Good find mate and could indeed be a critter ;) Had never seen that article before but there's more about the sighting below (apparently the USAF expect folks to believe the planet Venus can give you sunburn).
QuoteThe White Sands Jeep Patrol UFO Incident:
QuoteWhite Sands Military Police Patrols.
At 3:00 a.m. (MST) - 4:00 a.m. Levelland time - November 3, two military policemen on routine patrol at the White Sands missile range, reported an egg-shaped UFO which descended over the base.
Cpl. Glenn H. Toy and Pfc. James Wilbanks, patrolling in a jeep, noticed a "very bright object" high in the sky. The object descended to a point about 50 yards above a bunker which was used during the first atomic bomb explosion. Then its light blinked out. A few minutes later the light flared up again, becoming bright "like the sun," dropped toward the ground on a slant about 3 miles away and disappeared. According to Lt. Penney, the M.P.'s described the UFO as egg-shaped, and about 75-100 yards in diameter. Cpl. Toy stated: "It looked like a completely controlled landing."
That evening, about 8:00 p.m., Sp. 3/C Forest R. Oakes and Sp. 3/C Barlow, on another two-man jeep patrol, reported seeing an unidentified light hanging above the old A-bomb bunker. Oakes described it as "200 or 300 feet long. . . very bright." The patrol was about 2-3 miles west of the bunker. As the M.P.'s watched, the UFO took off climbing at a 45 degree angle, its light pulsating on and off. Moving slowly, sometimes stopping, the UFO gradually diminished to a point of light "like a big star," and finally disappeared.
link (http://www.nicap.org/ufoe/section_12.htm)
White Sands Engineer:
QuoteAbout 17 hours after the second jeep patrol sighting at White Sands, James Stokes, a high altitude research engineer at the base, watched an elliptical UFO maneuver over the area. Stokes also looked up and saw a large, whitish egg-shaped object moving in and out of clouds to the northeast, in the direction of the Sacramento Mountains, The UFO made a shallow dive, turned and crossed the highway a few miles ahead. As the UFO flashed by, Stokes felt a wave of heat. (His face later appeared "sunburned.")
Moving at fantastic speed, the featureless object turned sharply and disappeared over the Organ Pass west of the base. In a taped interview broadcast on station KALG, Stokes estimated the speed at 2500 mph.It was "definitely a solid object," he said.
link (http://www.nicap.org/ufoe/section_12.htm)
USAF explanation:
QuoteThe Army jeep patrols sightings were evaluated as "astronomical." The release said:
"Astro plots indicate Venus is at magnitude at the time, place and direction of the first patrol's observation, and the Moon, with scattered clouds, was in general direction of the second patrol's observation."
link (http://www.nicap.org/ufoe/section_9.htm)
Radio report - White Sands MP UFO incident
QuoteQuoteThe same day as the Levelland, TX sightings of Nov. 2,3, the day before the Kirtland & Stokes cases of Nov 4th, and three days prior to Radium Springs, NM case Nov. 6, was the White Sands MP incident. I haven't located any written reports or documentation, but this taped radio broadcast provided by Wendy Coonors of Faded Disc Archive is extremely interesting and is yet another case listed as a possible nuclear connection.
MP3 of White Sands PIO report to Radio Station KGSW (http://www.nicap.org/571103wsdir.htm)
Also, the sheer number of very similar UFO reports in a localised area during the beginning of November, 1957 is pretty mindboggling and there are plenty of other accounts on the Kirtland AFB thread.
Kirtland Air Force Base UFO - November, 1957 (http://www.thelivingmoon.com/forum/index.php?topic=3769.0)
Cheers (and a happy new year!)