← Declassified UAP case filesDOW-UAP-D177DECLASSIFIED · R07

DOW-UAP-D177, Unresolved UAP Report, Catalina Island, 1955

Incident date

3/15/55

Incident location

Catalina Island, California

Agency

Department of War

Released in

R07 · 2026-10-23

File type

Document

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Key facts

Official file ID: DOW-UAP-D177
Document type: Document
Agency: Department of War
Released in: R07 · 2026-10-23
Incident date: 3/15/55
Incident location: Catalina Island, California
Coordinates: 33.3889038, -118.4239288
Pages legible: 4/4
VIRIN: 260508-D-D0360-1169

Official description

The file contains a report by Paul J. Carr of Avalon, California, who reported observing a bright orange object, approximately the size of a nickel held at arm’s length, on the evening of March 15, 1955. The provisional assessment associated with the report includes a comment from the preparing officer that the sighting is possibly astronomical, and that the incident did not warrant further investigation.

✦ AI summary

This file documents a night-time sighting dated 15 March 1955 near Avalon, Catalina Island, California. It contains a Project 10073 record card, a UFOB index card and a teletype from the 670th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron at San Pedro to the 27th Air Division, Air Defense Command, the Air Technical Intelligence Center and USAF intelligence. A single civilian witness "just happened to notice" a round, very bright object the size of a nickel at arm's length, orange turning to red, that fell straight down from about 45 to 10 degrees of elevation on a bearing of 340 degrees and faded out of sight after about two seconds. The sky was clear, dry and cool. The squadron's intelligence officer wrote that the flight path and duration suggested the object was probably a meteor, and the record card concludes "meteor" ("probable meteor"). The index card marks it "possibly astronomical" and notes that, given the brevity of the sighting, the 4602d Air Intelligence Service Squadron considered further investigation not worthwhile.

Generated with AI from the official file — may contain errors.

▸Transcript(4 of 4 pages legible)

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[PAGE 1] PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD. 1. DATE: 15 March 1955. 2. LOCATION: Avalon, Catalina Isle, California. 3. DATE-TIME GROUP: Local —; GMT unknown. 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION: Ground-Visual. 5. PHOTOS: No. 6. SOURCE: Civilian. 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION: 2 seconds. 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS: one. 9. COURSE: straight down. 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING: Round. Changed from orange to red. Very bright. Fell straight down. 11. COMMENTS: Probable meteor. 12. CONCLUSIONS: Was Astronomical — Meteor. DECLASSIFIED Authority: NND 923007. ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52) [PAGE 2] UFOB INDEX CARD. 1. DATE: 15 March 1955. 2. LOCATION: Catalina Isle, California. 3. DATE-TIME GROUP: 15/2231 Z Mar 55 (GMT). 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION: Ground-Visual. 5. PHOTOS: No. 6. SOURCE: Civilian. 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION: approx 2 seconds. 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS: one (1). 9. COURSE: straight down. 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING: One (1) object, approx the size of a nickel held at arm's length, very bright and orange in color, was observed to fall straight down in the vicinity of Catalina Isle. 11. COMMENTS: Possibly astronomical, but due to the brevity of the sighting, no further investigation was deemed worthwhile by this organization (4602d AISS). 12. CONCLUSIONS: Possibly Astronomical. AISOP Form 5 (15 Oct 54) [PAGE 3] DE JWPJB 6D R 151900Z FM COC 670TH ACWRON SPEDRO CALIF TO JWPJB/COC 27TH AD DEF NORTON AFB CALIF JEDEN/COMDR ADC ENT AFB COLO JEDWP/COMDR AIR TECH INT CEN WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB OHIO JEPHQ/COMDR DIR OF INT HQ USAF WASH 25 DC BT /UNCLASSIFIED/670TAC C-001 PD IN ACCORD WITH AFR 200-2 PAR 7D CMA REPT OF UNID FLY OBJ THE FOLG IS SUBM CLN 1. A. ROUND B. NICKLE C. ORANGE TO RED D. ONE E. N/A F. NONE G. UNK H. NONE IL VERY BRIGHT 2. A. JUST HAPPEN TO NOTICE B. 45 AT 340 C. 10 AT 340 D. STRAIGHT DOWN E. FADE OUT OF SIGHT F. TWO SECONDS 3. A. GROUND VISUAL B. NONE C. N/A 4. A. NIGHT 5. A. BAKER DOG 3920 AVALON, CATALINA ISLE 6. A. CARR, PAUL J. 222 DESCANSO ST, BOX 622 AVALON, PHONE 5540 OCCUP [handwritten: Prob. Meteor] PAGE TWO JWPJB 6D UNK 7. A. CLEAR DRY AND COOL B. 10A 260-25K 16A 260-25K 20A 260-40K 30A 270-80K 40A 270-70K 80A 270-30K C. UNLIMITED D. UNRESTRICTED E. THIN F. NONE 8. A. NONE 9. A. NONE 10. A. NONE [PAGE 4] 11. A. FLIGHT PATH AND LENGTH OF TIME IN SIGHT, SUGGEST UFOB WAS PROBABLY A METEOR. BRANT, CLIFFORD E. CAPTIAN USAF INTELLIGENCE OFFICER 12. A. NONE BT 15/2231Z MAR JWPJB [stamp: 16 MAR 1955] [lower half: illegible bleed-through of another teletype; stamps: INFORMATION, 16 MAR 1955; handwritten: 1 Witness]

Generated with AI from the official file — may contain errors.

Source: U.S. Department of War / AARO — public domain · war.gov/ufo