Within Almeria UFOs
Was Almeria's Official UFO a Balloon?
Almeria's key official UFO record is a short 1968 military file, but its best-known explanation may be a weather balloon.
On this page
- What the Air Force file records
- What the witness report seems to say
- Why the balloon explanation matters
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Introduction
Almería’s clearest official UFO record is not a dramatic chase, landing, radar return, or military interception. It is a very small Spanish Air Force file: expediente 681209, opened after a civilian report from Almería on 9 December 1968 and later declassified on 21 April 1993. The file matters because it gives the province one firm place in Spain’s national archive of officially collected strange aerial sightings. It also matters because the best later reading of the case is modest: a possible meteorological sounding balloon, not a strong unresolved mystery.[Biblioteca Virtual Defensa]bibliotecavirtual.defensa.gob.esOpen source on gob.es.
That tension is the value of the case. The Almería file shows how an ordinary-looking sky report could enter military paperwork, be preserved for decades, and then become part of a public UFO archive. It is useful not because it proves something exotic, but because it lets readers separate three things that are often blurred together: a real official record, a limited witness report, and a plausible conventional explanation.
What the Air Force file records
The official catalogue entry in Spain’s Virtual Defence Library identifies the Almería item as “Avistamiento de fenómenos extraños en Almería: 09 de Diciembre de 1968”, produced by the Air Operational Command, Air Staff, Intelligence Section. It dates the publication to 1968, gives the physical extent as four pages, and lists the subject under UFO observations and encounters in Almería province. The catalogue also gives the archive signatura as 681209 and notes that the file was declassified under JEMA 2654 on 21 April 1993.[Biblioteca Virtual Defensa]bibliotecavirtual.defensa.gob.esOpen source on gob.es.
That makes the case unusual in Almería’s provincial UFO history. Many local sightings survive through press accounts, witness memory, or later UFO writing; this one is anchored to a defence archive entry. It is not, however, a large investigative dossier. The archive’s own description tells us to expect a short text file, not a thick folder of photographs, radar plots, aircraft logs, or scientific analysis.[Biblioteca Virtual Defensa]bibliotecavirtual.defensa.gob.esOpen source on gob.es.
The broader Spanish archive helps explain the paperwork trail. Spain’s Ministry of Defence says the UFO-file declassification process began in 1991 because the ministry decided to review documents on strange aerial phenomena and lower their classification where appropriate. A physical copy was deposited in 1992 at the Central Library of the Air Force in Madrid, and digitisation later made the files available through the Virtual Defence Library. The public collection is described as 80 files and about 1,900 pages covering strange aerial sightings in Spanish airspace in which Air Force personnel or material were involved in some way.[Biblioteca Virtual Defensa]bibliotecavirtual.defensa.gob.esOpen source on gob.es.
This does not mean every file records a military sighting. The archive description is broader: some cases involve pilots or service personnel, while others entered the system because reports from civilians were communicated to the air authorities. The same official presentation also warns that, despite declassification, the personal details of declarants and reporting officers are omitted. That is important for Almería because it limits any modern assessment of the witness.[Biblioteca Virtual Defensa]bibliotecavirtual.defensa.gob.esOpen source on gob.es.
A later press summary of the Spanish files describes the Almería case as one in which a call led to expediente 681209 and a report from the head of the Seville Air Sector to the Air Staff. The same account says the tower had not registered controlled air traffic at the cited times, and frames the Almería item as one small example among many declassified files, most of which were eventually closed with conventional explanations.[Diario de León]diariodeleon.esDiario de León"Ni idea, es una cosa, un ovni que cambia de blanco a rojoDiario de León"Ni idea, es una cosa, un ovni que cambia de blanco a rojo
What the witness report seems to say
The most consistent secondary summaries place the Almería sighting at about 16:20 on 9 December 1968, with a second time of 16:25 also appearing in one document summary. That timing matters: this was a daylight or late-afternoon observation, not a classic night-light report. A daylight object can sometimes give more visual clues, but only if the witness description records shape, angular size, direction, duration, elevation, motion, weather, and comparison points. The available public summaries suggest the Almería file is thin on exactly those details.[Scribd]es.scribd.comAvistamiento de OVNI en AlmeriaAvistamiento de OVNI en Almeria
The Scribd-hosted summary of the file says the witness reported an unidentified flying object in Almería on 9 December 1968, at 16:20 and 16:25, and that the Air Commander in Almería confirmed there was no controlled air traffic at that moment. It also says the communication was sent upwards to the Air Staff for information and any relevant action. That gives the report a bureaucratic path, but it does not add the kind of independent evidence that would make the sighting robust.[Scribd]es.scribd.comAvistamiento de OVNI en AlmeriaAvistamiento de OVNI en Almeria
The “no controlled air traffic” detail is easy to overread. It may rule out a known aircraft under local control at the cited time, but it does not rule out every airborne object. A free balloon, an untracked object, an aircraft outside the relevant control category, a reflection, or a misperceived natural object could all sit outside a simple tower-traffic check. In other words, that negative check is useful, but it is not the same as a positive unknown.
