Kettering, OhioJuly 1960

Insufficient Data

Summary

On July 2, 1960, at 2:30 a.m., a witness in Kettering, Ohio saw a round, bluish-white ball of fire in the sky. The object became brighter and more intensely blue as the witness watched, lighting up the surrounding area. The sighting lasted only 2.5 seconds before the object disappeared behind a tree.

The Air Force investigator who reviewed the case noted that the description was characteristic of a meteor, a piece of rock from space that burns up as it falls through Earth's atmosphere. The official evaluation concluded the sighting was probably a balloon, though the file also lists "unknown" as a possible conclusion. The handwritten notes in the case file are difficult to read in places, making it hard to determine exactly what additional investigation, if any, was conducted beyond the initial witness questionnaire.

The full case file, comprising 11 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.

Reported location

Kettering, Ohio

Date of incident

July 1960

State / country

OH / US

Page count

11 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 38

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 11

View transcribed text

an E ee ms i SET WRAY ETE AA AE corns emanate i SABRE EO (MT
F | PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD |
3 — Ee 4
bE I. DATE 2 LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
3 | O Was Balloon
3 2 Jul 60 Kettering, Ohio O Probably Balloon
3 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION 8 Possibly Balloon
5 0230 O Wos Aircraft
y Local ORNL © Ge X Ground- Visual OQ Ground-Rador Q Probably Aireroft :
z GMT 02/07302 0 AirVisvel O Air-Intercept Radar |O Possibly Aircraft
E: 5. PHOTOS : - SOURCE 0 Was Astronomical
3 0 Yes ) Probably Astronomical Meteor
& No Civilian O Possibly Astronomical
7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE oO dd RESO CATON
uo O Insufficient Dota for Evaluation
: 2.5 sec one E O Unknown
& 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS
FB Round, blui sh-white, bright ball of fire which Description is characteristic of a
: became brighter and more blue lighting up metecr,
| surrounding area. Object disappeared behind a | | |
i cree. |
| ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP §2)
e dt Slab Go lt piles VE CR PE pba ARSC CE TY Theat VTA: 5 SHEA CLT TERE ele losiliddiseais ERT Sa RAR SR as BE A El an aR a a a i 5 % : y
i i : go
7 i

/ 11

Use ← → keys to navigate · scans hosted by the U.S. National Archives

Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28987595