Wilbert Smith Sighting

W.B. Smith

On August 16, 1960, my wife, one son and myself were watching the sky for the passage of echo 1 which was due about 9 p.m. About 10 minutes before the satellite was due we noticed a light in the south traveling north.

At first we thought it was the satellite even though the course was not right, However, as it came nearly overhead we realized that it was not the satellite because it much too fast, about the speed of a aircraft at 5,000 feet, and because it carried in addition to the steady white light, an intense blue light flashing at about 10 per second. Through 7x35 glasses the blue light was almost blinding, like a welding arc. As the object passed overhead the blue light slowed gradually to about 1 per second, and at about 60o above the horizon to the north, it made a sharp right angle turn and headed west, where it eventually passed out of sight in the distance. The entire operation was soundless. We are quite familiar with the many modern aircraft as our home is in line with, and about three miles from a major runway, and we see many craft flying overhead at about 5000 foot altitude, and we can say definitely that this object was not an ordinary aircraft.