SE of Paine Field, WashingtonJanuary 1961

Unidentified

Summary

On January 15, 1961, southeast of Paine Field, Washington, a military pilot flying a T-33 aircraft at 35,000 feet observed a brilliant white object that resembled a strong spotlight. The object exploded, and a large portion of sky lit up with considerable orange and blue coloring in the explosion. The pilot reported no sound during the sighting, which lasted approximately five seconds. The object appeared level with the pilot's position. The Air Force evaluation was unidentified.

Reported location

SE of Paine Field, Washington

Date of incident

January 1961

State / country

WA / US

Page count

3 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 41

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 3

View transcribed text

PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD

1. DATE: 15 Jan 61
2. LOCATION: SE of Paine Field, Washington
3. DATE-TIME GROUP: 0627Z 16 Jan 61
4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION: Air-Visual
5. PHOTOS: No
6. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION: 5 sec
7. NUMBER OF OBJECTS: 1
8. SOURCE: Military
9. COURSE: [blank]
10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING: Brilliant white object size of basketball. Resembled a strong spotLight. Then it exploded and a large part of the sky was lit up. There was considerable orange and some blue coloring in explosion. No sound heard. Object appeared level with pilot flying at 35,000'.
11. COMMENTANO: satellites reentering at this time. Description and duration are characteristic of a meteor. Brightness and some blue coloring in explosion. No sound heard. Object appeared level with pilot flying at 35,000'. satellites reentering at this time. Description and duration are characteristic of a meteor. Brightness and explosion suggest that object was a fireball which exploded before it reached the earth's surface.
12. CONCLUSIONS: Yes Probably Balloon, Possibly Balloon, Was Aircraft, Probably Aircraft, Possibly Aircraft, Was Astronomical [checked], Probably Astronomical, Possibly Astronomical, Other, Insufficient Data for Evaluation, Unknown

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28991088