E of Dayton, OhioJanuary 1961

Unidentified

Summary

On the evening of January 5, 1961, a person east of Dayton, Ohio saw a bright light streak across the sky. The witness described it as cream-colored, about the size of a quarter, and moving very fast. The object appeared to go out. The entire sighting lasted only about one second.

The Air Force investigator who filed the report noted that a radio operator at a nearby airfield had also observed an exceptionally bright meteor, or "fireball," at the time of the sighting. The investigator concluded that both witnesses probably saw the same meteor. According to the analysis sheet, fireballs are exceptional meteors that typically occur only once and often prompt reports of unidentified flying objects. The colors, duration, and other characteristics of what the witness saw all matched the behavior of a fireball meteor.

The Air Force marked this case as unidentified, though the analysis strongly pointed to a natural explanation. The full case file, consisting of 10 pages, is reproduced below as held by the National Archives.

Reported location

E of Dayton, Ohio

Date of incident

January 1961

State / country

OH / US

Page count

10 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 41

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 10

View transcribed text

|
PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD :
1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
» EEL 0 Wos Balloon |
= 5 Jan Ol E of Dayton, Ohio 0 Probably Balloon
3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION W. TEReTIeY w—
0725 Vi 7 0 Was Aircraft
Local edb comm SEE ———— BR Ground-Visucl 0 Ground-Rodar QO Probobly Aircraft
PE. | pee 0512202 Jan 61 Xl Ain Visual 0 Air-Intercept Radar O Possibly Aircraft
5. PHOTOS 8. SOURCE 0 Was Astronamicol Az ) [AN
a Yes ODO Probably Astronomical
© Ns Civilian O Possibly Astrenemical
EITREDETEIPEERORAIN. J Li). ARETE TURURNEUPEURRURPRIEINY. PRERORn. .4 AMT 1 = 1 § rr PTR —————
7. LENGTH OF .C35EZRVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE BE I ae
; ALE 0 Insufficient Dara for Evaluation
1 sec  § SE=11W 0 Unknown
Descending
10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING Crean light, Moteor likel)). COMMENTSThe mobeor responsible for this
| appeared to go out. Size of quarter, Very fastf sighting was a "fireball," These excep
| tional meteors, usually a one-time experi-
ence, ofter result in reports of unidenyi-
| fied aerial phenomena, The colors, duratiion
and other characteristics support the
conclusion,
ATIC FORM 329 (REV 25 SEP 52)
1 is Gund & Phi wi Een ;

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28990790