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Project Twinkle Final Report, November 1951

Internet Archive (uploaded by Paul Galante) · 1951-11-27 · 34 pages · text from the file's own layer

This Black Vault copy of Air Force records centers on the Project Twinkle Final Report, which Louis Elterman of the Geophysics Research Division wrote on 27 November 1951. Project Twinkle investigated green fireballs and other light phenomena in New Mexico using Askania cameras run by Land-Air at Vaughn and Holloman AFB. Elterman found the results essentially negative, with most sightings put down to aircraft, balloons, birds, clouds and meteors. He recommended no further spending. The file also includes the 1949 and 1950 correspondence that set up the project and 1952 memos about declassifying it.

  • p. 4 …Lven durinr; the meteor sho\ver of 11- 12 August 1951 , no alarming renor ts \.Jere…
  • p. 7 …such as • flight 0 ~ o1r ds , planets , meteors , and possib~y cloudiness . Dr . Fred L. \Ihi…
  • p. 8 …Jhipnle made a cnre~ study of meteor photogranhs tru{en in I;ew hexico on 35…
  • p. 9 …Uhipnle will have completed the installation of two 18-inch Schmidt cameras for meteor studies . rrbe…
  • p. 10 …Also observed by t \.ro Kirtland P.-FB pilots who reryorted this as a meteor ; time…
  • p. 30 …keen in connection with one of our meteor studies a sharp eye on anythin~ unusual a…
UNCLAS~lf ..
Summary of Recent_Aeria+.. Jhcnorn~na ;tenort13 fro]]} 17th. O,$I J?).s,trict
11 Nov . 19;0 - Reports of a. l are;e- sized balloon. It vras determined
that this vias released by General d:i.lls . The balloon
•
subsequently was recovered .
J,.2 Jan . 1951 - Report from ten k>s Alamos emnloyecs . Tear shaned
object ,n_ th small tail; v er y bright appearance ;
descended slo\-1ly; sky lirhted up fo · about 1 sec;
" . t4kA.. ck.vt~--1
7 //JJ~ ~ - ~ ·
16 ~·eb . 1951 - Aerial object reported i n the vicinity of holloman AFB .
This turn ed out to be a General :d. lls balloon func tioning
for Proj ect · s~1ook •
19 Feb. 1951 - A C- 54 pilot reoorted a gr een flar e or roc 1~e t observed
in the vicinity of Rodeo, IJ . 1'. I-r,s notion was vertical
and nassed the plane at 900C ft . Investigators believed
this to be a meteo~ .,..,.
6 r:iar . 1951 - Renort fror:t four Los Alamos personne l of very brieht
obj c t crossine, sky . Also observed by t \.ro Kirtland P.-FB
pilots who reryorted this as a meteor ; time - 11~ : 30 ; repor ted
by ur. La Paz to be a detonating f ire-baJl . .o fr~ents
-
recovered .
-
DOWNGR.ADP.D AT 3 YEAR !NT
. DECLAtitilFJED AFTl~P 121
yffritLS:
UNCLASSIFIE . DOD DIR 5200.10 . • .

About this file

Report, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 34 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.