Washingtonville, New YorkSeptember 1955

On the evening of September 6, 1955, multiple observers across New York reported seeing a bright, fast-moving object with a distinctive blue-white flame streaking across the night sky. The sighting lasted only about three to five seconds before the object exploded in a brilliant flash of light.

The most detailed account came from the pilots of Colonial Airlines Flight 14. Flying at 5,000 feet near Poughkeepsie, the crew observed an object ahead of them with a blue-white exhaust flame, descending at a steep angle. Within three seconds, the object had moved from directly in front of them to off their left wing, emitting sparks before exploding with a blinding flash roughly a half mile to a mile away. The pilot noted the object's speed did not exceed 400 to 500 mph and said it resembled pictures he had seen of a rocket stage falling off a rocket. He ruled out both meteor and aircraft, noting the absence of position lights.

Other observers corroborated parts of the sighting. A second Colonial Airlines flight, located roughly 50 miles north near Albany, also reported seeing the flash. A third flight, heading southbound near Red Hook and flying through clouds, saw a bright flash above them. On the ground, residents of Washingtonville, New York, approximately two minutes after the airline reports, witnessed a blue ball of flame traveling from west to east before disappearing. The ground observers described it lasting about five to eight seconds and noted color changes from blue and silver to red-orange.

The Air Force investigators concluded that the sighting was probably caused by a fireball, a bright meteorlike explosion in the atmosphere. The investigators reasoned that observers located roughly one hundred miles apart seeing the object at nearly the same moment supported this explanation. They also noted that the three-to-five-second duration of the event matched what would be expected from a fireball. However, they acknowledged uncertainty about the object's actual distance from observers, noting that the pilots' estimate of the object being less than a mile away seemed inconsistent with the geographical spread of witnesses who all saw it simultaneously.

The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, consisting of 24 pages.