St. Petersburg, FloridaSeptember 1956

Insufficient Data

Summary

On the morning of Saturday, September 22, 1956, in St. Petersburg, Florida, an employee at MacDill Air Force Base reported seeing what he described as a "flying saucer." The observer and at least one other person witnessed a round object that appeared white or light-colored. The object had openings or windows with light shining through them. The sighting lasted about seven minutes, during which the object remained stationary in the sky.

The object's appearance changed as the observer looked at it through binoculars. At times it looked round, and at other times it appeared to have square or angular features. The file suggests that optical effects from the binoculars, combined with light diffusion, may have caused some of this uncertainty about the object's exact shape. The object was observed at an elevation angle of about 30 degrees and an azimuth of 230 degrees from the observer's position. When it finally disappeared, the object simply faded and condensed at the same spot where it had been seen.

Air Force investigators found no aircraft in the area at the time of the sighting. However, they noted that temperature inversions (layers of warm air trapped above cooler air) existed at 1,750 feet and 3,200 feet altitude. In their analysis, the investigators suggested the sighting might have been Mars, noting that Mars was positioned at 20 degrees elevation and 260 degrees azimuth at the reported time, with colors that could shift toward red. They concluded that the data was insufficient to reach a firm determination, and the case was recorded as "unknown."

This case file, comprising 9 pages held by the National Archives, is reproduced in full below.

Reported location

St. Petersburg, Florida

Date of incident

September 1956

State / country

FL / US

Page count

9 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 26

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 9

View transcribed text

I t pi . Fir) rr ~~ r myn oo z A I dle == PE ET : " - . . A : _— i _ }
4 PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD
I. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS ia
a8 = aaa a é ho a vey “lorida 5 0 Was Bolloon |
272 sent ember 1905 Ps FOLGI shui oy ££ LOT1da (a) Probobly Balloon |
3. DATE-TIME CROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION O Possibly Balloon |
Lf AyD ER Rh a ’
Local arr «V1 0 i 6D “1 Ground- Visual O Ground-Rador 0 Woes Aircraft
DD /NOONDAT a Probably Aircraft
BE SRL UDERS 0 Air Visual O Air-Intercopt Radar |D Possibly Aircroft
5. PHOTOS " O Was Astronomical
O Yes O Probably Astronomicol s
™ No Civilian 0 Possibly Astronomical
17. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE CH RR
B Qe Data for Evaluation
soven minutes ono stationary Unknown
10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS seam to me
me round object, size unknown. Color No significant astro bodies in
vhite or light color, Object had port SW at rptd time of sighting. Mars
soles or windows with light shingng was at 20dgr elevation 260dgr
through, Object faded (condensed) at azimuth, object reported at 30
same spot. No a/c in area but there degr elevation 230dgr azimuth, P
was temperature inversion at 1750 ft Possible sichting of Mars through
and 3200 ft, temperature inversion (Leported
colors mf tend toward redsellars)
However, cannot conclude on data
presented, Insufficient data,
ATIC FORM 329 (REV 25 32P 52)
fo ES Ah BH a RIS 55 A567 is WA 0 HL See vie AB aheiain ro SOC RENT Reo dR fol eae REE ABIL AR ERAN ss Eo Rel I WIRE L g J

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28967633