The Pear-shaped Object a T-33 Could Not Reach

A civilian pilot reported it first. On 13 September 1959 staff in the control tower and weather station at Bunker Hill Air Force Base, near Kokomo and Peru in Indiana, turned 7x50 binoculars on a pear-shaped object very high to the north of the base. It was white, cream and metallic, with something trailing beneath it. It drifted slowly south-west and rose a little as it went. SSgt Richard M. Northcutt of the 1915th AACS was in the tower. Airman Roland A. Groom and SSgt Wilfred C. Sharp were the weather men, from Detachment 26 of the Weather Squadron.

They were far from alone. Logansport police took numerous calls, and the object stayed in view for about nine and a half hours until it was lost at dusk. A T-33 from the base climbed to about 37,000 feet and a Mooney to about 16,900. Both pilots said it was still far above them. A student pilot swerved to avoid what he first took for an oncoming aircraft.

What is on the record

The file is Project Blue Book Unknown no. 6507. The ATIC duty officer logged an estimated altitude of 55,000 to 60,000 feet. Capt. George R. Van Dyke at the base judged it a balloon of unknown type. The record card agrees that the object "has all the characteristics of a high alt balloon". General Mills said the balloon was not one of theirs and suggested Raven or Goodyear. Nobody confirmed a launch. The card closes, "however, since there is no confirmation this sighting is classified as unidentified."

The card times the start at 1500Z, about 10:00 local. A second card in the file is too badly scanned to read and appears to give 12 September. The legible card says the 13th. Berliner's list of Blue Book unknowns, NICAP, the Hatch database and Johnson's calendar all carry the case under 13 September.

Why it sits where it does

L4 · OFFICIAL RECORD: a released government record names who saw it. Northcutt, Groom and Sharp are named, with the tower staff and the T-33 crew, and their reports are all the archive holds. The Air Force's own reading leaned towards a high-altitude balloon it could never confirm, and the file stands as unidentified on that narrow ground. The tier measures sourcing, not truth. What hung over Bunker Hill all day is not resolved here.