Vicinity Bitburg AB, Germany, April 1960April 1960

Insufficient Data

Summary

On April 14, 1960, a military observer near Bitburg Air Base in Germany reported seeing a round object about half the size of a dime held at arm's length. The object appeared white and looked like a falling star, with pieces disintegrating as it descended. The observer watched it curve toward the earth before it disappeared behind a building. The sighting lasted only three seconds.

Air Force investigators concluded that the description matched a meteor entering Earth's atmosphere. The file notes that such sightings are "typical of a meteor," and the object's behavior, bright appearance, disintegration, curved descent, is consistent with a natural celestial phenomenon rather than an unknown aircraft or device.

The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, spanning 9 pages.

Reported location

Vicinity Bitburg AB, Germany, April 1960

Date of incident

April 1960

State / country

? / XX

Page count

9 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 38

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 9

View transcribed text

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LC ag / Sgt PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD :
I. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
i PR Vicdnityv 1 Mure AR Pr 0 Was Balloon
: 14 Apr 60 Y4.C LILLGY Bit DUE By Germany 0 Probably Boltaan :
ee a th re od ro te i A te 03 H ba) ¢ ©
3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION lt otitis Bhool
Local Sh hi i Ai ff Ground-Visual 0 Crsund-Reodar 0 Ves Aircraft
7 QO Probably Aircroft
; 21 ff ¢ ngs po 4 eit . i
‘ AR EN RE O Air Visual 0 Alr-Interenpt Rader 0 Possibly Aircrakt
35. PHOTOS 6. SOURCE 0 Was Astronomical
C Yes en £3 Probably Astronomical Vahoor
8 Ne Military ) 0 Possibly Astronomical ;
7. LENGTH CF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE CEE Nea RC RE |
0 Insufficient Data for Evagluntion
3 sec one descending 0 Unknown
10. BRIEF SUMMARY UF SIGHTING 1. COMMENTS
Round, one-half size of dime at arm's length, | Description is typical of a meteor
white, sppeared zs falling star with pieces disintegrating in the earth's atmosphere |
. falling off. Curved toward earth, disappearing
behind building.
ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 EEP 52) :
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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28986527