Modesto, CaliforniaMarch 1955

Unidentified

Summary

In March 1955, near Modesto, California, an observer reported a square, white object. It was about the size of a basketball held at arm's length. The object was seen to appear and fade over about two hours and seemed to circle.

The Air Force said the description closely matched searchlight activity. A nearby airport and the use of rotating searchlights for events such as movie premieres were given as the probable cause.

The case is recorded under Project 10073, the Air Force's official record for unidentified flying object reports.

Reported location

Modesto, California

Date of incident

March 1955

State / country

CA / US

Page count

1 scanned page

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 22

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 1

View transcribed text

| PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD :
I. DATE tds RARE REE TCT ee ei CRE | ET ES
FRETS Gia 5 0 Vos Balloon
26 March 1906 =~ ~~ | Modesto, California _ 0 Probably Balloon
3. DATE-1IME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION TA Naan Belson
: Ubedicig aoe 8 AK Ground- Visual 0 Ground-Radar a ij Rel oN
€y rr vv . .
GMT_ 27 /033 RETR : 0 Air Vi sual 0 Air-Intercept Radar DO Possibly Aircraft
5. PHOTOS 6. SOURCE 0 Was Astronomical
O Yes 0 Probobly Astronomical
. 3 ME (®] si ic
Salis SS | RE EE RTE ee Te CR Possibly Astronomical
7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE AXOtherSearchliohe
3 O Insufficient Dota for Evaluation
; : [3 Urknown
EL ER BRE ho GRO 1 Ie [U6 ol BE 1 CSN A
10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS
One square, white, object size of a Source's description of the
basketball held at arm's length was object closely follows that of
observed to appear and fade for a searchlight activity, Nearby
period of approx two hours, Object Modest airport and the possibilit:
| seemed to circle. of rotating searchlights used
for openings of movie premiers, i |
etc. are the probable cause of
sighting,
] ;
No Report In File,
ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52)

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28961617