Tampa, FloridaJune 1961

On the night of June 3, 1961, civilians in the Tampa area spotted a bright, star-like object moving across the sky on a southeast course. Two witnesses, described as a retired Navy officer and another civilian, reported that the object appeared blue-red in color, then changed to white. It was brighter than an ordinary star and seemed to be at very high altitude. The witnesses said they had seen this same object on the same flight path on previous nights.

Military personnel also got involved that evening. Radar operators at the 688th Radar Station detected a target on their height finder radar at bearing 255 degrees and an altitude of 34,409 feet. The radar blip seemed to move up and down slightly but stayed in roughly the same position relative to the station. Other witnesses at MacDill Air Force Base reported seeing a blue-red light that appeared to be east of the base, over Davis Island. Radar stations at Cross City, Florida, also picked up targets at similar altitudes in the same general area.

On June 5, an F-79 aircraft was scrambled to intercept the object. The pilot reported making contact but experienced electronic countermeasures (ECM) interference, which prevented a complete intercept. The pilot also said he could not see anything visually that matched the radar target. The object continued to appear on radar scopes after June 5.

Air Force investigators noted a discrepancy in their analysis: the object seen by the civilian witnesses on the ground may not have been the same object tracked by radar. The case file indicates the Air Force requested additional information about whether radar had tracked the same target after June 5.

The Air Force's final evaluation of this case was "unidentified." The complete case file, comprising 7 pages, is reproduced below as held by the National Archives.