New Baden, IllinoisSeptember 1954

Unidentified

Summary

On September 18, 1954, a civilian reported an object near New Baden, Illinois. The witness was a senior engineer at Scott Air Force Base who was fishing for bass in the early morning. The sighting lasted about 6 seconds.

The object looked like a rectangular box about the size of a car, but with squared off corners. It had a red and pinkish glow in the upper left and a green and blue glow over the rest, as bright as a fluorescent light. It was seen low in the sky to the south southeast and seemed to be approaching the observer before it disappeared behind trees. No sound was heard.

The Air Force record listed the conclusion as a possible meteor, based on the short duration and glowing look, but noted the description was too brief for a firm answer. The case was filed under Project 10073, the Air Force's official record for unidentified flying object reports.

Reported location

New Baden, Illinois

Date of incident

September 1954

State / country

IL / US

Page count

3 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 21

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 3

View transcribed text

F J
;
va : : PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD § :
I. DATE Se ~ 2. LOCATION oo 12. CONCLUSIONS :
: . x SHE \ 0 Was Balloon : .
12 September 1954 New Baden, Illinois O Probably Balloon
3. DATE-TINE GROUP 4 TYPE OF OBSERVATION J FoesblyCelgen
| i ; af O Was Aircraft : :
Local CE TE x Ground-Vi sual o Ground-Radar O Probably Aircraft |
oMt___18/10107 O Air Visual DO Air-Intercept Rader |G Possibly Alrcraft
8. PHOTOS I SESE o 3 ER j y Rts O Was Astronomical
: O Yes O Probably Astronomical
No X © Civilian O Possibly Astronomical
; 7. LENGTH OF OBSERYATION y ‘8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE 2 jo 55 0} iy He Ea EER Col Cae)
: aR] [ere 1'& Insufficient Data for Evaluation
6 Seconds hl 4 O Unknown .
10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING : 11. COMMENTS Rs FR
Rectangular box, size cof auto, Red and Possible meteor based on duration
pinkish glow in uppsr left, remainder blue and luminous appearance, however,
glow, Flourescent., 10 deg elev in SSE description too brief for firm analysis.
disappearing behind {rees. Appeared he be Insufficient data. ~~ i
approaching obssrrer,
+ ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52) :
4 k)

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28959568