DOW-UAP-D177, Unresolved UAP Report, Catalina Island, 1955
WAR.gov / Department of War PURSUE Release 07
U.S. Air Force records from 1955 – a Project 10073 record card, a report card and a teletype report – on a civilian’s sighting of a bright round object on the night of March 15, 1955, at Avalon on Catalina Island, California.
Document Highlights
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Short overview
U.S. Air Force records from 1955 – a Project 10073 record card, a report card and a teletype report – on a civilian’s sighting of a bright round object on the night of March 15, 1955, at Avalon on Catalina Island, California.
Why this is interesting
According to the teletype, the observer just happened to notice a single round object the size of a nickel, very bright, changing from orange to red, which fell straight down and faded out of sight after about two seconds; the sky was clear, dry and cool. The record card summarizes this as “Probable meteor”. In the teletype, Captain Clifford E. Brant, a USAF intelligence officer, writes that flight path and length of time in sight suggest the object was probably a meteor. The report card marks the case as probably astronomical; its comment adds that, because the sighting was so brief, the reporting organization considered no further investigation worthwhile. The file thus shows how a two-second observation was handled and closed at three levels of paperwork.
Background
The file contains a report by Paul J. Carr of Avalon, California, who reported observing a bright orange object, approximately the size of a nickel held at arm’s length, on the evening of March 15, 1955. The provisional assessment associated with the report includes a comment from the preparing officer that the sighting is possibly astronomical, and that the incident did not warrant further investigation.