Troy, OhioSeptember 1961

Unidentified

Summary

On a September evening in 1961 in Troy, Ohio, a witness saw two unusual objects moving across the sky in rapid succession. The first object resembled a satellite with a bright white glow. About five minutes later, a second similar object appeared, also moving from southwest to northeast. The witness estimated the objects were traveling at speeds roughly four to five times faster than a jet aircraft, at an elevation of about 30 degrees above the horizon.

The witness noted that the first object looked like a satellite with what might have been a booster following behind it. Both objects seemed to leave a vapor trail or contrail (a visible trail of condensed water vapor) measuring roughly 100 to 200 yards in length. The sighting lasted only one to two minutes total, though the objects themselves were visible for this short span.

The Air Force's investigators concluded the sighting was probably a high-flying jet aircraft, based on the observed speed and the presence of contrails. They also ruled out the possibility that the objects were satellites, noting that a satellite would take 10 to 15 minutes to cover the distance observed, not the few minutes the witness reported seeing them. The case was officially marked as "unidentified," though the investigators' summary leaned toward an aircraft explanation.

The complete case file, as held by the National Archives, consists of 10 scanned pages.

Reported location

Troy, Ohio

Date of incident

September 1961

State / country

OH / US

Page count

10 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 43

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 10

View transcribed text

p> TR NT YT NTT 5 aD SA TO APR BEN 115100 onto wrote ont ono A 0 REDE R SHWE) 0 000 0m 0 MM 516 MB ARID SEAT Bm, do 01g pt FRAME VORARY FAR Gf
& : PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD FREE TER
I. DATE \ 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
7 Sep 61 Troy, Ohio 8 Probobly Balloon |
3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4 TYPE OF OBSERVATION dha bal oh |
Local 41933 & 1 8 THGround- Visual 0 Greund-Rader a Probobly Aiyeraft
oMTlLI00N537 & 0058 0 Air Visvel O Air-Intercopt Radar | EX Possibly Aireraft
5. PHOTOS « SOU 0 Was Astronomical
QO Yes ; O Probably Astronomicel
XKNe Civilian O Possibly Astronomical |
7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE ARREARS
O Insufficient Data for Evaluation
i J O Unknown
1-2 min 1 SW-NE ;
10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 2 sightings, light, abou}. comments Could not be satellite. Satellife
like star, white glow approaching red, going [would take 10-15 min to cover the distanc
away. lst objt looked like satellite with 2nd |observed. Witness also stated contrail or
as booster following. Vaport trail 100-200 ydgother evidence of propulsion occurring with
following speed estimated 4-5 times that of |objts. Sighting was probably high flying
j Jet ajc. Travel straight SW-NE. At about 30° 4 jet a/c as evidenced by speed and contralls.
elev. 5 min between objts :
j ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52) : ;
{ 4 LJ ; { \ : S.
1 REAR a tens Hin i Ip oT IAD FBR 4 - } )

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28994458