UAP D088 US AirForce Analysis of Flying Objects in the US 101 172
AI Summary
This document contains an analysis of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) observed in the United States, particularly focusing on an incident that occurred on February 18, 1948, over Norcatur, Kansas. The analysis includes eyewitness accounts, descriptions of the object, and speculation regarding its nature, including theories about it being a meteor or a rocket. The document discusses various reports of similar sightings and suggests a possible connection between them.
Key Findings
- Multiple eyewitness accounts describe a bright object in the sky that exploded or disintegrated. - The object was reported to leave a trail of smoke and was described as having a blue-white color. - Speculation includes the possibility of the object being a meteor or a rocket. - The analysis suggests a pattern of sightings in a geographical belt across the United States. - The document calls for further investigation into these phenomena to determine their nature.
OCR Text
) 0 , . -J1 ~ ~<:JL. Authority: NND 917033 ' ED F'L 'Ji-; OBJ~TS l . L'bt 18 Febnlary 1948 101 3 ; l..o i c n 1 oroatur, ~.,... 5. Occupation o f ob qo rvor F.ditor " • .-idr ::s of ol' c o r v o r Horton, K su 7 , Pl a c of o b~ r ~ t i on or catur, Kan s 10 . Ti.,o in c i ·ht N/s 11. ,di. tt udo 30 -}5 mi.loo above earth l~. S pood N/S ..,,, ir 'i One b ~ explosion -"a!t.erwarde a lot ot little explonons" 16. c:; 11;0 N/S 17. Coler Bluuh""'ft'hite smoke smwi e l';. O<ior d ot votod N/ ,"> 'C . ..p ph r unt r.on s r ur.t1,.n Meteor r l. ErJuu.a:;t t r 11s _.,.. Blu1ah-,.iftt e:ooke smudge :On-t.hur conditi on s 14 /S r. 23 . Eff t o:. c louds U/ S 24 . Sk ot ch •s or pt t or r .. pts Photo of vapor trail left in sky by 8xPlcs1oo ?5. Monn1J r of disn pp,Jor nnco Disintecrat1oo 20 . Romnrks : Oscar Monni&, of the Tex8.8 Observnre, JDB.teur Astronomy, 1010 Monunl81de Dr1 Te, rt. orti1 , of f ers "tanpble proot that u, fir· ball r r -I ., .. • -· of February 18 over ncrtt.ern l\ansas was just t.hat, inasrmch as meteorites have been recovered tron it. 11 Thore were found, be(;irnine 1.prU 211, first sever al su.lla fra..,-en:.s JJ) to ore of 4 1/2 pounds . Then a disturl ed spot in a clover f'ield led to "the dii:giI1e up of a r i PC& of so e 109 po\l1llls e edded about two feet in the soil. The st.one i s nhat is tenred aa an "achondrite", a technical name f o r an unusual cy-pe or stony m teorite. It is reported t o be of a tYJ h i ch will detAriora~a rapidly. A p otorrHph or t r e trail of the meteor, r:l.'.lde by amateur p.otor,r ~her Duane ,I. ~"fr117 of Nortor, shows tho vapor tridl left in the sky by t.he exploaiol"'l of a ~eteor which was secl'I 1r Oklahooa, t,ew -exic o, Colorado, Kansas, ard uebr.,~ka. It wu m:.de at. uray 1 s },oae, ni.Je mil,-.s rort·1 or Norton, jlPt tour r.,inutes after the teer XJ loded. A ~r:n.cce of blue wliite smoktio remained in the sky £ or an hour 1'' ebruary Wth. '!'his pboto craph is in tile under lri i ent '1101. Furthe r r emarke are contained in supplement . r (COPY) 323 W. Ton1,h t., Pueblo, Colorado February 20, 1948 Uffi<•e of the Chief of Jtnff u. . ~rrr:, ,ash.in n, D. C. l si ,, in the sky near l!orcntur, ..ans. S1Jbject: L:00 p . n . ('",T) February lt, 19l,it To call at.tenti.on t.o so peculiarities Purpose: in connection, whe her coincid ntal er not AccordinG to 'Vl AP bulletin appeari"' 1n the Pueblo CHIEFTAIN for Fehruary US, 19116, sone ohject was seeu moving eastward across the sky or tt-.n late artemoon of 1" bruary IBth, ard en this UiinG re'lcl ed a po:iition ap1,roxi.mate to l!orcatur, Kansas, c:xploded , or disrupted, or disappeared. The ex plosion is said t.o ha· e been terrific. Dir,..ction:i gi.vi::n as to •he prccress or tJ is appearance i n rticate Unt it rii< ved from west to east. Information con ,ained in t,hc dispatch under a Denver dateline in1i ·ate that ile mar,y would call this object a bolide - e . , . , expl din meteor -the astronomP.rs of Chamberlin Vbservator y (iJenvor) did not so assess it: it is said in U e dispatch that t se offic1al• could offer no explanation of it. If this 1.s t ca· e, the a;:,para.nee is anomalous, and may lend 1 tseli to other meteoric explanation. A sb tch~iaGJ"Bm of t ~ earth and moon I s orbit reveals a pe culiarity in coMcction witt thP appearance, 1'hich may be &1E;nJ.ficant . Ir a line i s s •r icken r..it right-anrl"'s 'lcross the meridio"'a.l position o r the s:ite of expl"'sion r this oeteor at hour argl • fo•ir o'clock (local time) and t ds line be con::idered the west-to-eai:;t cours of thP object, tten it will bo St en t 1at if • iB line i .. c !'It n' d tward ir to 'lpace toward t.ho orbit of t t e moon it will intersect the lunar orbit at a pla nPar to wt re the moon would be at fron 60 to one huncir ed h urs after the explosion t .,ok }lace. Uew moon occ11rrud at 9 0 10 H 2 U Februarn First uurt er at 17D 'H . F'e' ruary -the noon ciov s -i1 I r ox1111ately 12. 5 do rrees per d::i:• alon1~ its orbit. -- -----•~----- - It is held by rocketry experts (example, WILLY LEY -see his ROCKE'IS, p. 192, diagram and note in c onnection there with) that it wol,ll.d take about 100 hours f or a rocket-craf t to negotiate the d i stance from Earth to Moon. Prior to its ~xplosion over Norcatur, this object of Feb. 18th was variously reported as a "falling plane", a "jet plane", and a ''ball of fire 11 • It is said by some to have l eft a trail o f smoke behind it. It is the suggestion of this writer that the Army collect am assimilate reports on this object , with a view t o determining where it was seen as an object trailint: smoke and llhe re as a ball of fire. If this thing is a r ocket of some kind headed for the moon, it might first have been seen as a streak of s r.oke, then later as a ball of fire, and lastly as a tremendous ex plosion when it at last reached sufficient speed and ele…
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