Wright-Patterson AFB, OhioNovember 1957

Unidentified

Summary

A soldier at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio reported seeing a bright object in the sky in November 1957. He said the object was round and goldish white. He looked at it through 7-by-50 binoculars, which made it appear as large as a nickel held at arm's length. The object appeared stationary to him, positioned roughly southwest of his location at an angle of about 50 degrees above the horizon.

The Air Force investigated the sighting and checked with local air traffic control, radar operators, and weather stations. Nothing unusual showed up on radar. The Air Force also calculated the positions of stars and planets for that date and time. Based on this analysis, the investigators concluded the object was most likely the planet Venus. They noted that Venus would have been positioned in the sky at roughly the angle where the witness reported seeing the object. They also observed that cold, heavy layers of air existed at the time, which could have caused the planet to shimmer or appear to glow in an unusual way.

A second witness report appears in the file, this time from Columbus, Ohio, also in November 1957. That witness reported seeing a faint, greenish object about the size of a nickel moving slowly to the southwest for about 50 minutes. The investigating officer in that case also concluded the object was probably Venus, and that assessment was confirmed by the Air Force's review.

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

Reported location

Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio

Date of incident

November 1957

State / country

OH / US

Page count

11 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 30

hr 00 ET at er di - yo : PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD \. DATE : 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS 15 How 67 wright-Patters AFB. Ohi 0 Was Balloon LL At 4 LEA L-ratierson >, UDLO 0 Probably Bolloon 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4 TYPE OF BN cI They weteen 29 we 1 ROC LAS | a LT ee © Ground-Redar Jb Beg ARR ; CMT 16) 23307, D AirVisuol 0) Air-Intorcept Radar DO Possibly Aircraft 5. PHOTOS - SOURCE O Was Astronomical oa O Yes BY Probably fp lly Venus ; 8 No militar ai ois O Possibly Astronomico 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE Cae NERA SL I O Insufficient Data for Evaluation 8 minutes one D0 Unknown 10, BRIER SUMMARY OF SIGHTING TT IN. COMMENTS GT St As Saw round, goldish white object at Local traffic, radar and WX units checkeadl approximately 255 dgr and 50 dgr elev. Nothing unusual reported. Astro pilots Did not move. Used 7 x 50 binoculars. : for that time and place indicate Venus at 262 dgr az. Also heavy, cold layer of alr existed at time. Venus reported SEA Von of object. Be | ATIC YORM 329 (REV 25 SEP 52) |