IR-5-56 — 1956-11-09 — Destin, Florida (adjacent to Eglin AFB)

On 9 November 1956 at 2400Z, Lt Col William B. Colgan, an unquestionably reliable USAF Chief Test Division officer, was flying RF-84F #432 at 8,000 feet at 350-400 knots over Destin, Florida (adjacent to Eglin AFB). He observed a series of approximately 10-12 evenly spaced bright orange lights with a vague cigar-shaped outline. The object greatly increased altitude over a 2-4 minute period. After breaking away thinking it might be on a collision course, Colgan executed a 360-degree climbing turn but the object continued gaining altitude or had been much higher than initially appeared. Object lost from view nearly vertical above the RF-84.

extracted via: llm_subagent_v1