NNW of Lebreville, Africa, August 1960August 1960

On August 22, 1960, the crew of a C-124 transport plane flying northwest of Lebreville, West Africa, spotted something unusual in the sky. Major Warren L. Carruthers and First Lieutenant James J. Good, flying at 10,500 feet, watched a round orange object about the size of a volleyball appear directly ahead of them. The object was moving in a southerly direction and descending.

Within four seconds, the object exploded in a brilliant flash at an estimated altitude of 20,000 to 30,000 feet. The flash was at least two feet wide when viewed at arm's length. After the explosion, the crew saw a bluish-green trail arc across the sky for about two seconds. That trail then turned into a whitish-gray cloud, estimated at five feet long and one foot tall when held at arm's length. The crew watched this cloud slowly disperse in the wind for nine minutes. They calculated that the flash and cloud formed about 50 nautical miles away from their aircraft.

The crew reported the sighting to Congo Airways shortly after it happened. Over the next several hours, other air stations requested more details about what they had seen. The aircraft commander noted that the object did not look like a meteor to him, comparing it instead to the Soviet Sputnik satellite he had previously observed. However, the Air Force intelligence officer who filed the report considered other possibilities.

The Air Force concluded that the witnesses probably saw a bolide, a type of bright meteor that enters Earth's atmosphere and explodes. The analysis notes that a meteor burning during daylight hours can leave a visible trail effect impossible to see at night. The size, shape, and speed of the object ruled out other explanations like a missile or a reentering satellite. The case file records that the evaluation was "unknown," though the analysis section leans toward the meteor explanation.

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