---------------------------------------------------------------- ================================================================ PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD -- TRANSCRIPTION File: 1956-04-6785497-McKinney-Texas.pdf Transcribed by Claude Sonnet 4.6 for GlitchyMatrix.com/bluebook/ ================================================================ [NOTE: This file contains THREE co-filed ATIC Form 329 cards covering separate sightings on 4 April 1956, 6 April 1956, and 13 April 1956, all in McKinney, Texas. The 4 April case is the primary. The other two are transcribed below it.] ---------------------------------------------------------------- PRIMARY CASE -- 4 APRIL 1956 ---------------------------------------------------------------- FIELD 1 -- DATE: 4 April 1956 FIELD 2 -- LOCATION: McKinney, Texas FIELD 3 -- DATE-TIME GROUP: Local 1515 / GMT 04/2115Z FIELD 4 -- TYPE OF OBSERVATION: Ground-Visual [X] Ground-Radar [ ] Air-Visual [ ] Air-Intercept Radar [ ] [Note: "telescope" handwritten across the Air-Visual field area as an observation note; not a separate type checkbox but clarifies instrument used.] FIELD 5 -- PHOTOS: No FIELD 6 -- SOURCE: Civilian FIELD 7 -- LENGTH OF OBS: 6 hours FIELD 8 -- NUMBER OF OBJECTS: one FIELD 9 -- COURSE: west FIELD 10 -- BRIEF SUMMARY: Object observed fm two separate locations through 200X telescope by one observer & thru 4X glass by other. One observer amature astronomer, other Weather observer at local WX station. Obj subtending one minute of arc. Located about 7 dgrs to North of Venus thru/out sighting. Obsvd fm 1515 until 2100. As Venus set w/this time, obj disappeared as Venus set. Also disappeared w/setting of sun. Obj similar to balloon. Bright silver w/band around middle. Band did not rotate but had same position thru/out sighting. High cirrus clouds appeared at 1900. Thru TX [telescope] looked like it was made of translucent rubber. Thru 4X glass looked solid. Color silver thru/out sighting. Movement w/Venus to West. Upper air currents to East. Glowed in sunlight after sun had set. FIELD 11 -- COMMENTS: COMMENT: Unidentified. Some association w/Venus. Possibly parhelia type due to high cirrus clouds. FIELD 12 -- CONCLUSIONS: [ ] Was balloon [ ] Probably balloon [ ] Possibly balloon [ ] Was aircraft [ ] Probably aircraft [ ] Possibly aircraft [ ] Was astronomical [ ] Probably astronomical [ ] Possibly astronomical [X] Other: UNIDENTIFIED [ ] Insufficient data for evaluation [?] Unknown [Note: Field 12 appears to show marks at both "Other: UNIDENTIFIED" (typed in) and "Unknown" (possible double- mark or form artifact; ambiguous on all copies reviewed. Field 11 comment confirms UNIDENTIFIED as the evaluation.)] Form: ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52) [Primary card present in two copies. Second copy is a faint duplicate. "Unknown" checkbox ambiguity flagged above.] ---------------------------------------------------------------- CO-FILED CASE 1 -- 6 APRIL 1956 ---------------------------------------------------------------- FIELD 1 -- DATE: 6 April 1956 FIELD 2 -- LOCATION: McKinney, Texas FIELD 3 -- DATE-TIME GROUP: Local [blank] / GMT not reported FIELD 4 -- TYPE OF OBSERVATION: Ground-Visual [X] FIELD 5 -- PHOTOS: No FIELD 6 -- SOURCE: Civilian FIELD 7 -- LENGTH OF OBS: not reported FIELD 8 -- NUMBER OF OBJECTS: one FIELD 9 -- COURSE: land, takeoff FIELD 10 -- BRIEF SUMMARY: Silvery object 5-8' in diameter slant down into a field about 100 yards from observers. Witness stopped car & object took off at terrific speed & disappeared. Resembled a balloon. FIELD 11 -- COMMENTS: Insufficient data for evaluation. No duration or mention of time that obj stopped. No mention of time that it took obj to disappear or manner od [sic] disappearance included. Second hand report. FIELD 12 -- CONCLUSIONS: [X] Insufficient data for evaluation Form: ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52); two copies present. ---------------------------------------------------------------- CO-FILED CASE 2 -- 13 APRIL 1956 ---------------------------------------------------------------- FIELD 1 -- DATE: 13 April 1956 FIELD 2 -- LOCATION: McKinney, Texas FIELD 3 -- DATE-TIME GROUP: Local [blank] / GMT 14/0315Z FIELD 4 -- TYPE OF OBSERVATION: Ground-Visual [X] FIELD 5 -- PHOTOS: No FIELD 6 -- SOURCE: Military (Retired) FIELD 7 -- LENGTH OF OBS: 2 seconds FIELD 8 -- NUMBER OF OBJECTS: 2-3 FIELD 9 -- COURSE: West FIELD 10 -- BRIEF SUMMARY: Two or three objects, blue or red moving thru a 40 dgr arc in 2 seconds. Level flight. FIELD 11 -- COMMENTS: Speed and general description indicate possible meteor sighting. FIELD 12 -- CONCLUSIONS: [X] Was Astronomical [Meteor] [Note: "Meteor" typed/written next to "Was Astronomical" as a qualifying annotation.] Form: ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52); one copy present. ================================================================ SUPPLEMENTAL DOCUMENTS ================================================================ Supplemental documents present: 1. Letter, 2 pages, McKinney, Texas, May 14, 1956, from [name unredacted in signature -- see redaction flag below], Captain U.S. Army, Retd.; addressed to Director of Air Force Intelligence, Army Air Force, Washington, D.C. Reports April 4, April 6, and April 13 sightings. Three copies of this letter are present; varying degrees of legibility and redaction. 