---
analysis-role: source-anchored-analysis
confidence-level: high
ai-analysis: true
accuracy-disclaimer: AI-assisted analysis; interpretations are provisional and may contain errors. Verify against cited source material.
ai-generated: true
companion-eligible: true
source-material:
  - Release_1/38_143685_box7_Incident_Summaries_101-172.pdf
---

# Norcatur Fireball Altitude Record Check

## Source Basis

This note resolves the approved capture lead asking to document the "30-35 miles above earth" line in [Incident Summaries 101-172](/?open=Release_1%2F38_143685_box7_Incident_Summaries_101-172.pdf&page=3&docZoom=1&rotation=0). The captured source state is page 3 of the PDF, Incident #101, dated 18 February 1948 at 5:01 P.M. near Norcatur, Kansas. Page 4 continues the remarks and is needed to keep the altitude line in context.

![Incident 101 page 3 source render](/media/Release_1/Analysis/images/norcatur-incident-101-source-page-3.png)

![Incident 101 page 4 source render](/media/Release_1/Analysis/images/norcatur-incident-101-source-page-4.png)

## Observation

Page 3 records the entry as a "CHECK-LIST - UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS" item for Incident #101. The visible fields identify a single object, location "Norcatur, Kansas," observer source "M. R. Krehbiel account (taken from newspaper)," and altitude "30 - 35 miles above earth." The same page also records "apparent construction" as "Meteor," "manner of disappearance" as "Disintegration," and a photograph described as a vapor trail left in the sky by an explosion.

Page 4 supplies the control context. The remarks state that the February 18 fireball over northern Kansas was "just that" because meteorites had been recovered from it. The page describes smaller recovered fragments, a later approximately 109-pound piece embedded in soil, and the stone as an achondrite. It also says a photograph by Duane W. Wray of Norton showed the vapor trail left by the meteor explosion, seen across Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska, with a blue-white smoke smudge remaining in the sky for about an hour.

## Hypothesis To Test

The capture lead asks whether the archive supports the "30-35 miles above earth" claim. It does, but only as an incident checklist field for a fireball/meteor event. The source supports documenting the altitude estimate; it does not support converting the estimate into evidence of a controlled craft, propulsion system, or non-human vehicle.

## Source-State Panels

| Panel | Source read | Limit |
| --- | --- | --- |
| A - Checklist altitude | Page 3 visibly lists "30 - 35 miles above earth." | The field is an altitude estimate with no method shown on the captured page. |
| B - Classification control | The same page names the apparent construction as "Meteor." | The checklist being in a UFO file does not override its own meteor classification. |
| C - Recovery context | Page 4 says meteorites were recovered and describes an achondrite stone. | Recovery language strongly favors a meteor/fireball interpretation, not an unresolved vehicle. |
| D - Visual trail | Page 4 describes a photo of the meteor's vapor trail and a blue-white smoke smudge. | The report documents an atmospheric trail, but the image itself is not reproduced in these two pages. |

## Case-Specific Tie-In

This entry belongs in the Release 1 historical flying-disc/document lane as a control case. It is useful beside [21 - Release 1 Companion Map and Disclosure Bridge](/?open=Release_1%2FAnalysis%2F21-Release-1-Companion-Map-and-Disclosure-Bridge.md) because it shows how the early official record mixed unresolved object reports with conventional or recovered-material explanations. It should not be conflated with the later New Mexico seven-object passage discussed in [C59 - Roswell New Mexico Official Record Contradiction Guide](/?open=Release_3%2FAnalysis%2FC59-Roswell-New-Mexico-Official-Record-Contradiction-Guide.md). Both live in the incident-summary family, but they are separate entries with different source claims.

## Why It Matters

The "30-35 miles" line is real and citable. The important analytical move is to preserve its status: it is a source-visible altitude estimate inside an incident checklist that immediately points toward a meteor explanation and later recovered meteorite material. In other words, this is a good archive literacy example. A dramatic altitude value can be genuine while the event still resolves toward a conventional astronomical object.

## Working Assessment

Disclosure-forward neutrality gate: passed. The analysis starts from the captured page and the user's question, keeps the outlandish reading testable but does not upgrade it into proof, and presents the ordinary/control lane alongside the archive-significance lane. The strongest source-backed finding is that Incident #101 documents a 30-35 mile altitude estimate for the February 18, 1948 Norcatur/Norton fireball. The strongest limiting finding is that the same record identifies the apparent construction as meteor, describes disintegration, cites recovered meteorites, and names an achondrite recovery. Evidence that would reopen the exotic lane would need to show that the recovered material, trajectory, or photographed trail was inconsistent with a meteor despite the page-4 remarks.

## Follow-Up

- If a future pass needs exact provenance, find and inspect the referenced "supplement" and the file photograph under Incident #101.
- Keep this note as a control-case companion, not as a propulsion or craft-morphology claim.