================================================================ PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD -- TRANSCRIPTION File: 1957-09-7228815-KadenaAFB-Okinawa.pdf Transcribed by Claude Sonnet 4.6 for GlitchyMatrix.com/bluebook/ ================================================================ FIELD 1 -- DATE: 20 September 1957 FIELD 2 -- LOCATION: Kadena, AFB, Okinawa FIELD 3 -- DATE-TIME GROUP: Local 2000 / GMT 20/1105Z FIELD 4 -- TYPE OF OBSERVATION: Ground-Visual [X] Ground-Radar [ ] Air-Visual [ ] Air-Intercept Radar [ ] FIELD 5 -- PHOTOS: No FIELD 6 -- SOURCE: Military FIELD 7 -- LENGTH OF OBS: 5 to 10 seconds [Note: per-pass duration; total event spanned approx. 14 minutes across four discrete passes.] FIELD 8 -- NUMBER OF OBJECTS: one FIELD 9 -- COURSE: N to S FIELD 10 -- BRIEF SUMMARY: Oval shaped object which glowed like a fluorescent light. The object seemed indented (like a coke bottle without a top). The object was slightly bigger than a grapefruit. Seemed to vibrate. Gave the impression of translucence. It made four passes from N to S remaining visible approx 5 to 10 sec each time. No sound. FIELD 11 -- COMMENTS: Possibility that object was a kite or balloon - based on previous reports - but will carry as unknown pending receipt of further information. FIELD 12 -- CONCLUSIONS: [ ] Was balloon [ ] Probably balloon [ ] Possibly balloon [ ] Was aircraft [ ] Probably aircraft [ ] Possibly aircraft [ ] Was astronomical [ ] Probably astronomical [ ] Possibly astronomical [X] Other: UNIDENTIFIED [Note: "UNIDENTIFIED" appears handwritten into the Other field. This version of the ATIC 329 form does not carry a separate Unidentified checkbox distinct from "Unknown" at the base of the Field 12 list.] [ ] Insufficient data for evaluation [ ] Unidentified Form: ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52) [Note: Record card appears twice in the PDF -- original and what appears to be a duplicate/carbon copy. Content is identical on both copies.] Supplemental documents present: Air Intelligence Information Report (AIIR), Report No. IR 1-57 HQ 313TH ADIV, INTELLIGENCE, APO 239 On AF Form 112 and Supplement to AF Form 112, 4 pages total Primary sources: S/SGT HUGH T. O'CONNOR, S/SGT HILLIS D. BRIDGMAN, 13th Communications Squadron, Kadena AFB Supplemental source: S/SGT THOMAS M. GILLIGAN (brief sighting, deemed unusable by preparing officer) Preparing Officer: 1/LT JAMES W. WALLACE, AO 2224028, Hq 313th Air Division, APO 239, Intelligence Officer Reviewing Authority: JAMES F. GIDDENS, Lt Colonel, USAF, Chief, Intelligence Division, Directorate of Operations Date of Report: 30 Sept 1957 Date stamp: OCT 29 1957 Distribution: 1 Cy CINCPACAF, 1 Cy DCS/I, 5AF Includes: rough observer azimuth/geometry sketch; marginal handwritten annotations from reviewing authority (partially legible; discussed in analysis below) ================================================================ SEARCH INDEX TERMS ================================================================ Kadena Kadena-AFB Okinawa Ryukyus Japan 1957 September 1950s military communications-squadron ground-visual oval fluorescent translucent glowing vibrating jellyfish coke-bottle grapefruit night overcast four-passes repeated-passes five-minute-interval N-to-S silent no-sound UNIDENTIFIED 13th-Communications-Squadron CINCPACAF 5AF 313th-ADIV intelligence-report IR-1-57 kite balloon elevation-angle azimuth multiple-witnesses trained-observer AF-Form-112 Bridgman O'Connor Wallace Giddens barracks-110 ================================================================ CASE ANALYSIS -- Claude Sonnet 4.6 ================================================================ THE OFFICIAL CONCLUSION ----------------------- The ATIC Record Card carries "UNIDENTIFIED" handwritten into the Other field of Field 12. The Field 11 comments are more tentative: the investigator raises the possibility of a kite or balloon "based on previous reports" but declines to commit, carrying the case as unknown pending further information that apparently never materialized. The Air Intelligence Information Report's preparing officer, 1/Lt James W. Wallace (313th ADIV Intelligence Officer), is more direct in his AIIR Section 11b comments: "Due to the unusual number of sightings (four), and the regularity in the time element, I am unable to determine any known cause or explanation thereof." Marginal annotations from what appears to be a higher-level reviewing authority -- the document bears a countersignature block associated with Lt Colonel James F. Giddens, Chief, Intelligence Division, Directorate of Operations -- push toward a kite explanation by reference to similar Pacific cases in Air Intelligence Command records but acknowledge that no ground verification was performed for this specific incident. WHAT THE EVIDENCE SHOWS ----------------------- Two primary witnesses -- S/Sgts O'Connor and Bridgman of the 13th Communications Squadron -- observed the object from the veranda between the wings of Barracks 110, Kadena Air Base, approximately 1600 yards at a 165-degree azimuth from the Base Operations Tower. The AIIR notes both men appeared sincere and positive in the information they provided. Observer coordinates given as 26 degrees 21'N / 127 degrees 47'E. The object made four discrete passes in a generally N-to-S direction at approximately 5-minute intervals. Precise GMT observation times from the AIIR: 201105Z, 201110Z, 201115Z, and 201119Z. Each pass lasted 4-10 seconds, with the object disappearing into the overcast each time. Field 7 on the ATIC form records "5 to 10 seconds," which represents the per-pass duration; the total event spanned roughly 14 minutes. The four passes were not identical in behavior. On the first, the object traveled level in a distinct arc. Passes two and three were level with a straight course rather than an arc. On the fourth and final pass, the object came directly overhead at an elevation angle of 60 degrees (versus 45 degrees on the preceding passes) and seemed to gain altitude before disappearing into cloud cover. Size, shape, and speed remained constant across all four passes. The primary azimuth data from the AIIR: object first sighted by O'Connor at azimuth 350 degrees, elevation 45 degrees. Bridgman's first observed azimuth was 25 degrees