Fairborn & Dayton, OhioJuly 1961

On the night of July 1, 1961, a resident of Fairborn, Ohio, reported seeing a bright light in the southwestern sky at an elevation of roughly 45 degrees above the horizon. The time of the sighting was uncertain, falling somewhere between 10:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. The Lockbourne Air Force Base lower tower noted that visibility was clear and extended 7 miles. The base received the report and contacted the 376th Command Post at Lockbourne AFB, noting that an almanac check had suggested the object might have been Venus at that position in the sky.

On July 3, Lockbourne received a call from a local resident concerning the same sighting and immediately contacted the 53rd Balloon Squadron to ask if they could observe the object. The squadron stated that they thought no further action was necessary. That same day at 4:15 p.m., the USAF Command Post at nearby Wright-Patterson Air Force Base reported that they had received a wire from Florida indicating that a Florida resident had seen a similar UFO around midnight on July 1. The details provided by the Florida witness matched those reported by the Ohio observer, prompting a request that the Florida message be forwarded to ATIC, the Air Force's Technical Information Center responsible for UFO investigations.

The investigation files include detailed questionnaires completed by multiple witnesses describing their observations, though the OCR quality in some sections makes specific details difficult to read clearly. The forms show systematic Air Force attempts to gather standardized information about the sighting.

The Air Force ultimately rated this case as unidentified, meaning investigators could not determine a conventional explanation despite the initial suggestion that Venus might account for the sighting.

The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, comprising 22 pages from microfilm T1206, Roll 42.