Trotwood, OhioSeptember 1959

Insufficient Data

Summary

On a September evening in 1959, a resident of Trotwood, Ohio, spotted an unusual bright orange object in the night sky. The observer watched for about one and a half minutes as the glowing object, which resembled a ball of fire, moved slowly across the sky from the northeast direction. The object had slightly blurred edges and made no sound. After traveling across the sky, the object made a circular arc, then gradually faded away as it moved toward the east.

The witness provided detailed information to the Air Force through a technical questionnaire. The observer indicated it was a dark night with no visible stars and no moon. The object appeared much brighter than the surrounding sky and seemed to be solid and opaque. The respondent sketched the object and documented its path of movement, though the handwritten details in the file are difficult to read clearly in places. According to the observer's estimates, the object appeared roughly the size of a basketball held at arm's length and was positioned several hundred feet above the horizon when last seen.

The Air Force investigation noted the possibility that the object could have been an aircraft. However, no radar confirmation, weather balloon analysis, or follow-up investigation details appear in this file. The evaluation was listed as unknown, meaning the Air Force could not definitively identify the object based on the information provided. The full case file, comprising 12 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.

Reported location

Trotwood, Ohio

Date of incident

September 1959

State / country

OH / US

Page count

12 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 36

E ! E | 8 - | a fi : i : PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD : : : i 1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS = 0 Was Balloon EB RE 1415) = 2/7 Trotwood, Ohio O Probably Balloon E 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION a EEN OaN 3 2205 T,ocal y Vi & O Was Aircraft E EE — O-Ground- Visual 0 Ground-Radar 0 Probably Aircraft GMT a Air Visual O Air-Intercept Radar 8° Possibly Aircroft bE 5. PHOTOS . SOURCE 0 Was Astronomical : O Yes O Probably Astronomical = *XNo Civilian O Possibly Astronomical F 7. LENGTH OF OBSERYATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE EF JO Rept sins SWE IETS) Le E 0 Insufficient Data for Evaluation 8 / $ Ca 0 Unknown bE $l/2 ning & Bast 3 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS 2 Bright orange obj w/slightly blurred Possibly an a/c. |3 ‘1 edges. No sound. Looked like ball of fire. A Obj traveled fm Northeast, made a circle & - gradually faded away to the East. a 3 ~ ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52) : / EE : i 9