UFO sighted at Wheelus AB in 1960

Summary

In December 1960, a weather observer at Wheelus Air Base in Tripoli, Libya, reported a luminous object with a flaming tail. He described a fire-orange ball with a tapering tail six times longer than the ball's diameter. The observer noticed the object for 5-6 seconds, moving in a north-south or northwest-southeast direction. Although initially considered a possible meteor or even the reentry of Sputnik IV, no conclusive evidence of another known phenomenon was found.

The air base confirmed there were no aircraft or balloons in the area at that time, ruling out some conventional explanations. The description and duration of the event matched typical meteor characteristics. However, the report did not reach a definitive conclusion and was recorded as an unclassified observation. This case is another example of how military observers reported unusual aerial phenomena during the Cold War, often without arriving at a clear explanation.