August 2, 1962 Liberal, Kansas
The NICAP document states:
August 2, 1962--Liberal, Kansas. Series of brightly lighted colored objects seen by airline pilot, airport personnel, and passengers at airport. [V]1
Section V lists the sighting in a table and references NICAP files. There is no additional information.
Blue Book file
Project Blue Book had a case file on this.2 In that file was a clipping from the APRO bulletin for September 1962, a summary from, what appears to be, another UFO newsletter, and a memorandum for the record describing the various sightings. The APRO bulletin report obtained all of its information from a news report circulated in multiple newspapers via the AP.3
Analysis
Blue Book determined this to be meteors and the planet Jupiter. In my Blue Book review in SUNlite 13-3, I agreed with these conclusions. Here is why:
- The initial report had an object/objects moving from east to west at high speed between 2030 and 2100 local time (CST). The duration of the event was described as being about two seconds. It was visible over a wide area that included Colorado, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. All of this information is consistent with a fireball meteor that probably broke up into multiple fragments.
- There was also a report of a bright light being visible to the east during/after this event. There is no specific time listed for this part of the sighting. The NICAP UFO investigator states it was “a few moments” later.3 That is hardly a precise time. A few moments could be minutes or tens of minutes. It might have been as long as an hour. It was described as stationary and similar to an aircraft landing light. Jupiter, at magnitude -2.8, rose at an azimuth of about 100 at 2115 local time. Considering the proximity to the time of the meteor sighting, Jupiter is probably the source of this “light”.
Conclusion
All of the verifiable information indicates what was seen was probably a meteor and the planet Jupiter. Other than the news report, there was little, to no, follow-up by UFO organizations or Blue Book. This sighting should not be considered “Best Evidence” and cleared from the NICAP and Weinstein lists.
Quelle: SUNlite 4/2021