Clearwater Beach Flare Misidentification Study
On the evening of July 4, 1964, a civilian pilot flew a Cessna 170-A approximately five miles west of Clearwater Beach over the Gulf of Mexico.
Narration
Five red lights hung motionless above the Gulf, silent and perfectly spaced.
July 4, 1964 — a civilian Cessna 170-A departed Clearwater Municipal Air Park at 2005 hours.
Five railroad flares on plastic parachutes descended in a north-south line over open Gulf water.
Eighty witnesses watched the five red lights extinguish, one by one, into darkness.
Air Force investigators cross-referenced eighty written witness accounts against the pilot's verified statement.
Ninety-five percent never identified flares — the mystery they carried was real to them.