Dayton, OhioJune 1963

Unidentified

Summary

On the evening of June 8, 1963, a woman in Dayton, Ohio, reported seeing an object in the night sky that resembled a bright star. The object appeared to fade in and out, with brightness comparable to the largest stars visible. She noticed that the object seemed too high in the sky to be an aircraft, and it moved at a uniform speed in a northeast direction. Because of these characteristics, it reminded her of the Soviet satellite Sputnik.

The U.S. Air Force investigation that followed focused on a specific possibility. Satellite ECHO, a large communications satellite used for relaying radio signals, passed over Dayton on the evening of the sighting. The satellite's position at the time (21:47 local time, south of the city at 38 degrees above the horizon, heading northeast) roughly matched the witness's description. The Air Force concluded that the woman had observed the ECHO satellite, not an unidentified flying object.

Page count: 10 pages. The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives.

Reported location

Dayton, Ohio

Date of incident

June 1963

State / country

OH / US

Page count

10 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 48

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 10

View transcribed text

b $d PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD : |
|. pate 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
1 8 June 1963 Dayton, Ohio O Probably Balloon
{| 3. DATE-TINE GROUP 4 TYPE OF OBSERVATION 9. .asptly Balieen |
ji : Local iy ike dey pup rns Gn 2 Ground-Visual O Ground-Rador 9 THE
1 om 129/01002 0 Air Vi svol O Air-Intercept Radar |D Possibly Aircraft
| 5. PHOTOS | A c 0 Was Astronomical
E | O Yes OD Probobly Astronomical
3 CI No civilian O Possibly Astronomical |
| | 7- LENOTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE BW OtheSatellite ECHO T
1 0-15 min A NE 2 [autlicient Dotao for Evaluation |
"  [io. BRIEF SUNNARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS : HL
© [Pbject appearing like a star in slight that Satellite ECHO appeared over Dayton
! [included fading in and out. Brightness of about| at 2147 Tocal time S of City at 38
X he largest star. Object appeared to be too deg elevation heading NE in position
4 igh for a/c. Speed uniform. Like sputnik. to be observed by witness. Case
3 evaluated as confirmed ECHO observation.
|
1 ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52)
F,

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 29001016