Montauk, AFS, New YorkNovember 1958

Insufficient Data

Summary

On November 19, 1958, a radar operator at Montauk Air Force Station in New York detected an unidentified object on his scope. The operator, Airman James A. Frey, worked at the station's SAGE radar facility (a ground-based electronic detection system). He was watching his radar screen when he spotted a target that appeared unusual.

The object showed up as a very small radar return, roughly one-half to three-quarters of an inch long and about as thick as the edge of a dime. According to Frey's observations, the target climbed almost vertically from 55,000 feet to 77,000 feet at a rate of 3,000 to 3,500 feet per minute. It then descended steeply back down to around 50,000 feet at about 4,000 feet per minute, moving slightly east-southeast as it dropped. The entire sighting lasted approximately one hour.

What made this sighting noteworthy was that the object seemed to move against the prevailing winds. The weapons director at Montauk doubted the radar readings were a glitch or false echo (a radar malfunction called anomalous propagation). Because of the unusual behavior, base personnel telephoned Lincoln Laboratories, Suffolk County Air Force Base, New York International Airport, and the 55th Air Division's SAGE control center. None of these agencies could identify the object as known aircraft or as a weather balloon.

By 1964, six years after the sighting, the Air Force's Electronics Directorate reviewed the case. They concluded that there was insufficient information to make a firm analysis, as critical details like the radar range and elevation angle had not been recorded clearly enough. They also noted that the age of the report made further investigation unlikely to be worthwhile. The case file does not contain a final determination of what the object was.

The full case file, consisting of 7 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.

Reported location

Montauk, AFS, New York

Date of incident

November 1958

State / country

NY / US

Page count

7 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 34

§ Ym OF LE Are Em A AI 0 i v0 22 227, SARE SR Bears ORT ARTS SAB EIY) 2 (SE RET 40 ENON PETS ETON NUTR PE A 17 TT dal P > y ArT \ : Rig PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD 1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS / id ; 3 Vas Balloon 19 November 1332 Montauk ARS Naw York O Probably Balloon 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION D Possibly Belloon oh : : % 0 Was Aircraft Lo i RS ps = mes 0 Ground- Visual R;Ground-Rador 00 Probably Aircraft f GMT. fied 1 RA 0 VA a Air-Visual [m] Air-Intercept Radar D Possibly Aircraft 5. PHOTOS 8, SOURCE O Was Astronomical O Yes 0 Probably Astronomical po pis i O Possibly Astronomical hg ; JH No RAL EY hi Re JV [7 p=) 7. LENGTH OF.O355ERYATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE oO Other—icicu tn of 0 Insufficient Dafoe for Evaltction i 0x Unknown approx 1 hour Ono LSE 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING wu rie 11. COMMENTS | dadar return of obj,1,2 © U/< inch | long, as thick as the edge of a dime, GHREDERIITIED, | A yi Hh 21 yo "1 B) 1 N10 T A+ ye Nv g Ad S| La Ci ' pH ‘- 4 ' SETAC 7 oo ¥ Lal | SHER LOU a2 HCA . 0 'J Br Qe J INF NYU Fri LET ¢ V2 3/9) to ¥7,000ft & descended to 50,000ft ’ almost vertically, Obj climbed 30600 fo 3500 FPM & descended 4000 9M. | i 4 t | i ATIC FORM 320 (REV 24 SEP 52) | 3 ARR NRA St Sak Mtl i {aw ;