Dept. of DefenseExplainedAmbiguous
Two silver cigar-shaped objects bobbing — Columbus, Ohio, July 8, 1948
Jul 8, 1948Columbus, Ohio3,000 ft
Analysis — our summary
Mrs. Wilda Zittek reported observing two silver cigar-shaped objects at approximately 3,000 ft altitude over Columbus, Ohio on July 8, 1948. The objects appeared to be bobbing up and down. The investigating officer, 1st Lt. Clarence Glazebrook, concluded that the objects were possibly two F-80 aircraft from Patterson Field.
As reported — verbatim from the document
“Two silver cigar-shaped objects bobbing up and down at approximately 3,000 ft altitude, reported by Mrs. Wilda Zittek; investigating officer concluded possibly two F-80s from Patterson Field.”
Analyst notes — caveats & confidence
OCR is heavily degraded; much of the form fields are only partially legible. Investigating officer's conclusion noted but not confirmed. Confidence lowered due to OCR quality.
Provenance
Source document38_143685_box7_Incident_Summaries_101-172.pdf
Document typeincident summary compilation
Reporting agencyDept. of Defense
Source pages178
DeclassifiedFirst public at this release (2026)
Held classified~78 years (≥, to this release)
Extraction confidence ModerateHow cleanly this record could be parsed from the source — driven by legibility & redaction. It is not a measure of how credible or anomalous the sighting is.