July 19, 1956: Hutchinson, Kansas

July 19, 1956- -Hutchinson, Kansas. Naval Air Station reported tracking “a moving unidentified object” on radar, observed visually by state police as “teardrop shaped” light source. [VIII] Noticeable maneuvers of UFO “vertically and horizontally over a wide area of the sky” mapped by Wichita Eagle.1

Section VIII has the case listed in a table with the same description2. Its footnote states the source of information was a United Press story from the same date. 

The Blue Book file

Blue Book has a case file for this event under Arkansas City, Kansas.3 There seems to be little information in the way of what the Air Force discovered. Instead, the file contains mostly news reports and excerpts from Ruppelt’s book and other sources. There is a record card from the 4602nd AISS and a message that is so faded that it is hard to read. They report the object was in the direction of 80 degrees azimuth, was visible for 40 minutes (and still was in sight at the time of the report) and was traveling towards the southeast. The time listed was 0610Z on the 19th on the 4602nd record card. An addition then appeared on the card indicating the time was 0010Z. This is the time that appears on the official Blue Book record card. 

Media accounts

The Hutchinson News-Herald of July 19, 1956 recounted the events that transpired.4 They stated the following details:

First observed between 12 and 1 AM. Highway trooper Dick Hadsall stated the object did not move quickly but seemed to move horizontally and vertically over “a wide area of the sky”. 

Policemen Otis Kirkbride and Chief Harold Alt, of the shore patrol, were in Hutchinson and they saw the object at tree top level to the northeast at 3:30 AM. They initially thought it was the moon

Patrolman Bob Robinson was to the south of town and did not initially see it. Only when he drove north did he see the object.

Kirkbride and Alt stated the object moved from side to side and eventually went north, ascended, and disappeared. 

The story that it was tracked by the Naval radar was checked out but Hutchinson NAS stated they did not track anything to the news media.

Newspaper editor Brian Coyne described it as a “brilliantly lighted, tear shaped object with prongs or streams of light spraying downward. The prongs or streams of bright light were observed first as directed towards the earth and then extending from the sides of the object.” The head was described as being green or bluish green. 

Near Emporia, a rail road worker reported seeing a light at 3AM for twenty minutes. It appeared to come and go.

It was reported that a B-47 was dispatched and that they only reported seeing torches from the oil fields. 

The object(s) near Arkansas City was visible after sunrise when it disappeared about 5:15 AM. It also mentioned that a second object (not previously mentioned) disappeared a few minutes later. 

There was mention of a ball of fire traveling eastward extremely fast. No time was mentioned. 

The Blue Book file contained a media teletype that stated a B-29 and two other jets were sent to investigate. Another media account that states a B-47 was sent. One can only assume that nothing was seen, except oil well fires, since there appears to be no indication that Blue Book, or the 4602nd AISS, had received a report from the aircrew. 

Further examination of other media accounts, revealed this quote:

Earlier, the Kansas Highway Patrol reported radar at the Hutchinson, Naval Air Station had picked up “a ball of fire traveling east at a high rate of speed.”5

The Blue Book file had a news teletype print out that stated that the “ball of fire” had been seen by a patrolman. 

Analysis/summary

In Sunlite 11-2, I determined the sighting to be attributed to Mars and not a balloon as Blue Book determined. This had to do with the times of the event listed on the Blue Book record card. The 4602nd felt that the southeast motion was due to the wind, which was coming from the northwest. However, an astronomical object would shift azimuth from East to Southeast as it rises. Mars, at magnitude -1.6 (brighter than any star visible in the sky at the time), was at azimuth 116 degrees at 0610Z on the 19th . It had risen around 0440Z at azimuth 100 degrees. This is why I listed Mars as the source. 

Examining the rest of the story, we have a bunch of sightings at various times. One series of sightings seem to have happened around 3:30 AM (0930 Z). At 0930Z, the planet Venus was at azimuth 69 degrees and at an elevation of 3 degrees. It was near maximum brilliancy at magnitude -4.4.

Other sightings appeared to have been between midnight and 1AM. As previously noted, Mars had risen in the east and was quite the prominent object in the southeast. Additionally, rising in the northeast around 12:20AM, was the bright star, Capella. Coyne’s description sounds a lot like Capella although it is not clear when he observed the object. The lack of specific details regarding azimuth, elevation, and more precise times, makes it difficult to draw a definitive conclusion.

The object that was a “ball of fire” that traveled eastward very fast was probably a meteor, which apparently had been visually observed by a patrolman. What probably transpired was that this patrolman, or the dispatcher, probably called the radar site asking if they had seen anything and got some sort of response that he/they had interpreted to mean that the Air Station had tracked this object. It was then reported it had been tracked by radar to other patrolman on the radio. 

What this means is the radar contact was little more than rumor. There is no official mention of it in the Blue Book file, other than the news media acounts. The fact that the Naval Air Station denied there was a radar contact when asked indicates that whatever was reported to the patrolman was ambiguous at best. There may have been a contact but it probably was just spurious in nature. Without further evidence, the radar contact report has to be considered lacking in substance. 

Conclusion

It seems that astronomical objects may have been the major source of these UFO reports. The media accounts appear confusing and it is too bad the Blue Book file does not have detailed accounts from the primary witnesses with specific information. However, based on what is in these accounts, I suspect that Capella was one of the primary UFOs reported between 12 and 1 AM. I also think that Venus was another source of the UFOs that faded out after sunrise. Mars also probably played a role based on the accounts in the Blue Book files. If a “true UFO” was present, it was lost in all of the confused reports that were published. Based on the information that we do have, these sightings can be listed as possible astronomical objects and should be removed from the “best evidence” category. 

Quelle: SUNlite 4/2020