Pensacola Bay, FloridaJuly 1960

Insufficient Data

Summary

On July 15, 1960, at approximately 0345 (3:45 a.m.), a red hot object about three feet across was seen falling straight down into Pensacola Bay near Pensacola, Florida. The object fell so fast and straight that its exact entry point was hard to pinpoint. Shortly after it hit the water, witnesses heard what sounded like an explosion.

The sighting came from a fisherman working alone in the bay, though the details eventually came from multiple sources. A naval officer on leave and visiting the area had apparently witnessed the event too. Another witness, the captain of a small charter boat, reported seeing a bright object descend and disappear behind mangrove trees before witnessing what he described as a bright flash on the water. A gas station attendant also described seeing a bright orange glow in the sky. Other fishermen on the bay were questioned but reported no observations, likely because most had been out all night and were dozing.

The U.S. Navy at Naval Air Station Pensacola was notified and made an effort to recover the object. The water in the area was about 26 to 30 feet deep with a soft mud bottom that made the search extremely difficult. A specialized search device called a shadow device (a sonar-based detection tool) was deployed, but visibility was poor and the muddy bottom created numerous false targets. After spending approximately $2,722 on the initial recovery attempt, the Navy determined that completing the search would cost roughly $283,000 and require two to three weeks with a minimum of eight divers. Due to a shortage of funds, the recovery effort was abandoned.

The Air Force concluded that the object was probably a meteorite, a large rock from space that had failed to burn up completely as it passed through Earth's atmosphere. The memorandum in the case file notes that it could possibly have been a piece of an artificial satellite, but the apparent size of the object made a meteorite the more likely explanation.

The complete case file, 46 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.

Reported location

Pensacola Bay, Florida

Date of incident

July 1960

State / country

FL / US

Page count

46 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 38

- ER RE —— ORpTR—. : . d "no : ; i a v | HR PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD 1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS | O Woes Bolloon 15 Jul 60 Pensacola Bay, Florida Q Probably Balloon y 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION lit md Bete | 0345 ( O Wes Aiieraft | Local a @ Ground: Visual O Ground-Rodar Q Probably Aircraft Mt O52 22 QO AirVisval O Air-Intercept Radar O Possibly Aiverele 5. PHOTOS y o R O Was Astronomicol O Yes X Probably Astronomical : ] B No Civilian DO Possibly Astronomicol Meteo REPRESEN © UTERO Rad Cate CR RR SRN SSDNA 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE BE DUT ionamin | : O Insufficient Dato for Evaluation not given one descending O Unknown Ee ——— a ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— | 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SICHTING 11. COMMENTS | Red hot objact, which srresared to be three ft An attempt was made to recover the object] in dismeter was seen to fall straight down but with nc success. Due +o about 3 ft of into the waters of Pen:zacols Bay. Shortly after|mud in the bottom of the bay and a the cbject fell, an expleosion-like sound was shortage of funds, the recovery attempt .| heard. was abandoned. Object was probatly a meteorite. ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 82) ) E Sh ad A CM DBA SA i EAE i ia 2 : ’ |