June 23, 1954 — Bt. Dayton & Columbus, OH
8:00 or 9:00 p.m. Pilot Capt. Harry Roe Jr., flying an Ohio Air National Guard F-51 Mustang fighter at 240 mph from Dayton to Columbus, Ohio, sees a round white object with no exhaust trailing him in the same position a little above and behind at close range, possibly detected on airborne radar. Roe maneuvers to try to lose it or collide with it, but the UFO remains in relatively the same position until it departs to the southeast. S/Sgt Maynard Harris at Wright-Patterson AFB picks up the plane and the UFO on radar. He scrambles two F-86s in the Columbus area to check it out, but they see nothing. At 10:00 p.m., Maj. Frank J. Gshwandtner and 2nd Lt. Robert P. Lommori, flying in the Columbus area in an RB-47E aircraft, observe a white object the size of a baseball at 25,000 feet. The object is extremely fast and makes a gradual turn to begin a slight climb. It then flies out of sight. The duration is 30 seconds. [Eberhart]
Blue Book Record Cards:
Blue Book Investigators Narrative Report:
Interview Reports:
Sources:
“Object “Chases” Plane Home…Saucer Watchers Ready,” Dayton (Ohio) Journal Herald, June 25, 1954, p. 12;
“The Light Observed By Others,” Chillicothe (Ohio) Gazette, June 25, 1954, pp. 1, 22;
“Columbus Pilot Reports Seeing Flying Saucer,” Sidney (Ohio) Daily News, June 25, 1954, p. 9;
“‘Flying Saucer’ Report Is Heard,” Logan (Ohio) Daily News, June 25, 1954, p. 8;
Donald Keyhoe, Flying Saucer Conspiracy, pp. 167–168;
Brad Sparks, Blue Books Unknowns Catalogue, Case 1046, p. 216;
NICAP, “F-51 Trailed by Object / Lt. Roe Sighting”;
NICAP, “Something Follows C-47 and Observed by RB-47 Crew”;
