Ellington AFB, TexasOctober 1951

Unidentified

Summary

On the evening of October 2, 1951, a 29-year-old physicist watching from a parking lot at The Ohio State University in Columbus saw something strange in the sky. The man was sitting in his car when he heard a DC-3 aircraft flying overhead. As he looked up, he spotted a bright glowing light in the sky to the west of the airplane, heading in the opposite direction. The object appeared smaller than the aircraft's fuselage and gave off a glow that the witness compared to sunlight reflecting off a mirror.

The witness watched the unidentified object for roughly one minute as it traveled in a straight line directly westward at an altitude higher than the DC-3. The object showed no signs of climbing, descending, or changing course. As it moved away, it gradually grew smaller and fainter until it disappeared from view. The witness carefully verified that he was not seeing a reflection in his eyeglasses by moving them back and forth, and he noted that the sun had already set behind a building, making it unlikely that he was observing a reflection. No sound came from the object at any time.

Air Force investigators checked the winds aloft in that region. The analysis revealed a significant problem with the balloon hypothesis: balloons observed at that time and place would have needed to travel eastward with the wind, but this object was heading directly west, traveling against the wind. Additionally, weather balloons launched three hours before the sighting would have drifted too high to be visible by the time of observation. The investigating officer noted that the witness was reliable and that his observations appeared consistent with a genuine sighting of an unidentified object rather than a misidentification or optical illusion.

The Air Force evaluated this case as unidentified. The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, comprising 7 pages.

Reported location

Ellington AFB, Texas

Date of incident

October 1951

State / country

TX / US

Page count

7 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 8

’ ad PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD a ——————————— — ———— i et Se mguantl ee ——— ——— te tA i, et ee 4 el emi a — or. — —— ———— e+ i te + ret. 1. DATE LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS - DAT Fo 0D Wos Bolloon 1 Oct 195). | Ellington A7B, Texas O Probably Balloon | ER ERE at TOSS AS ey ANAS - 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION w Fesuiy Sateen ) VEY ’ CEE TER 20-Grouvnd- Vi sual O Ground-Rodar + ue Bo < gy 1 . 01 /100 rez B Po, rid od CL} PER Re dick ion 0 Air Visual O Air-Intarcept Rodar ossibly Alrerett 5. PHOTOS » SOURCE 07 Was Astronomical V1 115 O Yes O Probobly Astronomicol hs YN Military O Possibly Astronomicel HURTSRRNES. FRRRIERNGETERETN TRESS RTE SS 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE CAR RES tn 0 Lanna Dota for Evaluation 8] n 2 3/4 hours 1 N/A aS EE RR RO RRR RRR Ee RRR RR RRR RO RO I HEE OR RR RR RR RR RRR RRRREEEERERERROERREORER 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS Vinitish=-Blue Light. Size 12" Diameter. No Evaluated as AStro ViiiUus shape or form, Size 12" diameter, Alti wus : 400¥=500%, Speed not reported. Object seemed | to be sending out constant rays of light similar to a diamond glittering. It was at 110 degrees azimuth, ATIC FORM 329 (REV 25 SEP $2)