New York, New YorkDecember 1960

Unidentified

Summary

In December 1960, someone in New York reported seeing an unusual object in the night sky. The object displayed red and green flickering lights and appeared roughly the size of a pea held at arm's length, making it noticeably brighter than the surrounding stars. The sighting lasted about five minutes and twenty seconds. The witness watched as the object moved from northeast to east before it rose upward and disappeared from view, seeming to grow smaller as it climbed.

The initial Air Force evaluation noted that the object's characteristics, including its red and green flashing lights, speed, and other observable features, were consistent with aircraft. However, the case file also mentions that as the object faded from view, it resembled a balloon about the size of a B-29 (a large military transport aircraft). The official Air Force conclusion recorded on the case card was "unidentified," with a note suggesting it was probably an aircraft.

The case was forwarded to the Aerospace Technical Intelligence Center at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio for further analysis in August 1961, roughly eight months after the sighting was reported. Beyond this referral and the initial observations, the available OCR text does not provide additional investigation details or witness interviews.

The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, comprising 8 scanned pages.

Reported location

New York, New York

Date of incident

December 1960

State / country

NY / US

Page count

8 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 41

. n | — PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD iE | | 1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS 27 December, 1960 New York, New York O Wes Belloon O Probebly Bolloon | 3. DATETIME GROUP 4 TYPE OF OBSERVATION 0 Possibly Bellosn | Locel 2L20 Te J Was Aivcroft i 3/0020 ys round- Visyel scope Ground-Reder &® Probably Aircraft omt_28/02202 B71 0) — 0 AirVisvel O Air-Intercept Rodor O Possibly Aireroht 5. PHOTOS d R 0 Wes Astronomical Q Yes O Probably Astronomical & Ne Civilian |G Possibly Astronomicol 7. LENGTH OF DSSERVATION 3. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE 0 OINGF mmm . 5 O Insufficient Doto for Evaluation 5 min 20 econds One NE to Bast O Unknown | 10. BRIEF SUNNARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS | Red and Green flickering 1lizhts, brighter Probably an A/C, Red and green flashing 1. than the packground of stars, size of a pe lights, size speed ani other characherils= at, oym's length. Object disappeared from tics confarm tO a/c observation. view by rising which made it seem smallers Faded from Views looked like a balloon about the size of a B=29. 1 ATIC FORM 129 (REV 26 SEP $2)