Large blimp like object 1960's
I am currently in my middle 50's and not a believer that we are being
visited by beings from elsewhere. As an amateur astronomer, I did
volunteer work for the US Naval Observatory back in the late 60's. This
was in the early days of satellite before many precise measurements
could be made from orbit. My groups function, as ground based telescope
observers, was to precisely time star occultation's, for the most part
as they disappeared and reappeared behind the moon. Just some
background on my 'observing' experience.
My sighting was not during these exercises but during an outing to a
drive-in theater. It was still light out and I was biding time waiting
for it to be dark enough for the movies to begin. Above and to the left
of the screen I noticed an object (I would place it as North, North -
West, to the left of the Mt. Lemmon/Catalina range as you face it from
north/west Tucson and about 30 deg. above the horizon) I can best
describe as blimp shaped but somewhat narrower, pointed ends, silver in
color but I don't recall it as being reflective, NO protrusions such as
the cabin or fins that a blimp would have. I first thought that it was
some kind of experimental weather balloon but I noticed two other
factors that didn't fit that profile.
The first was a cloud looking trail, long and snake like but detached
from the object as if the object had stopped or stalled where it now
was. The observance of the trail (white/gray colored) lead me to the
second observation of the object, neither the trail or the object were
moving much if at all. Now I'm starting to realize how distant in
height and large this object is. My estimate is maybe three football
fields in length although it is very difficult to estimate since there
weren't any nearby objects to compare it to. The object and the trail
seemed to stay pretty much in the same position for the next 15 minutes
of so. There was a noticeable but slow drift and change in the trail
during this time.
During that time, I took advantage of other witnesses in the car next
to me. I remember there being at least three people in that vehicle, a
convertible. I asked them what they thought the object was. I still
remember the reply clearly, a fellow sitting in the front seat starred
again at the object and said "I'll tell you what, I'm in the Air Force
and it's nothing that I have ever seen" (Tucson as you know is the home
of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base). This was great confirmation that my
imagination wasn't playing tricks on me.
I hated to loose sight of the object but before it was totally dark, I
wanted to make my way the snack bar and use the pay phone to call the
newspaper and ask if there were any reports coming in. They didn't even
seem to comprehend my question so I didn't get very far in that
direction. It really made me wonder if they were playing dumb! Here
this object was in plain sight, dozens of people just at the drive-in
could observe it, surely you would think the newspaper would have some
reports. Maybe I just called too soon or just got the wrong individual.
As I went back to read your archives to see if there were any related
sightings, another report brought back something I had observed some
years earlier although not really a UFO sighting. as a preteen/teenager
in Tucson , I use to make an almost daily trek from my home to the
nearby drugstore. The route took me through a small area of undeveloped
property (desert vegetation), a route I knew with my eyes closed. On
one trip to the store (1959-61?) I couldn't help noticing a round area
where all the cactus and shrubs had been smashed to the ground, a
perfectly round area. Not a very large area maybe 10ft. I also noticed
some tracks, each track mark had three indentations as if a foot with
three pads or toes. I'm fuzzy on the space between the tracks, could
have been two feet or more apart but I'm not sure I remember the actual
spacing. Could be rabbit tracks or... well I'm not much for recognizing
animal tracks, I'll leave that to someone else.
End report.
((NUFORC Note: Dates of two incidents are approximate. PD)) |
