Dayton, OhioFebruary 1949

On February 10, 1949, two Air Force pilots flying north of Dayton, Ohio, spotted an unusual bright object in the night sky. Captain Roger J. Crosclose and First Lieutenant Ray W. Adams were cruising at 7,500 feet, heading roughly west at 155 miles per hour, when something grabbed their attention: a pinpoint of light that grew larger as it approached their aircraft.

The object appeared as a brilliant white ball with a pale blue glow on its lower half. It had a tail extending from its body, roughly twice as long as the main portion, which tapered to a point. The two officers described the brightness as similar to an arc welder, incandescent and extremely brilliant. The object stayed roughly level with their aircraft at first, then slowly descended. It moved directly in front of them, traveling toward the east. Over the course of about five seconds, the thing climbed roughly 20 to 50 degrees higher in the sky. Then, after traveling for about another five seconds, it broke into two pieces. The front part vanished immediately. The rear section fragmented into clusters that shot ahead and gradually faded away before disappearing into the cloud layer below.

The night was clear with bright moonlight above an overcast cloud deck. The pilots had excellent visibility. Both men were interviewed on February 11 by Air Force personnel and were judged to be completely reliable observers. However, the Air Force file does not contain a stated conclusion about what the pilots saw.

The full case file, consisting of 13 pages, is reproduced below as held by the National Archives.