Shawano, WisconsinAugust 1960

Insufficient Data

Summary

On a summer evening in August 1960, people in Shawano, Wisconsin saw something unusual in the sky. They described an oval object that was brownish in color, with three lights arranged in a line. The sighting lasted about two minutes. The object appeared overhead and then moved south before disappearing from view.

The witnesses were attempting to observe Echo I, an early satellite, when they spotted the object. They reported it to military authorities, triggering a formal investigation by the U.S. Air Force as part of Project Blue Book.

The Air Force's investigation found the information provided by the witnesses to be limited. However, weather conditions at the time included high overcast skies with broken clouds at 2,800 feet, visibility of 15 miles, and thunderstorms in the area, with winds from the west at 7 to 9 knots. No photographs or physical evidence was collected.

After reviewing the case, the Air Force concluded that the object was probably an aircraft. The available information, including the witnesses' description, suggested conventional aircraft rather than anything extraordinary. No other possible explanations were formally considered in the analysis. The case file is reproduced below in its entirety as held by the National Archives, comprising 13 pages.

Reported location

Shawano, Wisconsin

Date of incident

August 1960

State / country

WI / US

Page count

13 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 39

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 13

View transcribed text

| .oENENEN = PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD :
BE |). DATE = 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
| 26 Aug 60 Shawano, Wisconsin a ret Baliow
| | 5 DATETIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION TE
E Q, Was Aivcraft
1 | L000] cima — JX Ground- Visual D Ground-Rodar XX Probably Aireraft
1 Re Lar 4 . .
BN | GMT____27/0430% 7/0 U8 0 AirVYisuel 0 Air-interzept Rador O Possibly Aireroit
1 | 5 PHOTOS 3. SOURCE 00 Wes Astronomical
3 O Yes O Probably Astronomical
4 i tI Ne Military and Civilian : 0 Possibly Astronomical
i —— ————————— pee Ra |
1 | 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OP OBJECTS | 9. COURSE 0 Othe? tooo
i | O Insufficient Data for Evaluation
4 | 2 min ong 3 O Unknown
he fe ————— Io [Ape ambiente:
b 110, BRIERE SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS
RE | Oval, brownish, 3 lights in a lire, seen while | It 1s probable that object orf this
| ~hsarving Echo I, First seen overhead, moved sighting was aa a/ c. laformaction pro-
B | Se vided is limited, howaver description
RE | tends to indicate a/c.
-
J | |
E |
rE |
4 i
k: {
E ATIC FORM 329 (REY 26 SEP 52)
§ | 4 . .
i ;
E a

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28988560