2. Astronomical sketch, multiple copies: "Unidentified flying object observed over McKinney, Texas, April 4, 1956. Redrawn from original by Capt. [name; see below], McKinney, Texas." Depicts a distinctly oblate oval with a raised central band/ridge oriented approximately N-S, labeled WEST, EAST, TOP. Caption notes: "Observation equipment: 6'' reflector telescope, 55x to 200x mag. The UFO presented the same face, did not revolve or rotate, from 3:00 P.M. until 9:00 P.M., when it disappeared in the darkness." Three copies; one clear, others faint. REDACTION FLAG -- UNREDACTED NAMES: - Primary witness signs the letter as "Roy F. Hall / Captain U.S. Army, Retd." Name also appears on sketch caption: "Redrawn from original by Capt. Roy F. Hall." Roy F. Hall is an unredacted civilian/retired officer name. - Amateur astronomer referred to in the letter as "Anderson" (appears unredacted in at least one letter copy: "save to ask Anderson if he had seen them or heard any planes"). Hall was at Anderson's home on 13 April 1956 and Anderson is the same party who observed the April 4 object through the 6'' reflector. Anderson is an unredacted civilian name. Both names should be reviewed before public-facing deployment. ================================================================ SEARCH INDEX TERMS ================================================================ McKinney Texas Collin-County 1956 April 1950s daytime parhelia optical-phenomenon Venus planet balloon-hypothesis amateur-astronomer Weather-Bureau WX-observer telescope 200x 6-inch-reflector triangulation civilian military-retired six-hour silver translucent-rubber band-equator non-rotating Carswell-AFB Perrin-Field Fort-Worth unidentified high-altitude sketch cirrus four-witnesses bundle-case three-sightings Roy-Hall Captain Army-retired meteor bolide pale-blue red second-hand land-takeoff angular-size one-minute-of-arc 100000-feet upper-air-currents westward ================================================================ ================================================================ CASE ANALYSIS -- Claude Sonnet 4.6 ================================================================ THE OFFICIAL CONCLUSION ----------------------- The April 4 primary case is marked UNIDENTIFIED with the comment noting "some association w/Venus" and raising the possibility of parhelia caused by high cirrus clouds. This is an unusually tentative ATIC evaluation -- the parhelia suggestion is not asserted as the conclusion, only floated. The April 6 co-filed case received Insufficient Data, and the April 13 case was evaluated as a meteor. This eval focuses on the April 4 primary case. WHAT THE EVIDENCE SHOWS ----------------------- Capt. Roy F. Hall (Retd., U.S. Army), serving as the local Weather Bureau observer in McKinney, first noted the object at 3:15 PM on April 4, 1956. He initially suspected a weather radiosonde balloon and called the Fort Worth Weather Bureau to check; no balloons were in the area. He then ran two triangulation baselines of three miles each using a prismatic compass. The second attempt gave a convergence of approximately three degrees, placing the object at roughly 100,000 feet altitude. Using a rifle telescope, he estimated the object subtended approximately one minute of arc, making it over 200 feet in diameter at that calculated distance. Hall immediately contacted an amateur astronomer, Mr. Anderson, who trained a 6-inch reflector telescope at 55x to 200x magnification on the object from approximately 4:00 PM to 9:00 PM. Anderson drew the sketch included in the file. The object appeared as a distinctly oblate oval with a raised central band or ridge running north-south. This band did not rotate throughout the entire observation. The object's most analytically distinctive behavior: it maintained a fixed angular separation of approximately 7 degrees north of Venus throughout the entire 6-hour observation. As Venus tracked westward (due to Earth's rotation), the object moved west at the same angular rate. It disappeared at approximately 9:00 PM coincident with Venus setting. It also glowed visibly in sunlight for some period