Project Sign Incident No. 212 and 213 Sighting Reports

This document contains a series of reports and internal memoranda regarding two sightings of unidentified aerial phenomena, designated as Incident No. 212 and Incident No. 213, which occurred on the evening of December 3, 1948, in the vicinity of Dayton, Ohio. The primary witness, Lt. G. G. Reeves of the Bureau of Aeronautics, reported observing a bright, yellowish-white streak of light while driving west on Needmore Road. The witness described the object as having a blunt top and a feathered trailing end, moving in an ascending arc. He initially speculated that the light might have been a jet or rocket, noting that it appeared to pulse as if a jet engine were being turned on and off. The witness, a trained Naval Aviation observer, estimated the object's altitude to be in excess of 10,000 feet. Subsequent internal correspondence within the Air Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base sought to explain these sightings. Colonel Albert Boyd provided a potential explanation, suggesting that the observers had witnessed a B-29 aircraft circling Patterson Field with its landing lights illuminated, which, due to dusk and visibility conditions, could have been misinterpreted as an anomalous object. Other documents within the file include an incident summary sheet and a sketch of the object. Notably, the document also includes an 'Incident Index' from the Project Grudge report, which categorizes these incidents under the classification of 'Non-astronomical, with no explanation evident,' indicating that the official investigation struggled to reach a definitive conclusion despite the later suggestion of the B-29 explanation. The file reflects the administrative process of the U.S. military's early investigations into UAPs, highlighting the tension between witness reports and the search for conventional explanations.