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This secret Project Blue Book investigation report, numbered T53-11156, covers a combined air-visual, ground-visual, air-radar and ground-radar sighting near Rapid City and Blackhawk, South Dakota, on 5 August 1953. It records interviews with the radar controller and two F-84 pilots who chased a light, checks of weather balloon tracks, and comments on how reliable each witness was. It suggests that a balloon, a star such as Capella, or an equipment malfunction may explain the sighting, but it carries the incident as Unsolved.
“Hill”1 page
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## SECRET having difficulty. He took a realistic approach and had some logical reasoning. He was worried about the fact that the light moved relative to the stars. By eliminating doubt eightings the only thing that can be reasonably assured is that a GOC post observed a light. This could be a balloon or star. Radar picked up something in the general area of the GOC post and vectored an aircraft toward it. The pilot saw a light and chased it. He got a radar lock on it, but this could have been a mal-function. The star Capella is possibly visible low on the horizon to the north and the pilot could have seen this. Pending further study, this incident is carried as Unsolved. Conclusion Unsolved.
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