FOIA: Repot of a meteor by a C-54 pilot near Rodeo, NM + Project Twinkle title page

NM_FEB_19_1951.pdf
Meteor report by a C-54 pilot near Rodeo, New Mexico
"A C-54 pilot reported a green flare or rocket observed in the vicinity of Rodeo, NM. It's motion was vertical and passed the plane at 9000 feet. Investigators believed this to be a meteor"
Document date: 1951-02-19
Department: Atmospherics Physics Laboratory
Author: L. Elterman
Document type: Incident report
pages: 2


Archivist's Notes: Second Page says Project Twinkle Final Report authored by L. Elterman on 27 November 1951 and approved by P.H. Wyckoff, Chief, Atmospheric Physics Laboratory though there is no signature on the line provided. This appears to be a title page. The first page is a very brief entry quoted here verbatim.

Well this one is a little short on detail.

Question 1, however, is whether this case is from February 1950 or 1951 as the archived document quotes both. The Blue Book archive thinks it was 1951...
link here
but offers no further information on the sighting.

The case is identified elsewhere, such as nicap,

nicap link

who also believe that 1951 is the correct date but no further information appears available.

As for the report itself, can a meteor fall vertically?


[edit on 20-11-2007 by timeless test]

While it is doubtful that a meteor could fall in a full vertical motion, we have no idea if the plane itself was perfectly horizontal at the time of the sighting. If the plane was diving or climbing, the pilot may have meant that the object was moving vertically to his path.

It is really hard to gather too much from such a brief statement as this, with no evident follow up.