Documents / Hearing transcript
This is the printed transcript of an April 5, 1966 hearing of the U.S. House Committee on Armed Services on unidentified flying objects. Air Force Secretary Harold Brown testified that 9,501 of 10,147 sightings from 1947 through 1965 had been identified and that no threat or extraterrestrial evidence had been found. The record includes the Scientific Advisory Board ad hoc committee report recommending university studies and the Air Force's marsh gas explanation for the Dexter and Hillsdale, Michigan sightings. Members also questioned J. Allen Hynek and Maj. Hector Quintanilla about the Exeter, New Hampshire case.
6003 FIREBALL REPORT Persons observing a fireball or meteor should report the information to the American Meteor Society. The information desired is contained - below. A very brilliant meteor or fireball is reported to have passed in your vicinity on ____ at the hour of ____. Will you please answer as fully as possible the following questions, which are asked on behalf of the American Meteor Societyin order that permanent records of such phenomena may be obtained. When these reports are published each contributor whose report is fairly complete will be mentioned, if possible, and due credit given. It is only by the help of those who can give personal information that data can be secured for the computation of the orbits of meteors. These data are of great scientific value and all reasonable efforts should be made to obtain them. You will be unableprobably to answer all questions below, but answer those you can, as they may be of the greatest importance. (1) Give your name and address. (2) Where were you when you saw the meteor? (If the town is small please give county as well.) (3) Give the date, hour, and minute when the meteor appeared; also kind of time used. (4) In what direction did it appear (or in what direction was it first seen) ?This is not asking in what direction it was going. (5) In what direction did it disappear (or in what direction was it last seen) ?For questions (4) and (5), simply N, E, S, or W is not accurate enough, unless those were the exact directions. If compass is used, state it; also if magnetic correction has been applied to compass reading. (6) At what height did it appear? (Use degrees in answering.) (7) At what height did it disappear? (Use degrees in answering.) (8) Did it pass directly overhead (i.e., through the zenith) ? (9) If not, to which side of the zenith did it go, and how far from it? (Use degrees in answering.) (10) Did it appear to reach the horizon? What sort of a horizon have you? (11) What angle did the path of the meteor make with the horizon and in which direction was it then going? (12) If you are familiar with constellations describe the path of the meteor through the sky with reference to stars. (13) Did the meteor appear to explode? (14) What was the duration of its flight in seconds? (15) Describe the train if one was left. If it lasted long enough to show drift, most carefully tell in what direction train drifted. Give sketch, if possible, showing this with regard to horizon. (16) What was the duration of the train in seconds? (17) Did you hear any sound? How long after seeing the meteor was it before you heard this sound? Did you hear an actual explosion? How long after seeing the explosion was it before you heard it? (18) Of what color was the meteor? (19) What was the size of the meteor? (Compare it with the moon or with a planet or star.) (20) Was more than one body seen before the explosion (if any)? (21) What was condition of sky at time? (22) Give names and addresses of others who saw the meteor. (23) Please mail this reply to: Charles P. Oliver, American Meteor Society, 521 North Wynnewood Avenue, Narberth, Pa., 19072. The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Secretary, let me ask you this. Should this be an executive session? Secretary BROWN. No, nothing I have said so far has been classified, and nothing I will say. The CHAIRMAN. Is there any reason to keep this executive? I think we have a lot of people outside of the door. Let them come in. Mr. PRICE. In yiew of the reason you are having it, I see no ob-jection. The CHAIRMAN. I don't either. Why not open the door? Mr. BRAY. I would like 'to make this observation off the record.
Hearing transcript, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 88 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.