at 45 degrees elevation. Second sighting (both observers together): azimuth 10 degrees, elevation 45 degrees. Third pass: north-south track, elevation 45 degrees, azimuth not definite. Fourth pass: elevation 60 degrees, azimuth 350 degrees, passing overhead, climbing; lost in overcast at azimuth 200 degrees. On the second pass the object was lost in overcast at azimuth 95 degrees. The slight divergence between the two observers' initial azimuths is geometrically consistent with their positions on the barracks veranda. Object description: roughly oval with indented sides, giving the appearance of a coke bottle minus the neck. Bright white, very distinct, like a fluorescent lightbulb. Appeared to vibrate. Also compared to a jellyfish for the impression of translucence. Slightly bigger than a grapefruit held at arm's length. No sound throughout any of the four passes. Weather: night, overcast, scattered clouds at 1200-3000 feet, ceiling 8000 feet, visibility 10 miles. Surface winds from the SW at 5 knots. Winds aloft (from Kadena Base Weather Station): 160 degrees at 12 knots at 1000 feet; approximately 200 degrees at 11 knots at 5000 feet; 210 degrees at 18 knots at 8000 feet. Wind direction was generally from the south at all relevant altitudes. No air traffic in the area at the time of sighting. A rotating local beacon was explicitly and definitively ruled out by both primary observers. The AIIR notes the beacon sweeps in approximately the opposite direction of cloud drift at the time and that both men were certain the object was unrelated. Supplemental source S/Sgt Gilligan had a brief 1-2 second sighting at approximately 2010L and described the object as round, very much like a shooting star in color and action, traveling at extreme speed with no sound. The preparing officer judged this account unusable due to its brevity. It is catalogued in the AIIR but does not affect the primary finding. POINTS OF INTEREST / WHAT GIVES ME PAUSE ----------------------------------------- The four-pass pattern at precise 5-minute intervals is the dominant feature of this case and the element that most resists conventional explanation. A kite does not make four organized, timed passes over the same location and return. An untethered kite or balloon driven by wind does not cycle back for a second pass, let alone a fourth. A tethered kite would appear roughly stationary to fixed observers, not travel past and return. The surface and upper winds ran from the south-southwest; the object tracked north to south on each pass. This puts the object moving with the low-altitude wind during each pass -- but the 5-minute interval between passes demands a mechanism by which the object transited north (against the wind) during each gap. No such mechanism is proposed or investigated in the record. The description is coherent across two independent observers. The "coke bottle minus the neck" analogy for the shape is specific enough to suggest genuine perceptual agreement rather than retroactive description alignment. The jellyfish comparison for translucence reinforces the same basic perceived quality from the same observation event. Both observers independently noted vibration. This internal consistency is a point in favor of an actual phenomenon being observed. The reviewer's marginal annotations are a secondary record of some interest. They reference A/IC Command records showing that HQ had received reports of similar oval-shaped objects over the Pacific over the preceding twelve years, a number of which were ultimately attributed to kites. They also note that the effect of attempting to identify objects at night through scattered clouds is "well known" as a source of ambiguity. These are reasonable cautionary observations. However, the annotations also record that GTS records for Okinawa were not checked, and that apparently no follow-up or investigation was conducted by Base P.O. (Provost Officer or Provost Office). The reviewer's own marginal language -- partially legible -- suggests something to the effect of "no follow on or local checks...possibly kite." This is a pattern-match conclusion drawn from a comparison to prior case files, not a finding based on verification of what was actually present in the air over Kadena on 20 September 1957. The report was distributed to CINCPACAF and DCS/I, 5AF -- Pacific Air Forces command level. This routing indicates the field regarded the incident as substantive. Kadena Air Base in 1957 was one of the principal USAF strategic installations in the Western Pacific, hosting heavy bomber and reconnaissance assets, and would have had radar coverage of the surrounding airspace. The absence of any radar data from the AIIR -- not even a notation that radar was queried -- is a gap. BOTTOM LINE ----------- The UNIDENTIFIED classification reflects honest dealing by the preparing officer, who was direct: the four-pass regularity defeated any conventional explanation he could identify. The kite hypothesis is not unreasonable in the abstract -- Okinawa, 1957, night, overcast, military installation, a pattern of similar Pacific reports on file. But the specific behavioral evidence in this case argues against it. The timing regularity, the consistent elevation and appearance across passes, the final overhead transit with apparent altitude gain -- none of this is characteristic of an uncontrolled aerial object in a roughly south-southwest wind. The mechanism by which the object cycled back for four passes is unexplained and appears to have gone unasked. The case warrants its UNIDENTIFIED classification as an evidentiary matter. What it does not establish is what the object was. The investigation stopped at the report stage. A follow-up inquiry into kite or balloon launches in the area, correlation with available radar data, or additional witness canvassing at the base would have been straightforward -- and the reviewer's own marginal notes acknowledge it did not happen. This is a case where the classification is honestly earned and the file is genuinely incomplete. ================================================================ https://glitchymatrix.com/bluebook/ GlitchyMatrix Project Blue Book Archive All 10,808 declassified USAF UFO case files, 1945-1969 ================================================================