. |g Was Balloon Ca
fy—Jan=—5 ~~ Miami Beach, Fla. R Probably Balloon a
tn ne NE IEEE, er - . “5
3. DATE-TIME GROUP " TYPE OF OBSERVATION Possimy Bamtoon E
H a Ww At fr A s P
17/01502 Nov 57 Ex Ground- Visual 0 Ground-Rador a Brabably Aireroft CF
: sihoblgd =
| OQ Air- Visual O Air-Intercept Radar | 0 Possibly Aircroit a. i
Lh eae e
5. PHOTOS 6. SOURCE 0 Was Astronomical ae
0 Yes @) Probably Astronamical Re
TEER I, Le 4 0 Possibly Astronomical 5
7. LENGTH OF CBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9- COURSE 0 OMe es i:
0 Insufficient Data for Eva'uztion %:
Ten minutes One Un O Unknown :
Ce ROT Re BR eR Fe
To. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS 2
Ona round red, white and blue objach the Description, duration, flight path %
siza of a penny. Object wasxseen moving up indicate that this sighting was protasly 3
and out of sight and was in sight for 10 minsq a balloon. 4
i
| Ce
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AISOP Form 5 (15 Oct 54) Sy SAS
p pik A A SA BR RD iat EAS ans i Tp rl SRE Eee RE TT REA VI (CPR ; : :
Lag i 4

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28974899