Salton Sea, CaliforniaMarch 1955

Unidentified

Summary

On March 13, 1955, near Salton Sea, California, a military pilot observed one round, silver object. The pilot of a B-47 aircraft flying 30 miles north of the Salton Sea reported the sighting. The object was visible for three minutes and appeared to fade into the distance. The B-47 was heading south at 281 degrees at 425,000 feet altitude. The Air Force concluded the object had characteristics of a balloon. The fact that the observer saw the object for only three minutes could be accounted for by the B-47 heading in a direction somewhat opposite from the object's course.

Reported location

Salton Sea, California

Date of incident

March 1955

State / country

CA / US

Page count

3 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 22

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 3

View transcribed text

UFOB INDEX CARD

1. DATE
13 March 1955

3. DATE-TIME GROUP
Local _______________
GMT 18/1242 March 1955

5. PHOTOS
[X] Yes
[ ] No

7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION
Three (3) minutes

10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING
One (1) round, silver object, the size of a dime held at arm's length, was observed by the pilot of a B-47 type a/c 30 miles north of the Salton Sea, California. The object seemed to fade into the distance after a period of three (3) minutes. B-47 heading was 281' at 425K.

2. LOCATION
Salton Sea, California

4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION
[ ] Ground-Visual [ ] Ground-Radar
[X] Air-Visual [ ] Air-Intercept Radar

6. SOURCE
Military (Pilot)

8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS 9. COURSE
One (1) Due South

12. CONCLUSIONS
[ ] Was Balloon
[X] Probably Balloon
[ ] Possibly Balloon
[ ] Was Aircraft
[ ] Probably Aircraft
[ ] Possibly Aircraft
[ ] Was Astronomical
[ ] Probably Astronomical
[ ] Possibly Astronomical
[ ] Other ___________
[ ] Insufficient Data for Evaluation
[ ] Unknown

11. COMMENTS
Object has characteristics of a balloon. The fact that the observer saw the object for a period of only three (3) minutes could be accounted for by the fact that the B-47 was heading in a somewhat opposite direction from the course of the object.

AISOP Form 5 (15 Oct 54)

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28961532