Offutt AFB, NebraskaJuly 1953

On July 20, 1953, two radar operators at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska detected three unidentified objects on their radar screen at 2135 (9:35 p.m.). The two airmen, both experienced specialists assigned to the base's weather group, were operating a rawin set, a radar device used to track weather balloons. The strongest of the three radar blips was tracked continuously until 2143 (9:43 p.m.).

The radar operators reported that the echo from the unidentified object was significantly stronger than the return they were getting from their standard rawin target, which consisted of a cardboard frame about five feet square covered with aluminum foil. Both men were considered reliable and had sufficient experience to distinguish a solid object's radar signature from a weather phenomenon like rain. When they compared the object's speed and direction to the wind patterns measured aloft at that time, they concluded the object appeared to be falling while drifting with the wind. At 2135, the rawin target sat at 55,000 feet while the unidentified object registered at 40,300 feet.

The base's weather officer noted that no meteorological explanation could account for the sighting. An F-31 aircraft equipped with radar (an AC and W unit) was alerted at 2140 and given the tracking data, but the aircraft's radar operators were unable to locate the object themselves. No other aircraft traffic was reported in the altitude range during the incident, and no photographs or physical evidence of the sighting exists.

The Air Force headquarters reviewing the case stated it was unable to evaluate the report. The full case file, as held by the National Archives, comprises 10 pages.