Project 10073 Record Card — Cincinnati, Ohio, 12 September 1951

This document comprises an Air Intelligence Information Report and a Project 10073 record card concerning an unidentified aerial object sighted over Cincinnati, Ohio, on 12 September 1951. The witness, a civilian whose identity is redacted, reported observing a bullet-shaped object at an altitude of approximately 20,000 feet. The object was described as having a dark-red glow at the front and a white vapor trail at the tail, moving at a high rate of speed on a heading of 315 degrees. The observation lasted for approximately ten seconds before the object disappeared behind mountains to the north. The witness reported that the object made no sound and was roughly the size of a B-29 aircraft. Following the report, an investigation was conducted by the 30th Air Division (Defense) based at Selfridge AFB, Michigan. The investigating officer, Captain David H. Weisberg, interviewed the witness and concluded that the individual appeared to be a rational person. To verify the sighting, the investigation included consultations with the University of Cincinnati Observatory, which reported no unusual meteoric activity, and the control tower at Greater Cincinnati Airport, which confirmed no local aircraft were in flight at the time. Additionally, weather data from the Department of Commerce was analyzed to determine if a weather balloon could account for the sighting. It was determined that while a balloon had been released from Louisville, Kentucky, on the night of 11 September 1951, it was improbable that it would have been visible in Cincinnati under the conditions present at the time of the sighting. Despite the lack of a definitive identification, the final evaluation of the incident was classified as a meteor. The report notes that all available supplementary sources of information failed to provide assistance in determining the object's identity, and the final conclusion was reached without confirmatory evidence.