Southfalls, MontanaMay 1951

Insufficient Data

Summary

On May 22, 1951, over Great Falls, Montana (recorded as South Falls), a civilian reported a strange object between about 1430 and 1500 (2:30 to 3:00 p.m.). The witness, a woman who phoned in the report, said the object was silver or bluish white and shaped like a ball or a three-pointed star, giving off a glow like an electric light bulb.

During the sighting, the object disappeared from view at times against the blue sky but kept reappearing. It seemed to be at very high altitude and moved slowly from west to east. The sighting lasted about 30 minutes. A Northwest Airlines pilot reportedly saw the same object.

Investigators found that a weather balloon had been released at 1400 (2:00 p.m.) from a nearby field. The white balloon moved west to east as it rose. The Air Force recorded the case in Project 10073, its official file for unidentified flying object reports. The conclusion was that the object was this balloon.

Reported location

Southfalls, Montana

Date of incident

May 1951

State / country

MT / US

Page count

2 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 8

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 2

View transcribed text

E PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD
1. DATE . 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
Wos Balloon
22 May 1951 South falls, Montana Probably Balloon
3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION 0 Possilly Seltoon
POOR. RN & Ground- Visual O Ground: Radar 8 Poohaiy Aiverelt
: CMT 22/20302 HM Air Visvol 0 Air-Intercept Radar D Possibly Aircraft
5. PHOTOS . 0 Was Astronomical
O Yes O Probably Astronomical
3 No Civlian 0 Possibly Astronomical
7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE CER RN CRI
| | E cog Doto for Evaluation
30 min One East
10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS :
Object described as ball or 3 pointed star, Balloon released from Great Falls ARB
silver or bluish white, Appearing and at 1400, In flight to East, Object
| disappearing against background of bluge sky.| evaluated as this balloon,
In flight to east, Appeared to be very high.
Also reported from NW Airlines,
ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52)

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28939240