Plymouth, North CarolinaJanuary 1959

Insufficient Data

Summary

On January 10, 1959, a civilian near Plymouth, North Carolina, reported an exploding object in the sky. The witness was a truck driver doing volunteer satellite watching duty. The duration was not clearly given.

The observer saw one object approach as a white ball, moving from the northeast toward the southwest. As it neared, it burst into many colors and particles began falling away. It followed a flat trajectory at low altitude.

The Air Force first lacked enough information and mailed a questionnaire, but no completed reply was received. Even so, the record card concluded the object was astronomical. Officials said the general description matched a bright fireball type of meteor, and that two meteor showers occurred during this period.

Reported location

Plymouth, North Carolina

Date of incident

January 1959

State / country

NC / US

Page count

5 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 35

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 5

View transcribed text

" | PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD i id:
1. DATE 2 LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
, O Wes Balloon
10 Jan 59 Plymouth, North Carolina O Probably Balleon
3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4 TYPE OF OBSERVATION »_ Toousy Semen
1810 ‘ ? O Was Aircraft
TPES A — XX Ground-Visvol O Ground-Radar a Probably Aircraft
emMT12/2 O Air Visul O Air-Intercept Radar |D Possibly Aircraft |
S. PHOTOS KX Was Astronomicolieteor [
O Yes ‘ O Probably Astronomical
0 No Civilian on "Moonwatch" O Possibly Astronomical
7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE BD TT tn ——
o Ra Date for Evaluation
not given one exploding - = = ——
10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 1. COMMENTS
Observer on "Moonwatch" duty observed Although duration omitted obj
| an obj exploding. It approached as a white of the sighting and general descrip-
ball from NE going Si, is it neared the tion indicate conform to a "bolida"
observer it burst into muy colors and type meteor, Additional informatinn
particles started falling away. Flat trajec- requested however no reply was recei 2d
tory. Low alt, The limited information available
ds considered sufficient to evaluate
the case 25 a meteor sighting.
ATIC FORM 329 (REV 2¢ SRP 33)
. /
: : . '}
; sak g— RD "

/ 5

Use ← → keys to navigate · scans hosted by the U.S. National Archives

Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28981700