Panama City, Florida AREA, March 1953March 1953

On March 25, 1953, at about 3 p.m. Central Standard Time, a woman sitting in her home near Panama City, Florida, looked out a window and saw a circular, shiny object flying straight and level toward the city. She watched it for about three seconds before it disappeared from view. She was the only person to report the sighting, and because the object was quite far away, she could not judge how high it was flying or how distant it actually was.

The woman told Air Force investigators that the sun was shining away from the window, casting a reflection of the object on the glass. She noted no aerodynamic features, exhaust, engine sound, or maneuvering. When she tried to get a better look by rushing to her front door, the object was already gone. In her written statement, she acknowledged that it could possibly have been a very fast jet aircraft.

The investigating officer from Tyndall Air Force Base noted that at least thirty jet aircraft were airborne in the general area of Panama City at the time of the sighting. The approach pattern those jets typically flew was in line with the direction the woman reported seeing the object travel. The officer concluded that the object could have been the reflection of a jet, a possibility the woman herself had mentioned.

The Air Force classified the case as "unknown" in its official evaluation. The complete case file, spanning 14 pages of documents held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.