NE of Dayton, OhioAugust 1957

Unidentified

Summary

On the evening of August 30, 1957, someone northeast of Dayton, Ohio saw an unusual object in the sky. The witness was indoors when a child called them to look outside. The object appeared first as a falling star, very high in the air and moving fast. It was round, about the size of a pea when held at arm's length, and pale reddish yellow in color. The sighting lasted about three minutes. The object traveled from west to east and simply faded from view.

The witness reported the sighting to the flight service station in Dayton and also contacted the local weather station. An Air Force investigation followed, including a call to Patterson Air Force Base operations. The investigators noted that many 100-series military aircraft were in the area at the time, and they observed that when jet engines run with afterburners on, the exhaust can create an appearance similar to what the witness described. The investigators suggested this might explain the reddish yellow glow and the falling star appearance.

The Air Force concluded that the sighting remained unidentified. No explanation was marked as probable or certain in the official evaluation. The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, consisting of 10 pages.

Reported location

NE of Dayton, Ohio

Date of incident

August 1957

State / country

OH / US

Page count

10 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 28

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 10

View transcribed text

1 oy ' PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD :
L |. pave 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
3 ; : 0 Was Balloon
|g 30 August 1957 NE of Dayton, Ohio DO Probably Balloon
| 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION EEA HL
1 Local 2044 XX Ground- Vi suol O Ground-Radar a Biokakiy Adrersts
Ek cMT R1/01447 0 Air Visuai OD Air-Intercept Radar BX Possibly Aircraft
5. PHOTOS . SOURCE 0 Was Astronomical
3 0 Yes 0 Probably Astronomical
& Ko Civilian 0 Possibly Astronomical
[8 7. LENGTH OF OBSERYATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE 50 DUR deh dk
E 8 Insufficient Data for Evaluation
FE 3 minutes one West sib
10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS
J Round object, size of pea, pale 100 series a/c in area. With
1 reddish yellow, appeared first as afterburner on, as previous rpts
: a falling star, Very high altitude have shown, when jet exhaust is
4 and traveling very fast. Faded from on poward observer would present
1 vision, round blop of reddish yellow, |
J ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52)
]
4 ’ |
3 4 /
i ¥ ‘ L]
3 5
|
|
|

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28971468