after local dark -- consistent with a very high altitude object still illuminated by the sun. High cirrus clouds were noted to appear at 7:00 PM, well above which the object remained visible. The upper air currents were blowing toward the east; the object moved west. Hall contacted Carswell AFB and Perrin Field. Neither had any information. He also spoke to observers as far as 100 miles to the west and 50 miles to the north, all of whom reported the object appearing overhead -- consistent with a very high or very distant source. POINTS OF INTEREST / WHAT GIVES ME PAUSE ----------------------------------------- The observer credentials here are exceptionally strong by civilian Blue Book standards. Hall was a retired Army officer functioning in a professional meteorological role; his triangulation attempt, though rough, demonstrates a systematic and skeptical approach. He explicitly states he is "no believer in flying saucers." Anderson's use of a 6-inch reflector at up to 200x magnification over a 6-hour period, producing a detailed sketch, represents sustained and instrumented observation unusual in the archive. The parhelia hypothesis in the ATIC comment deserves scrutiny. Parhelia (sun dogs) are optical effects created by ice plate crystals in cirrus clouds, appearing at fixed angles (typically 22 degrees) from the sun. They disappear at sunset. This mechanism has real traction for some of the April 4 features: the westward movement, the eventual disappearance, the silvery color, the wide-area visibility. But several features resist it: First, the cirrus clouds appeared at 7:00 PM; the object was observed from 3:15 PM, nearly four hours earlier. Either the cirrus was present much higher and thinner before 7:00 PM (when it became visible lower), or the parhelia mechanism does not cover the early hours of the sighting. Second, parhelia are formed at fixed angles from the sun, not from Venus. The object was described as 7 degrees from Venus -- not 22 degrees from the sun. These are different reference frames, though they could coincidentally align. Third, the astronomer's sketch specifically shows a solid oblate disk with a structural raised band or ridge. Parhelia have no such morphology through any optical instrument. They are diffuse glows, not structured shapes. A high-altitude balloon is similarly complicated. The upper air currents at altitude were blowing eastward; the object moved westward. A balloon drifting freely in those winds would have moved east. The 6-hour fixed relationship with Venus argues against any free-drifting object unless that westward movement was purely apparent (i.e., the Earth's rotation making a stationary object appear to track west along with Venus). This is a non-trivial distinction but would require the object to be effectively stationary in a geographic sense while upper air currents were moving eastward -- difficult to reconcile with a free balloon. The Skyhook program was active in 1956 and produced balloons reaching 100,000+ feet. A Skyhook at great distance could appear stationary and disk-like. But Carswell and Perrin Field had no information, and the wind direction problem remains. BOTTOM LINE ----------- The UNIDENTIFIED classification is warranted. The official parhelia suggestion, while clever, does not fully account for the early-afternoon portion of the sighting, the structured morphology Anderson sketched, or the fixed separation from Venus through a 200x telescope. A high-altitude balloon cannot be dismissed but sits uncomfortably with the eastward upper-air winds and the 6-hour Venus-relative fixity. No conventional explanation on record is clean. What makes this case sit apart from typical Blue Book UNIDENTIFIED entries is the quality of the observation record: two qualified observers, one professional meteorologist, sustained telescopic observation, a drawn sketch, a triangulation attempt, proactive contact with Air Force installations, and a witness who was actively skeptical and thorough. The investigation did not fail from lack of effort. The April 6 close-approach case (silvery 5-8 foot object landing and departing at high speed) is a second-hand report via Hall and received Insufficient Data for Evaluation -- a correct call given the thinness of the record. It merits its own standalone eval if further documentation exists. The April 13 case (2-second arc, blue/red objects, ~1,800 mph) was reasonably evaluated as a meteor or bolide. ================================================================ https://glitchymatrix.com/bluebook/ GlitchyMatrix Project Blue Book Archive All 10,808 declassified USAF UFO case files, 1945-1969 ================================================================ ----------------------------------------------------------------