Dayton, OhioJuly 1949

On the evening of July 10, 1949, a civilian employee at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio saw an unusual object in the northeastern sky while standing in his yard. The man noticed it at approximately 1915 hours (7:15 p.m.) and watched it for about 15 minutes before leaving the area. At first glance, the object appeared disc-shaped, but when he examined it more closely through binoculars, it looked like two objects connected together. The front object appeared yellow and diamond-shaped with a black spot in the center, and a whitish-yellow disc or oval object was attached to it by what looked like cable or rope.

The observer estimated the object was somewhere in the sky between 30 and 45 degrees above the horizon. He had difficulty judging its actual size and distance without something to compare it to, but guessed it might have been slightly larger than an F-80 jet at an altitude of 1,000 feet and roughly three miles away. The object remained stationary throughout his observation, making no movements at all. He also reported the sighting to the Airdrome Office at the base, and a check of the control tower confirmed they had received the report at 1915 hours, though the tower personnel had not witnessed the object themselves.

Over the following weeks, Air Force investigators interviewed several other witnesses to the sighting. A woman who saw the object from her yard on the same evening said it resembled a kite, even though she could not see a string or tail. Several other civilian witnesses examined the object through binoculars and concluded that it definitely was a box kite. One man reported seeing the same object on July 9, also in the same general direction. In all cases, the witnesses agreed on the time and location of the sighting.

The initial investigator noted in July 1949 that the Air Force was unable to offer a logical explanation based on the information available at that time. However, after additional interviews were completed, witnesses increasingly agreed that the object was simply a box kite, and this became the official explanation for the sighting.

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