Case File · AARO · Cold War / Blue Book Era (1953-1969) Declassified May 8, 2026 · PURSUE Release 01

Dayton, Ohio UFO Sighting (December 17, 1969) — AARO Records

UFO Visual Sighting

A cold war / blue book era case from Dayton, Ohio. Secretary of the Air Force Robert C.

December 17, 1969
Dayton, Ohio
First page of AARO Historical Record Report Vol 1 2024
First page of AARO Historical Record Report Vol 1 2024 · Source: declassified document

Background

On December 17, 1969, in Dayton, Ohio, the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) recorded the unidentified-phenomenon case described below. The case is preserved in AARO’s 2024-2025 publications and consolidated annual reports to Congress, declassified or released in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and Department of Defense reporting cycles.

A cold war-era case investigated under the air force’s project blue book or its predecessors.

The case appears in materials produced or curated by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office.

What the document records

Secretary of the Air Force Robert C. Seamans, Jr. announced the termination of Project BLUE BOOK on December 17, 1969.

Type of case

The case is a visual sighting reported by ground or air observers.

Status

AARO designates unresolved cases as those for which the agency has not concluded the events were anomalous, has not concluded that they were conventional, and has not ruled out either possibility. Conventional candidates for sightings of recent periods include commercial drones, classified test platforms, satellite re-entry, balloon traffic, atmospheric optical phenomena, and astronomical objects.

Sources