Staunton, VirginiaAugust 1956

Insufficient Data

Summary

On August 13, 1956, near Staunton, Virginia, a civilian observed an object that looked like a blimp's gondola with red lights on each beam and white lights between the red lights. The object appeared at four o'clock high from the observer's position, about 80 to 85 degrees southeast by east. The observer watched the object for approximately 18 minutes as it traveled in a straight and level flight toward the southeast. The night was clear with no cloud cover. The Air Force evaluation was possibly a weather balloon lighted in order to be spotted with a theodolite.

Reported location

Staunton, Virginia

Date of incident

August 1956

State / country

VA / US

Page count

3 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 25

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 3

View transcribed text

PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD

1. DATE
13 August 1956

2. LOCATION
Staunton, Virginia

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

3. DATE-TIME GROUP
Local
GMT 1300Z

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

5. PHOTOS
[_] Yes
[X] No

6. SOURCE
Civilian

7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION
18 minutes

8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS
one

9. COURSE
[illegible]

10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING
Object that looked like a blimp's gondola with red lights on each beam and white lights between.

11. COMMENTS
Appears to be a WX balloon with lights for theodolite measure ments.

ATIC FORM 329 (REV 28 SEP 52)

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28966858