The local aviation setting also deserves care. Almería Airport had opened earlier in 1968 at El Alquián, for domestic and international passenger and cargo traffic, operating in daylight and at night on request. That does not explain the December sighting by itself. It does, however, place the case in the first year of modern airport operations in the province, when unusual aerial observations around Almería had a clearer route into aviation and military reporting channels than they might have had in earlier decades.[Aena]aena.eshistory leihistory lei
Why the balloon explanation matters
The key later sceptical classification lists the Almería case as 9 December 1968, 16:20, Almería, type “DD” — a daylight disc or daylight observation category in that catalogue — and gives the assessment as “possible meteorological sounding balloon”. It names M. Borraz and J. Plana as responsible for that assessment, gives declassification as 21 April 1993, and lists the origin as the Air Staff.[elojocritico.info]elojocritico.infolos archivos ovni del ejercito del aire desglosados quien que comolos archivos ovni del ejercito del aire desglosados quien que como
That wording is important. “Possible” is not the same as proven. The available public material does not appear to identify a specific balloon launch, launch station, wind path, tracking record, or recovered instrument package tied to the sighting. A cautious reading is therefore: the balloon explanation is plausible and probably weakens the UFO claim, but the public record does not turn the case into a fully demonstrated identification.
Still, a meteorological balloon is not a lazy explanation. Weather balloons and radiosondes are a normal part of upper-air observation. NOAA describes a radiosonde as a small instrument package carried below a hydrogen- or helium-filled balloon, transmitting measurements as it rises through the atmosphere. The US National Weather Service says a typical sounding can last more than two hours, ascend above 35 kilometres, and drift more than 300 kilometres from its release point.[NOAA]noaa.govOpen source on noaa.gov.
That behaviour fits many UFO-report ingredients: a bright object, slow drift, high altitude, changing apparent size or brightness, and little or no engine noise. A balloon can also be hard to judge because the viewer has no familiar scale. In daylight, sunlight on a high-altitude balloon can make it look like a luminous or pale object rather than a recognisable piece of meteorological equipment. None of this proves that a balloon was present over Almería on that afternoon, but it explains why investigators would reach for that hypothesis when the report lacked stronger distinguishing features.
The timing also works in a general sense. Radiosonde observations are commonly tied to standard observation times, and routine upper-air networks use balloon-borne instruments globally. NOAA’s Integrated Global Radiosonde Archive describes radiosonde and pilot-balloon observations from more than 2,800 stations, with data extending back to 1905. The existence of a long-running international balloon-observation system makes a balloon a historically realistic candidate for a 1968 sky report, not a modern explanation being projected backwards.[NCEI]ncei.noaa.govNCEIIntegrated Global Radiosonde Archive (IGRANCEIIntegrated Global Radiosonde Archive (IGRA
What remains unresolved
The Almería file is best treated as a weakly documented, plausibly explained official case. It is official because the Air Force archived it. It is weakly documented because the public record points to a short file with limited observational detail. It is plausibly explained because a later catalogue assessment identifies a possible weather balloon, an ordinary object type known to create ambiguous daylight sightings.[Biblioteca Virtual Defensa]bibliotecavirtual.defensa.gob.esOpen source on gob.es.
What would strengthen the balloon explanation would be a matching launch record, trajectory reconstruction, or meteorological note showing that a radiosonde or pilot balloon could be in the reported part of the sky at about 16:20 to 16:25 on 9 December 1968. What would strengthen the unknown side would be independent witnesses, a longer and more precise description, photographs, instrument data, or a documented investigation ruling out balloons, aircraft, astronomy, and atmospheric effects. The currently visible public trail does not appear to provide those stronger supports.
The case is therefore not a contest between “aliens” and “debunking”. It is a lesson in evidential grading. A sighting can be real as a report, official as a document, and still unpersuasive as evidence of anything extraordinary. Almería’s 1968 file sits exactly in that middle ground.
Why this small file matters for Almería
For Almería’s UFO history, expediente 681209 is more important as a documentary anchor than as a mystery. It gives the province a definite entry in Spain’s declassified Air Force UFO archive, with a fixed date, file number, authoring body, declassification date, and archive location.[Biblioteca Virtual Defensa]bibliotecavirtual.defensa.gob.esOpen source on gob.es.
It also sets a useful standard for reading later local sightings. The strongest question is not “was it called a UFO?” but “what evidence survived?” In this case, the surviving evidence seems to be a brief official paper trail, a civilian report, a check on controlled air traffic, and a later possible balloon assessment. That combination is enough to make the case part of Almería’s UFO record, but not enough to make it one of Spain’s stronger unexplained incidents.
The file’s real value is that it shows how quickly a spectacular label can shrink when the evidence is examined. In the archive, it is a strange aerial phenomenon. In later classification, it becomes a possible meteorological balloon. For readers trying to understand Almería’s UFO past, that movement from mystery to mundane possibility is not a disappointment. It is the central point of the case.
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Endnotes
1.
Source: elojocritico.info
Title: los archivos ovni del ejercito del aire desglosados quien que como
Link:https://elojocritico.info/los-archivos-ovni-del-ejercito-del-aire-desglosados-quien-que-como/
2.
