Richmond, VirginiaApril 1956

Insufficient Data

Summary

On April 21, 1956, several civilians and two military Ground Observer Corps members at Richmond, Virginia, reported one object. The report came in by letter and was filed under Project 10073, the Air Force's official record for unidentified flying object reports.

The object was round on top and came to a point at the bottom, about the size of a basketball at arm's length. It was a light, translucent, silvery color and looked like a balloon. It moved slowly to the northeast at a high altitude and gradually disappeared. It was seen through two telescopes, one of 35 power. A light aircraft was sent to 6,000 feet to observe it. An F-94C made a short search of the area with negative results.

The Air Force concluded the sighting was caused by a balloon.

Reported location

Richmond, Virginia

Date of incident

April 1956

State / country

VA / US

Page count

1 scanned page

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 25

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 1

View transcribed text

PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD |

1. DATE : LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS

i Was Boll

| 21 April 1956 Richmond, Virginia Probably Balloon

"| oATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION ? 0 Tesslily Balloon

E oy pe NE EWN X3Ground- Vi sual O Ground-Radar Bi gakauemte

/ oMT_21/1539Z to 1836Z | X¥ Air Visual © 0 Air-Intercept Radar |B Possibly Aircraft

5. PHOTOS ..S0

| Q Yes ivilian - five people - GOC|D Fetal amccr ca

XNo Military - two people - GO O Possibly Astronomical :
7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE Bi DR eden

: | 1 Iau Stam Dato for Evaluation
3 approximately one hour one northeast a |
10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS :

One object, round on top soming to a Concur with the Commander,
E point at the bottom, size of a basket Richmond Air Defense Filter

i ball at arm's length, light translu- Center, that this sighting
i cent silvery color, and appeared to was undoubtedly caused by a

3 be a balloon, Moved slowly to the north-/balloon. Received by letter,

] east at a high altitude & gradually 26 “pril 1956,

disappeared, Seen through 2 telescopes,

| one of 35 power, A light aircraft fm

3 a nearby field sent to 6,000 feet to

i observe the object but seemed to

q closer than when on the ground, F-94C

1 made short search of area with nega- 4

i g_Iresults No Report In File

1 ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SRP 52)

1 |

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28965423