NUFORC Sighting 141581

Occurred: 2018-05-19 10:45 Local
Reported: 2018-05-20 16:15 Pacific
Duration: ~1 second
No of observers: 1

Location: Wapakoneta, OH, USA

Shape: Other
Characteristics: Aircraft nearby

High speed solid grey shape moving essentially east to west - did not look like an aircraft.

On Saturday morning, May 19th, 2018, while driving my motorcycle North on I-75 in Ohio I observed an object moving from west-north-west to east-south-east at a very high speed. There was no jinking or other manoeuvre. The flight path was completely straight.

I did not note the mile mark, but it was at least an hour out of Piqua, and before the turn to US 30, where I would eventually link up with I-90.

I was travelling about 75 mph, and the object moved so quickly, I felt I was standing still.

My field of view was about 160 degrees and the object traversed that in about one second.

There was no sound (although to be fair, there was a fair bit of wind noise despite the fairing and windshield).

It was difficult to gauge height as the object’s shape was nothing with which I was familiar. But to hazard a guess, probably less than 1000 feet. But if I had been in my car, the roofline which not have let me see it. It was below the clouds (but it was not overcast – there was plenty of sunshine).

There was no sonic boom, so I could conclude the object’s speed was less than Mach 1, but the speed with which it traversed my field of view meant to me that it was travelling between 250 to 400 mph.

The object was all gray, similar to USAF aircraft colours, but darker. I could not see engines, nor any obvious wing shape. There were no lights, there was no trail, it emitted nothing, it stayed the same shape. The sketch of its outline below is from memory (a day-and-a-half old).

(the sketch would not paste in this box - I will send the sketch to Mr. Davenport's e-mail address.) My outline is poor - the front was a smooth curve (in other words, no implied cockpit – and I did not see one).

A few minutes later I spotted an airplane making a turn off in the distance to the West a couple of miles at least. No idea what type – but it had wings and moved as an aircraft moves, and it appeared to be very low.

The object I saw was definitely not a commercial aircraft, private propeller driven aircraft, business jet or a missile. It was not a helicopter, nor was it a civilian drone, nor was it a bird, nor a bug, nor an imperfection in my visor – it was up, nor a floater.

I am ex-military (Canadian army officer) and I had just been to visit the USAF National Museum for the Memphis Belle exhibit – nothing there would look like what I saw, even the experimentals, when in the air. Nor would any of ours.

I suspect it was a large drone of unique design – but I thought no unmanned air-breathing vehicles were allowed flight over populated areas? Or maybe it was a new experimental manned aircraft and I just could not see the cockpit.

Others must have seen it, so I hope my description and others, helps narrow the identification down to a few possibles.

Posted 2018-05-31