Source: es.scribd.com
Title: Avistamiento de OVNI en [Almeria]({{ ‘what-really-happened-in-almerias-ufo/’ | relative_url }}) 9 12 1968
Link:https://es.scribd.com/document/328831654/Avistamiento-de-OVNI-en-Almeria
3.
Source: aena.es
Title: history lei
Link:https://www.aena.es/en/almeria/get-to-know-us/history-lei.html
4.
Source: noaa.gov
Link:https://www.noaa.gov/jetstream/upperair/radiosondes
5.
Source: weather.gov
Link:https://www.weather.gov/upperair/factsheet
6.
Source: ncei.noaa.gov
Title: NCEIIntegrated Global Radiosonde Archive (IGRA)
Link:https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/weather-balloon/integrated-global-radiosonde-archive
7.
Source: archive.org
Link:https://archive.org/stream/part-02-meteorology/part-02-meteorology_djvu.txt
8.
Source: archive.org
Link:https://archive.org/download/desclasificacion/desclasificacion.pdf
9.
Source: archive.org
Link:https://archive.org/download/jufoh/jufoh.pdf
10.
Source: aena.es
Title: our history
Link:https://www.aena.es/en/corporative/about-aena/our-history.html
11.
Source: aena.es
Link:https://www.aena.es/en/almeria/about-us/introduction-lei.html
12.
Source: aena.es
Link:https://www.aena.es/en/san-sebastian/get-to-know-us/history.html
13.
Source: scribd.com
Link:https://www.scribd.com/document/168518253/Desclasificacion-Ufo-Spain
14.
Source: weather.gov
Link:https://www.weather.gov/rah/virtualtourballoon
15.
Source: bibliotecavirtual.defensa.gob.es
Link:https://bibliotecavirtual.defensa.gob.es/BVMDefensa/es/consulta/registro.do?id=38091
16.
Source: bibliotecavirtual.defensa.gob.es
Link:https://bibliotecavirtual.defensa.gob.es/BVMDefensa/exp_ovni/es/micrositios/inicio.do
17.
Source: diariodeleon.es
Title: Diario de León”Ni idea, es una cosa, un ovni que cambia de blanco a rojo”
Link:https://www.diariodeleon.es/sociedad/161031/1356269/idea-cosa-ovni-cambia-blanco-rojo.html
18.
Source: bibliotecavirtual.defensa.gob.es
Title: defensa.gob.es Listado de títulos
Link:https://bibliotecavirtual.defensa.gob.es/BVMDefensa/exp_ovni/es/consulta/indice_campo.do?campo=idtitulo
19.
Source: bibliotecavirtual.defensa.gob.es
Link:https://bibliotecavirtual.defensa.gob.es/BVMDefensa/es/consulta/indice_campo.do?campo=idtitulo&forma=&letra=A&posicion=5721
20.
Source: library.metoffice.gov.uk
Title: metoffice.gov.uk Radiosonde
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21.
Source: myalmeria.com
Link:https://myalmeria.com/en/almeria/info/383-airport
22.
Source: Wikipedia
Title: Weather balloon
Link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_balloon
23.
Source: Wikipedia
Link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiosonde
24.
Source: Wikipedia
Title: Almería Airport
Link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almer%C3%ADa_Airport
25.
Source: aenabrasil.com.br
Link:https://www.aenabrasil.com.br/en/huesca-pirineos/get-to-know-us/history.html
26.
Source: aenabrasil.com.br
Link:https://www.aenabrasil.com.br/en/aerolineas/aeropuertos-y-destinos/nuestros-aeropuertos/almeria.html
27.
Source: skyrora.com
Title: weather balloons
Link:https://skyrora.com/weather-balloons/
Additional References
28.
Source: youtube.com
Title: The UFO that Shocked an Entire Continent
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V10Q9AWsOfY
Source snippet
DECLASSIFIED UFO FILES: Why does science ignore them and governments don't?...
29.
Source: youtube.com
Title: Javier Sierra: The secret report on UFOs in Franco’s Spain
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lSEWzNb2rc
Source snippet
72 UFO reports declassified with no evidence of extraterrestrial life...
30.
Source: cia.gov
Link:https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp81r00560r000100010001-0
31.
Source: youtube.com
Title: 72 UFO reports declassified with no evidence of extraterrestrial life
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEEpDnvLfyw
Source snippet
Los secretos extraterrestres del caso Manises...
32.
Source: youtube.com
Title: Los secretos extraterrestres del caso Manises
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIiUWknYw5w
Source snippet
The UFO that Shocked an Entire Continent - Manises UAP incident in Europe...
33.
Source: researchgate.net
Link:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320181781_Keeping_the_wild_against_the_domestication_of_earth
34.
Source: academia.edu
Link:https://www.academia.edu/35429868/Los_expedientes_OVNI_desclasificados_Online
35.
Source: academia.edu
Link:https://www.academia.edu/28130360/UFO_Declassification_The_Spanish_Model
36.
Source: almeriaairporttravel.co.uk
Link:https://www.almeriaairporttravel.co.uk/
37.
Source: crfs.com
Link:https://www.crfs.com/blog/chasing-weather-balloons
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