On Ship E Of Florida, July 1959July 1959

Insufficient Data

Summary

On July 21, 1959, a crew member aboard the USS Robidoux, a Navy destroyer operating off the coast of Florida, reported seeing an unusual aerial object. The witness observed a bright white light surrounded by an orange glow. The object moved in short, uneven motions and grew larger as it traveled upward across the ship's position. The sighting lasted approximately two and a half minutes.

The witness filled out a detailed Air Force questionnaire in response to an official request from the Air Force Technical Information Center. According to the questionnaire responses, the object appeared to move at an estimated speed of 1,000 to 1,700 miles per hour. The witness circled "Yes" when asked if anyone else saw the object and listed two other crew members from the USS Robidoux as observers. The witness stated in the summary section that the object changed color and appeared to be moving upward and away from the ship's location, with the sighting occurring during daylight conditions near the horizon.

The Air Force initially classified the sighting as unknown but later evaluated it as a possible missile. A memo from Air Force Major Lawrence J. Tacker, dated September 2, 1959, noted that the sighting possessed characteristics of missile sightings and was evaluated as such in the absence of conflicting data. However, the memo also indicated that missile data was not available at that date, leaving the evaluation uncertain.

The complete case file, comprising 14 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.

Reported location

On Ship E Of Florida, July 1959

Date of incident

July 1959

State / country

? / XX

Page count

14 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 36

| ) fi Lg 4 i i gi inet PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD ’ 3 ET 2 LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS 5 0 Was Balloon | i 28 ml 59 Shin T of Florida 00 Probably Balloon i iE ARIE 21S 1iry oh 1 EA 2 Me Se SRI 0; 0 (31 1: ATS TiS old A Ream a as b 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION 0 Possibly Balloon i i ; 3! O Was Aircraft 8 Local A ER pe Ce TRE 3 Sround-Vi sual 0 Ground-Radar 0 Probably Aircraft CMT 04137 O Air Visual 0 Air-Intercept Radar 0 Possibly Aircraft i 1 5. PHOTOS 8. SOURCE 0 Was Astronomical Eo 0 Yes CRE os 5 O Probably Astronomical ! FE ‘BH No Civilian (Student) O Possibly Astronomical E 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE Bc Other__Liigzileg i O Insufficient Data for Evaluation i 2 : p o k 2 1/2 mins 1 inconsistent elie nha | 3 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS Hi L bright white light surrounded by an This sighting is classified as "othe" FE ‘prange glow which changed to white or gray Idssile, Missile data not available at a ns obj moved in short uneven movements. this date however sighting possessed i Obj grew larger as it moved across ship's charactebistics of missile sightings & F sraveling upward. is evaluated as such in absence of 4 conflicting data. | a 3 ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 57) i y / i A ‘ E [ A L a 5 [§ " E