Project Blue Book Case #9: Bellefontaine, Ohio Sighting, 1 August 1952

On August 1, 1952, at 1551Z, the 664th AC&W Squadron at Bellefontaine, Ohio, detected an unidentified radar target 20 miles north-northwest of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The target was moving at 400 knots on a course of 240 degrees. Two F-86 interceptors from the 97th Fighter Interceptor Squadron were vectored to the target's position. The pilots, Major James B. Smith and 1st Lieutenant Donald J. Hemer, made visual contact with a silver-colored, round object. The pilots reported that the object was at an altitude significantly higher than their maximum climb of 40,000 to 48,000 feet. Major Smith estimated the object to be 12,000 to 20,000 feet above them. During the intercept, the ground radar, which lacked height-finding capabilities, failed, leaving the pilots to continue the search visually. Major Smith managed to expose several feet of film with his gun camera, and his gunsight radar indicated a solid object. The pilots eventually broke off the intercept and returned to base. Initial analysis of the gun camera film showed a fuzzy, small image. While some early reports and 'flying saucer' enthusiasts characterized the event as an iron-clad case of a controlled, disc-shaped machine, subsequent investigation by the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) concluded that the object was a cluster of four upper air research balloons. The balloons were carrying a 500-pound load of metal measuring devices, which accounted for the radar return. The confusion was attributed to the lack of height-finding radar, which prevented the ground controller from distinguishing the altitude difference between the high-flying balloons and the intercepting jets.