October 15, 1953 — Minneapolis, MN
10:10 a.m. During the tracking of a Project Grab Bag balloon launch, a 40-foot object leaving a brief vapor trail is seen by three General Mills Aeronautical Lab research engineers (James A. Winker, Fletcher L. Bartholomew, and Richard J. Reilly) near Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is traveling south in horizontal flight at 1,100 mph, moving 10° in nine seconds at about 40,000 ft altitude and 25° elevation. The object goes into a vertical dive for about 10-15 seconds, then glows or flashes in the sun two or three times for 1 second each. It is seen in the theodolite as a gray mass. It levels off and the vapor trail stops. [Eberhart]
Record Card:
AF-112:
Report to Air Intel Service Squadron Flight 2A:
Sources:
Brad Sparks, Blue Books Unknowns Catalogue, Case 988, p. 205;
J Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience, Ballantine eds., 1974, pp. 71–72;
J Allen Hynek, The Hynek UFO Report, pp. 113–114;
NICAP, “Project GRAB BAG Sighting”;
STRATOPEDIA, “WINKER, James A. (1928 - 2017)”;