Norfolk, VirginiaOctober 1953

Insufficient Data

Summary

On October 1, 1953, near Norfolk, Virginia, a military observer reported a balloon-like object. The observer noted that all morning the sky showed other sightings of unknown craft. At around 1:35 p.m., personnel released a balloon at 43,000 feet, which soon lost radar contact. The observer sighted a round object against the sky. During the sighting, an object climbed toward the balloon but then disappeared after a short time. A second sighting occurred three hours later at 4:40 p.m., when three small disks of the same color were seen about 15 minutes apart, one centered 15 minutes away. The Air Force evaluation listed the case as balloon.

Reported location

Norfolk, Virginia

Date of incident

October 1953

State / country

VA / US

Page count

3 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 19

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 3

View transcribed text

1. DATE - TIME GROUP
20 JUN 53 - 0/1753

2. LOCATION
Norfolk, Virginia

3. SOURCE
Military

4. NUMBER OF OBJECTS
ONE

5. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION
15 minutes (approx.)

6. TYPE OF OBSERVATION
Air-Visual

7. COURSE
3 Horizon

8. PHOTOS
Yes [checked]
No

9. PHYSICAL SURFACE
20 Oct
Yes [checked]
No

10. CONCLUSION
BALLOON

11. BRIEF SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS
All thru morning the sky for other a/c sighted - Balloon launched at 1350Z c... Norfolk Va, 43,000 ft at which Z contact no lost. All morning a/c sighted round object 3 sec white disk at 1435 min. During that Z it climbed toward object but disappeared after short time. At 2140z observed 3 small disks same color about size of approx one centimeter apart 15 minutes between disks apart 240 degrees bearing from [illegible].

Norfolk, Va. | Balloon | [g-6]

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28956667