Norcatur, Kansas sky explosion

The Norcatur, Kansas sky explosion was reported on 18 February 1948. An incident check-list recorded the time as 5:01 P.M., one object, and one big explosion followed by "a lot of little explosions". The entry listed the apparent construction as a meteor and the altitude as 30 to 35 miles, and was taken from a newspaper account by editor M. R. Krehbiel. The Kansas State Highway Commission notes recorded Postmaster Ralph New as seeing a bright light at about 4:50 P.M. and a large smoke cloud, with an explosion about a minute and a half later. Kenneth Hays described something like a rocket that lost altitude and exploded. Leland Sammons gave a statement of a funnel-shaped object about 4 feet long hovering at his house. A Norton airport check found no planes missing.

Norman G. Markham of Pueblo, Colorado wrote to the Army on 20 February and 14 March 1948. He suggested the object might have been a rocket bound for the moon and described the Denver report that Chamberlin Observatory astronomers could offer no explanation. The Air Force forwarded his first letter to Air Materiel Command on 9 July 1948 as a matter pertaining to that command.

Dr. Lincoln LaPaz of the University of New Mexico wrote on 11 April 1948 that he remained convinced it was a genuine meteorite fall. He called the attributed Rocht statement absurd, and noted that no meteoritic material had been found so far. He recorded that Glenn's account of a battery case changed from red hot to too hot to handle, and that a physicist said the case matched portable radio batteries. He also reported that McCook Field tower staff described a black object with a bright jet of flame. A party member believed Sammons sincere and very badly scared.

The incident summary remarks added that fragments were found beginning April 24, including a piece of some 109 pounds identified as an achondrite. It also recorded a photograph by Duane W. Wray taken four minutes after the explosion. At the 1949 Los Alamos conference LaPaz said meteorites were recovered and it was an ordinary meteorite fall that did not resemble the green fireballs under discussion.