Red Oak, IowaDecember 1955

On December 18, 1955, at 7:22 p.m., a 15-year-old high school student working as a relief observer at a Ground Observer Corps post in Red Oak, Iowa, saw an unusual object flash across the sky. The object glowed white, then changed to red and blue. It appeared about the size of an automobile headlight and seemed to be only about one block away. The student watched it for about 15 seconds as it moved almost straight downward, then slowly burned itself out.

The same object was seen by others that evening. A control tower operator at Kansas City Municipal Airport in Missouri saw it flash up to the west of the tower at nearly the same time. A Braniff Airways pilot flying near Kansas City also spotted a large greenish object to the west-northwest while his plane was at about 3,000 feet. Both men watched the object for several seconds before it appeared to burn out before reaching the ground.

The Air Force investigation that followed was thorough. Investigators contacted the University of Kansas at Kansas City, checked weather records, and spoke with the Kansas City Weather Bureau. They discovered that a railroad worker in Humbolt, Nebraska, reported hearing loud to moderate explosions at the time of the sighting. This led them to contact Dr. C. B. Schultz, the Director of the University of Nebraska Museum, and Dr. Lincoln La Paz, a noted meteor expert from New Mexico. These experts concluded the object was definitely a meteorite. They believed its tail exploded near Humbolt but the main body struck the earth south of Beatrice, Nebraska. The timing and descriptions from all three observation points, separated by miles, lined up perfectly when the experts triangulated the sighting.

The Air Force concluded the sighting was caused by a meteorite of unusual size. The investigators noted that the object's brightness, its short observation period, and its downward trajectory all matched what would be expected from a large meteor. The apparent explosion heard in Humbolt fit with what meteor experts would expect. The fact that observers near the horizon thought the object burned out while those farther west saw it differently could be explained by atmospheric haze near the horizon.

The full case file, including witness statements, weather analysis, and investigative findings, is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, spanning 11 pages.