Rosallia, Washington (20 Min S.Spokane), February 1953February 1953

On February 6, 1953, a B-36 bomber flying near Spokane, Washington encountered something that would puzzle its crew for years. Around 9:13 a.m., Major Leo J. Moffatt, piloting the aircraft at seven thousand feet near the town of Rosalia, saw a round white light below him. The object was traveling on a southeast course at an estimated speed of 150 to 200 miles per hour. It circled several times and climbed as it moved, all while emitting a steady glow that occasionally began to flash at one-to-two-second intervals as it sped up and disappeared on a southerly heading.

Moffatt watched the light for three to five minutes. The B-36 made a 120-degree descending turn to get a closer look, but the crew could not make out any details beyond the white light itself. No sound was heard. No propulsion system was visible. No exhaust trail marked the sky. The object simply vanished.

An Air Force investigator quickly identified a likely explanation: thirteen minutes before the sighting, the U.S. Weather Bureau station at nearby Fairchild Air Force Base had released a weather balloon (called a "piball"). Winds at seven to ten thousand feet were blowing from about 270 degrees magnetic at approximately fifty knots per hour. Mathematical calculations showed that winds in that area would have carried the balloon southeast and placed it over Rosalia in roughly fifteen minutes. The balloon's white running lights would explain the steady glow and the flashing described by the pilot. The characteristic climb and circling pattern of the UFO matched what a balloon typically does as it rises through the air. The Air Force concluded that the unidentified object was almost certainly the piball balloon.

The full case file, held by the National Archives, spans 23 pages as reproduced here.