[meteorite-list] NPA 02-19-1948 Norton County Meteorite Fireball

[MARK BOSTICK]

Paper: Waterloo Daily Courier
City: Waterloo, Iowa
Date: Thursday, February 19, 1948
Page: 1

Fire Ball Over Six States Believed Bursting Meteor

     Kansas City, Mo. - (AP) - Observers Thursday sought further explanation 
of a strange "ball of fire," possibly a disintegrating meteor, seen in six 
states.
     The brilliant explosion thousands of feet in the air was observed in 
Kansas, Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Colorado Wednesday.
     Oscar Monnig secretary of the National Meteoralogical Society said at 
Fort Worth, Tex., he felt sure the fire ball was a meteor disintegrating.
     Directors A. W. Recht said there was "no meteor showers and no other 
known phenomena in the sky to explain it."
     At the University of Nebraska, professor of astronomy Oliver C. Collins 
said "it might very well have been a meteor."
     After the flash civil aeronautic and state highway patrol officials 
received reports of flaming plan crashes from widely scattered points.  All 
reports proved groundless.
     Newspaper offices also received numerous calls from observers:

     C. L. Jacoby, editor of the Norton (Kan) Daily Telegram, said a number 
of callers asked excitedly if an atomic bomb had exploded.
      The explosion, Jacoby reported, rattled windows in a 35-mile area in 
northwest Kansas.  He said it occurred at 4:50 p.m. CST.
     C. W. Sulton, a Stillwater, Okla. airport employee described the flash 
as "about the size of a large bucket with a six or eight foot tail."
     M. B. Farrell, Gering, Neb., said he saw an object "like a ball of 
fire" fall in a meadow five miles west of Kimball, Neb.
     He was unable to find the object when he stopped his car to 
investigate.
     A large white cloud was visible in the sky for an hour after the flash, 
some observers said.

(end)

Mark Bostick
www.meteoritearticles.com