Wilmington, DelawareNovember 1956

Insufficient Data

Summary

On November 4, 1956, a civilian and his two young sons saw objects over Wilmington, Delaware. The father worked as an engineer. They were looking at the stars when they happened to look up. The sighting lasted about five seconds.

The report described four objects the size of a pea at arm's length. They looked like streaked, reflected light, like light bouncing off an aircraft wing. They formed a triangular shape with the point heading northeast. The objects were first seen straight up and faded out at about 35 to 40 degrees azimuth and 40 to 45 degrees elevation. The night was clear with bright stars.

The Air Force record card lists the cause as meteors, based on the duration and description. A nearby radar squadron had identified one aircraft track as friendly at the time, and the preparing officer noted the object may have been that aircraft or interceptors. Project 10073 was the Air Force's official record system for reports of unidentified flying objects.

Reported location

Wilmington, Delaware

Date of incident

November 1956

State / country

DE / US

Page count

5 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 26

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 5

View transcribed text

| .; PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD : | : |
1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
: O Wos Belloon
4 November 1956 Wilmington, Delaware 0 Probably Belloon
3. DATE-TIME GROUP i TYPE OF OBSERVATION 1 Ph ie
TE  —— ~ XBreund-Visvel O Ground-Rodor : a Brchetdy Revoreh
oMt__04/2345Z O Air Visvel O Air-Intercep?t Redor O Possibly Aircraft |
S BX Wes Astronomical MOteoOrs
| O Yes O Probobly Astronemicel
Ne O Possibly Astronemicel |
7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE o spi pr rng ng re mp
: 0 Unknown
five seconds four astnortheast
10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS : |
Four objects the size of a pea at arm’ Duration, description, indicate
length, Objects looked like streaked meteor sighting.
reflected light, like that of a light /
being reflected from an a/c wing. Objs
were first seen straight up and
disappeared at 35 to 40 dgr azimuth, \
| 40 to 45 dgr elevation, Objects disappeared
by fading out of sight after having been
observed visually for 5 seconds.
ATIC PORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52)
fi 5000 Bo Be de te SER aR ay I So eC BER bral mn

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28968170