Unresolved UAP Report, Catalina Island, 1953

This five-page file records one sighting on the night of November 15, 1953, local time (0505–0515Z on the 16th, the date the file uses). The witness was an Air Force technical sergeant, a clerk, watching from the corner of Tenth and Gaffey streets in San Pedro, California, across the channel from Santa Catalina Island. The report went out by teletype on November 17 from the 2347th Air Force Reserve Training Center at Long Beach Municipal Airport to Air Defense Command, the Air Technical Intelligence Center, Air Force intelligence in Washington and Continental Air Command.

What he reported

Glancing at the sky, he saw one round, saucer-shaped object about the size of a pea, purplish white at first and then whiter. It seemed to sit still over Catalina, then moved northwest toward Los Angeles in a straight, level line until its light faded, about ten minutes in all. He gave its height as 45 degrees above the horizon. The night was clear with ten miles’ visibility, and he reported no sound, trail or maneuvers. The originating office rated him “fairly reliable” because he had worked around jet aircraft while stationed at Long Beach.

The verdict

The teletype passes on a view from astronomers at the Griffith Park observatory (spelled “Griffies” in the teletype and “Griffis” on the card) that objects like this may be planets, which show up more clearly after rain. The Project 10073 record card concludes “Astronomical (Jupiter),” noting that the movement did not match the winds aloft and adding a note on Jupiter’s position for that week. A slow-moving light that fades over ten minutes is consistent with a bright planet, though the file does not show a worked comparison of directions. Page 2 is a faint blank card back. Other Catalina files: 1955, 1952, 1949.