PROJECT ONE ZERO ZERO SEVENTY‑THREE RECORD CARD, LOCAL THIRTY‑ONE GMT, JULY NINETEEN FIFTY‑NINE. This document is a field observation report filed by the Air Technical Intelligence Center, United States Air Force, concerning unidentified aerial phenomena reported in the Yakima, Bremerton, and Bellingham areas of Washington State. The record was uploaded to The Black Vault archive, accessible at https://archive.org/download/1959-07-8407543-Yakima-Bremerton-Bellingham-WashingtonArea/1959-07-8407543-Yakima-Bremerton-Bellingham-WashingtonArea_djvu.txt. It is notable for containing one of the earliest civilian reports of multicolored lights in the Pacific Northwest, and for the subsequent Air Force memorandum that classified the sightings as “lights and flares emitting from known friendly sources.”
The document was released to the public through The Black Vault, a repository of declassified government records. The file appears in the archive without a specific Freedom of Information Act case number, and the declassification authority is listed as the United States Air Force, Directorate of Intelligence, 23rd Air Division, McChord Air Force Base, Washington. The release date on the archive page is not specified; the material is identified as a public‑domain government record.
The record begins with a project heading and a brief summary of the sighting:
PROJECT ONE ZERO ZERO SEVENTY‑THREE RECORD CARD. LOCAL THIRTY‑ONE GMT — FIVE PHOTOS. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION: TEN MINUTES. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING: Report on July NINETEEN, NINETEEN FIFTY‑NINE, of a luminous object, described as a “balloon‑like” or “balloon‑type” phenomenon. LOCATION: Yakima, Bremerton, and Bellingham, Washington. TYPE OF OBSERVATION: Ground‑based visual. SOURCE: Civilian. NUMBER OF OBJECTS: NINE. COURSE: Varied. CONCLUSIONS: □ Was Balloon □ Probably Balloon □ Possibly Balloon □ Was Aircraft □ Probably Aircraft □ Possibly Aircraft □ Possibly Astronomical □ Insufficient Data for Evaluation □ Unknown.
The report continues with a series of newspaper clippings and eyewitness statements. A Yakima newspaper article dated August TWENTY‑SEVEN, NINETEEN FIFTY‑NINE describes “lights in the sky” observed by local deputies. The article notes that the lights were “orange and white” in Yakima, while “red, green and white” were reported in nearby towns. The same article records a comment from the Fair‑child Air Force base at Spokane, which told Yakima that the lights were “aircraft refueling operations.” Further testimony from a deputy sheriff in Yakima recounts that the lights persisted for three hours, appearing at an altitude of approximately one hundred fifty feet, and that the objects “changed from red to green to white.”
Additional statements from local law‑enforcement officials in the Bremerton area are recorded. Deputy Sheriff L‑C‑S. Cline reported seeing the objects from Waterman Beach; Detective Bill Clifton reported sightings from Ross Point and from his home at Gorsl. The reports describe the objects as “dark circles with a bright rim at the exterior,” changing colors, and estimated altitude of fifty thousand feet, based on the presence of commercial aircraft in the vicinity.
The record concludes with a memorandum dated fifteen September, NINETEEN FIFTY‑NINE, from the Directorate of Intelligence, 23rd Air Division, United States Air Force, McChord Air Force Base, Washington. The memorandum is addressed to the Air Technical Intelligence Center, attention Major Friend, Air Force Central Intelligence, Wright‑Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio. The text reads:
YOUR REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ON UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS IN THE BREMERTON, WASHINGTON AREA HAS BEEN REFERRED TO THE CHIEF OF INTELLIGENCE, TWENTY‑FIFTH AIR DIVISION, MCHORD AIR FORCE BASE, WASHINGTON. INTELLIGENCE RECORDS SHOW THAT THREE UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECT REPORTS HAVE BEEN RECEIVED FROM BREMERTON SINCE ONE JULY, NINETEEN FIFTY‑NINE. THESE REPORTS OCCURRED WITHIN A TWO‑DAY PERIOD. A. ON TWENTY‑FOUR JULY, NINETEEN FIFTY‑NINE AT TWENTY‑THREE THIRTY HOURS P A T, OBSERVERS IN BREMERTON REPORTED SEE
