Okahoma City, OklahomaMay 1956

In early May 1956, three separate witnesses in the Oklahoma City area reported seeing an unusual orange-colored object in the sky. All three accounts were investigated by the U.S. Air Force and filed in Project Blue Book, the official UFO investigation program.

The main sighting occurred on May 6, 1956, between 10:10 p.m. and 11:05 p.m. central standard time. A young Air Force officer was outside his home when he spotted a teacup-shaped, translucent object glowing intensely with orange light in the northwest sky. He watched it for roughly 50 minutes, traveling by car for about 40 minutes while keeping the object in sight. The object appeared rimmed with individual lights and moved in a zig-zag pattern, darting north and west in sharp, quick turns. Through binoculars, it looked sharply outlined and roughly the size of a dime held at arm's length. The brightness resembled an automobile headlight two city blocks away. There was no sound, exhaust trail, or smoke.

Two other witnesses, a retired physician and a lumber retailer, also observed the same object from different locations that evening. Both described it as round or bowl-shaped, with a rim of lights, hovering in small areas before slowly moving westward and disappearing. The physician watched for 8 to 12 minutes, while the retailer observed for about 50 minutes. All three witnesses used binoculars. Weather at the time included scattered clouds, warm and dry conditions, and a slight breeze. A tornado alert was in effect in the area.

The investigators checked all nearby Air Force bases, civil airports, and the Radar Approach Control Unit at Tinker Air Force Base. No conventional aircraft were in the area, though radar did detect a slow-moving aircraft flying southwest. Astronomers and telescope operators in the region were contacted with no results. Weather balloons were not present in the area during the sighting. Tinker AFB Weather Service reported two temperature inversions present during the sighting period. The preparing officer concluded the sighting was probably an optical phenomenon distorted by atmospheric conditions, possibly the star Capella. The Air Force evaluator agreed, noting the characteristics of the sightings could be explained as a probable optical phenomena, and the file suggests Capella's position (12 degrees elevation, 320 degrees azimuth) at the time supports this conclusion.

The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, 39 pages in total.