Project 10073 Record Card — Lumberton, Ohio, 23 May 1956

On the evening of May 23, 1956, a civilian witness in Lumberton, Ohio, observed an unidentified aerial phenomenon for approximately 30 minutes. The witness, who was employed as a clerk at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, described the object as a blue-white light, roughly the size of a grapefruit, which exhibited a star-like brilliance. The object appeared to move back and forth, traveling from left to right and then right to left, while periodically disappearing behind trees. The witness estimated the object's altitude at 5,000 feet and its speed as medium-fast. Following the report, an investigation was conducted by the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC). It was determined that the sighting was caused by an RF-84F jet aircraft conducting night photography tests for the Wright Air Development Center (WADC). The aircraft was equipped with high-intensity mercury arc lamps, which the witness had perceived as a 'blue flare' or 'searchlight.' Newspaper clippings from the Dayton Journal Herald and other sources dated May 25 and May 28, 1956, confirm that residents in the Xenia and Dayton areas had reported similar sightings, which were officially attributed to these ongoing WADC test flights. The witness's own questionnaire and summary data corroborate the official conclusion that the phenomenon was a conventional aircraft rather than an anomalous object.