Fairborn, OhioJuly 1961

Unidentified

Summary

On July 16, 1961, in Fairborn, Ohio, a civilian witnessed a stationary object in the daytime sky. The observer watched it for about twenty minutes, using binoculars to get a closer look. The object did not move during the entire observation period.

The witness later called a planetarium in nearby Dayton to ask what he had seen. Staff at the planetarium told him that what he observed was likely an explosion on the sun. An Air Force analyst contacted the witness on July 25, 1961 to gather more details about the sighting.

The Air Force evaluated this case as unidentified. While the planetarium offered a possible explanation for the daytime sighting, the file does not indicate whether that explanation was accepted by investigators or whether any additional analysis was conducted. The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives across 11 pages.

Reported location

Fairborn, Ohio

Date of incident

July 1961

State / country

OH / US

Page count

11 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 43

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 11

View transcribed text

RRA TTIR OR IARIR aa I RE .
‘ PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD
1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
Shea Ab ba a atid 00 Wos Bolloon
2 uvWi OL Falireorn, wilo 0 Probably Balloon
3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4 TYPE OF OBSERVATION ht od stables
16hs ry i ‘ O Was Aircraft
et DX Ground- Vi suc! O Ground-Rodar Q Probably Aircraft
& 3 GMT 232 45 Zs O Aire Visual 0 Air-Intercapt Radar DO Possibly Aircraft
Eo 8S. PHOTOS hs SOURCE 0 Was Astronomical
C Yan 1 Probably Astronomical
] 230 Na ivilian 0 Possibly Astronomical
7. LENGTH OP.C33ERVATION | 8, NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE BX Other iD LOSIOW ORT
3 O Insufficisnt Data for Eveluation
| RE \ Col O Unknown
24% Banga! { A. NO MOGied
: 10. BRIEE SUMMARY OF SIGHTING Dxyt OBC On sult, Did 11. COMMENTS inalyst called witness ab 1300 i
\ not move. Viewed for 20 min with binoculars. on 25 Jul 61 and witness stated that
] ne he had called planetarium in Dayton
and was told that what he ® saw was an
; Explosion on the sun.
E ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52)
L BH CA A li DPI ERB RA SAR I Baa fd y i .

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28993581