Dayton, OhioAugust 1959

Insufficient Data

Summary

On August 13, 1959, witnesses in Dayton, Ohio reported seeing a bright, silvery object in the sky. The object appeared roughly the size of a grapefruit and seemed to be rotating. One striking detail was that it disappeared by "blinking out" rather than gradually fading or moving away. The object was observed moving in a westerly direction.

Two of the witnesses stated that the object resembled a weather balloon. This detail proved important to the investigation. The U.S. Weather Bureau station at Sulfer Grove, north of Dayton, had released a weather balloon at 1830 hours (6:30 p.m.) on the same day. According to Air Force records, the balloon remained above the station after release. Based on this information, the Air Force concluded that a weather balloon was probably the cause of the sighting.

The case file does not contain extensive witness interviews or technical analysis beyond this basic information. The OCR quality of the handwritten witness questionnaires is poor in places, making some details difficult to read with confidence.

The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, 19 pages.

Reported location

Dayton, Ohio

Date of incident

August 1959

State / country

OH / US

Page count

19 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 36

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 19

Transcribed text

: { PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD bg
: 1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
i O Was Balloon
i 13 Aug 59 Dayton, Ohio playa plan
L 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION WEES EE) Bry oa LOO
k {is cali win 9S Ou&y LORI wi: ZA Ground- Visual O Ground-Radar a Probably Atreraft
b GMT 14/00 307 & 00807 0 Air Visual 0 Air-Intercept Radar O Possibly Aircraft
4 5. PHOTOS . SOURCE O Was Astronomical
4 " OVYes O Probably Astronomical
4 XII No Civilian 0 Possibly Astronomical
E 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE 0): O theism, Jamie cl siuio i
3 O Insufficient Data for Evaluotion
4 4 0 Unknown
i 10-15 méns il West
 - 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS
i Rnd, silvery light obj, size of grape- Two of the witnesses stated the obj
& 4 fruit, seemed to be revolving, had indefinit¢ was similar to a weather balloon.
4 ouline. Obj disappeared by "blinking out." The direction of obj fm observers was
- IN and IW. The US Weather Bureau at
3 Sulfer Grove, N of Dayton, released
ER a balloon at 1830 hrs. Balloon shayed
y above the station after release.
F This balloon is probably cause for thi;
4 sighting. :
2 ‘ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52)
:
3 : /
3 p
Kk
i \
3

/ 19

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28984143

Connected across the archive

Places

Dayton, OH Ohio

Agencies

United States Air Force

Dates

1959 1959-08-01