Unidentified flying object radar contacts in the Panama Canal Zone of 1958

Summary

In March 1958, in the Panama Canal Zone, several radar contacts with unidentified objects were recorded. Two of them were investigated by aircraft without success. One case showed a triangular-shaped target with variable speed, even evasive, and briefly visible red and green lights. Another target, three times the size of a freighter, behaved like a cumulonimbus cloud, disappearing at 20 miles without being seen. Reports suggest it could be weather balloons or anomalous atmospheric phenomena. The lack of visual confirmation and the unstable nature of the radar systems of the time made a definitive evaluation difficult.