SE Of Dayton, OhioJuly 1959

Insufficient Data

Summary

A woman driving southeast of Dayton, Ohio in July 1959 saw what she described as a big ball of fire falling toward her car. She said it appeared to explode above and in front of her vehicle, and she drove through the falling pieces. Neighbors reported hearing a sound like a sonic boom at around the same time. The next morning, children in the neighborhood were picking up unusual-looking rocks in the area.

Some of the pieces were sent to the Smithsonian Institution for analysis. The lab found that they were coke, a industrial material used for surfacing secondary roads. This discovery suggested a mundane explanation for the sighting, though the case file does not explicitly state a final conclusion.

The Air Force case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, 14 pages in total.

Reported location

SE Of Dayton, Ohio

Date of incident

July 1959

State / country

OH / US

Page count

14 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 36

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 14

View transcribed text

: ! pri PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD
- 1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
] A O Was Balloon
nN =20 Jul 59 SE of Dayton, Chio 00 Probably Balloon
] 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION Gly Sloth
i VE : i 0 Was Aircroft |
1 Byron NE Re AREA ENS £ Ground- Visual 0 Ground-Radar BW Brabobly Afreraty
: GMT 0 AirVisuadl O Air-Intercept Radar O Possibly Aircraft |
5. PHOTOS Pie, c4l 6. SOURCE DO Was Astronomical {
4 O Yes SP 5 [ 0 Probably Astronomical !
3 CXNo Felt Civilian 0 Possibly Astronomical
7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE Go] 11) ti ERP SRR
4 [w] Scrat Data for Evaluation
kK Ge REY a] nknown
E Ii / A numerous N/A
i 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS
E Source rptd she had started cut in her Some of the pieces were submitted
1 } car vhen a big ball of fire seemed to fall tc the Smithsonian Imstitute for
: toward her car & appesred to explode above & analysis. They vere found to be coke
2 infront of her, She said she just drove used for surfacing secondary roads,
i thru the falling pieces. Neighbors said they
| had heard a sound like a sonic boom at about
i the samejtime. The next morning scurce rpta i
k that neighborhood children were picking up
strange hooking rocks in the area. :
3 See x She (- AWW @ vi ! | E = | HWS it Y EN
=) ;
t ( 08%Fecct IN SlrcMeEN) Fie
t
I ATIC FORM 329 (RRV 26 SEP 32) [
: | :
3 1
3
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3 : ; . :
| el i
7,
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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28983972