Mitchell AFB, New YorkJanuary 1953

On January 28, 1953, at around 10:35 p.m., several residents of Long Island, New York, and one observer in Pennsylvania witnessed a bright, fireball-shaped object traveling from north to south. The sighting lasted roughly five to ten seconds. The object appeared cream-colored or pale yellow to most observers, though one reported it as green with an orange tint. Those who watched through optical aids saw it traverse a clear path across the night sky. All observers noted it was unlike anything they had seen before.

The object was sighted from four separate locations: Terryville, Lake Ronkonkomo, and Mitchell Air Force Base, all on Long Island, as well as from the vicinity of Tamaqua, Pennsylvania. The witnesses included an amateur astronomer and radio operator, a housewife, and two operations dispatchers at Mitchell AFB. Witnesses reported the object traveling at various angles and described its motion as rapid and uniform. Cloud cover over the area at the time ranged from light to scattered, with altitudes between 4,000 and 7,000 feet.

The Air Force investigation noted that Dr. Charles F. Olivieri, director of the Lower Observatory near Port Jervis, New York, received a report of the same sighting around the same time. Olivieri, an authority on meteor activity, concluded that the object was almost certainly a "bright fireball, which is a perfectly normal body." Given Olivieri's prominence in the field of meteor study and his assessment of the sighting, the Air Force's technical analysis suggests the object was likely an astronomical phenomenon rather than an unknown craft.

The Air Force classified this case as unidentified, though its investigation strongly pointed toward a natural explanation as a meteor fireball. The full case file of 20 pages is reproduced below as held by the National Archives.