Montauk AFS, LI, N.Y., November 1959November 1959

Insufficient Data

Summary

On the night of November 5, 1959, a radar operator at Montauk Air Force Station on Long Island, New York, tracked an object on radar for about 10 minutes. The sighting was made by ground radar, with no visual.

The target appeared as a small blip about one-eighth of an inch wide on the radar screen. It was first seen at an azimuth of 282 degrees, a range of 40 miles, and an altitude of about 68,000 feet. It steadily climbed to a range of 43 miles and an azimuth of 286 degrees, reaching about 78,200 feet at fadeout, then faded to the west.

A weather balloon had been released from a nearby airport earlier that evening. The report said the wind conditions and the balloon's rate of climb pointed to an excellent chance the radar target and the balloon were the same object. The Air Force record card lists the conclusion as balloon. This was part of Project 10073, the Air Force's official record for unidentified flying object reports.

Reported location

Montauk AFS, LI, N.Y., November 1959

Date of incident

November 1959

State / country

? / XX

Page count

5 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 37

41. DATE - TIME GROUP 2, LOCATION 5 November 59 06/001p7 Montauk AFS, LI, N.Y. | 3, SOURCE 10. CONCLUSION Military BALLOON | 4. NUMBER OF OBJECTS bd El i The objects flight path is characteristic of a balloon 5. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION |11. BRIEF SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS 10 Minutes Radar blip, 1/8th" wide on radar screen. It was sfeadily 6. TYPE OF CR3ERVATION climbing to a range of 43 miles and azimuth of 286 w/an alt } at fadeout of 78,200 feet, ; Growmd=-Nadar 7. COURSE Ascending : 3. PHOTOS 0 Yes Ne 9. PHYSICAL EVIDENCE 0 Yos SNe FORM FTD szp ¢3 0-329 (TDE) Previous sditions of this form taay be used,