Project Blue Book Case File
Naha AB, Okinawa, August 1961August 1961
Summary
On the night of August 30, 1961, a military officer at Naha Air Base in Okinawa watched approximately twelve separate bright objects move across the sky over a period of five minutes. The objects appeared individually and trailed what looked like a tail roughly four inches long, when held at arm's length. They moved in long, arching curves across the sky, though several of them made sudden angular turns without changing speed. The observer estimated the objects were moving at tremendous velocity.
The Air Force investigator who examined the case noted that the sighting had "all characteristics of a meteor shower." The objects' path and brightness pattern matched the August Perseid meteor shower, which runs from late August into September. The investigator observed that the coordinates of where the witness said the objects originated matched the expected radiant point of the shower. The witness's impression that the objects were moving away from him was likely caused by a visual illusion, the investigator concluded, since meteors always appear to move outward from their point of origin in the sky.
The case file indicates that weather conditions at the time were clear skies with calm surface winds. No other reports of the sighting were received. The investigator found no reason to identify the objects as anything other than meteors and closed the case under that assessment, though the final determination was recorded as unknown. The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives across 24 pages of microfilm.
Reported location
Naha AB, Okinawa, August 1961
Date of incident
August 1961
State / country
? / XX
Page count
24 scanned pages
USAF evaluation
unknown
Microfilm
T1206, Roll 43