Midwest City, OklahomaJuly 1958

Insufficient Data

Summary

On the night of July 20, 1958, a medical officer stationed at Oklahoma City Air Force Station reported seeing a round, bright white object hovering above Midwest City, Oklahoma. The witness said the object was enormous, appearing nearly 300 feet across. He watched it for about 40 seconds. The object seemed to be spinning and giving off heat waves, he told investigators. It made no sound and hovered in one spot before disappearing toward the due west in three to four seconds.

The Air Force took the report seriously at first. The witness held a position as a medical administrator and was rated very reliable. However, a follow-up investigation by the 33rd Air Division raised doubts about key details. Officials noted that if an object truly the size of a football field had passed over a fairly crowded area, surely others would have seen and reported it. Yet no other sightings were reported by military units, civilian aircraft, radar stations, or ground observation posts in the area.

Investigators also found an explanation. The 6th Weather Squadron at nearby Tinker Air Force Base reported that a weather balloon had been released at 2379 hours (11:59 p.m.) on July 20, 1958, just minutes before the sighting. The balloon was 49 to 12 feet in diameter (OCR text is unclear on exact size) and was equipped with a white light. Winds aloft at 3,000 to 5,900 feet were blowing westward at 7 knots, matching the direction the object disappeared.

The Air Force concluded that the sighting was most likely an optical illusion caused by the planet Jupiter refracting (bending) light as it set on the horizon. The case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, comprising 7 pages.

Reported location

Midwest City, Oklahoma

Date of incident

July 1958

State / country

OK / US

Page count

7 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 33

| | Gru PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD 1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS : 0 Was Balloon ; 20 Jul S58 vidwest City Oklahoma - Aner 14 Soon 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 2. TYPE OF OBSERVATION OBEY Wm 0 Was Aircraft RES - Local — Tyr re A :Ground- Visual 0 Ground-Rodar Q Probably Aircr oft Pn DIR 1 TALL-2 3-0 S— 5157 a QO Air Visual 0 Air-Intercept Radar O Possibly Aircraft 5. PHOTOS . SO n Was Astronomical J aren O Yes Probably Astronomical : wf): No Military 0 Possibly Astronomical 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 3. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE 0 Othetem —n ———— 0 Insufficient Data for Evaluation y 0 Unknown 40 seconds cne West 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING | 11. COMMENTS | Rnd ball shaped obj 200 to 300ft Bright white obj enktting heat {| in diameter, bright white, appeared waves very low on horizon disap- to be spinning & emitting heat waves. pearing in 7_4 secs on due west Appeared to hover in one spot. No course. Planet Jupiter was set- 3 sound. Obj disappeared in 2-3 secs. ting and at azimuth of 270 dgr. Characteristic of refraction of Astro] Case evaluated as refraction of body. planet Jupiter, | " ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52) ) 1 : - |