THINK ABOUTIT UFO|UAP SIGHTINGS REPORT

1952: Two Navy Pilots Over Memphis Watch a Bright Inverted Bowl with Vertical Slots and a Red Glowing Trail Pass 100 Yards Away

At 6:34 p.m. on April 14, 1952, two Navy pilots flying at 2,000 feet on a heading of 18 degrees over the Naval Air Station range station at Memphis, Tennessee, saw a bright object pass about 100 yards from their aircraft. It looked like an inverted bowl, about 3 feet long and 1 foot high, with slots running vertically from top to bottom, and it trailed a red, glowing exhaust.

The object moved at a rapid pace on a heading of about 300 degrees without maneuvering and made no audible sound. The pair watched it for 45 to 60 seconds under an overcast at 4,200 feet. Operations at NAS Memphis reported the sighting to the Maxwell Flight Service Center, and Air Force intelligence at Hq MATS wrote it up. Project Blue Book lists this Memphis, Tennessee UFO case as Unidentified.

Date: April 14, 1952

Sighting Time: 6:34 p.m. CST (1834 hours)

Day/Night: Evening; overcast at 4,200 feet

Location: Over the U.S. Naval Air Station range station, Memphis, Tennessee

Urban or Rural: Airfield area

No. of Entity’s: Not Applicable

Entity Type: Not Applicable

Entity Description: Not Applicable

Hynek Classification: Not assigned in the file; closest fit is DD (Daylight Disc)

Duration: 45 to 60 seconds

No. of Object(s): 1

Description of the Object(s): A bright inverted bowl with slots running vertically from top to bottom and a red, glowing exhaust trail

Shape/Size/Color of Object(s): Inverted bowl, about 3 feet long and 1 foot high, bright

Distance to Object(s): About 100 yards from the pilots’ aircraft at the closest

Height & Speed: Object at about 2,000 feet on a heading of 300 degrees at a rapid pace; the aircraft was flying a heading of 18 degrees at 2,000 feet

Number of Witnesses: 2 (Navy pilots, a Lt. (jg) and a Lt.; names blacked out)

Special Features/Characteristics: Red, glowing exhaust trail; not audible; not maneuvering; weather 4,200 feet overcast, 15 miles visibility

Case Status: Blue Book: Unidentified; status report extract: no conclusions

Source: Air Intelligence Information Report IR-170-52 (Intelligence Division, Hq MATS, Andrews AFB, April 18, 1952); Project Blue Book record card; status report extract; Blue Book April list; Berliner; McDonald files; Jan Aldrich

Summary/Description: Two Navy pilots over NAS Memphis saw a bright inverted bowl with vertical slots and a red glowing trail pass about 100 yards away in 45 to 60 seconds. No sketch or photograph was available and no conclusion was reached.

Detailed Report

The Air Intelligence Information Report, prepared by Maj. Don F. Hammerlund of the Intelligence Division, Hq MATS, at Andrews AFB and approved by Col. William L. Travis’s office, records that the Maxwell Flight Service Center at Maxwell AFB, Alabama, received a report from Operations, U.S. Naval Air Station, Memphis, Tennessee, that a Lt. (jg) and a Lt. had sighted an unidentified flying object while over the NAS Memphis range station. The time of the sighting was 1834C on April 14, 1952. The evaluation is F-3 and the source is U.S. Navy pilots; the reference is IR-166-52.

No sketch or photograph of the object is available. The details given are: number, one; shape, an inverted bowl with slots running vertically from top to bottom; size, approximately 3 feet long and 1 foot high; color, bright; speed, a rapid pace; maneuverability, not maneuvering; heading, 300 degrees; altitude, 2,000 feet; sound, not audible; exhaust trail, red, glowing.

The two naval officers were flying on a heading of 18 degrees at 2,000 feet. The object appeared to pass about 100 yards from the aircraft and was in sight from 45 to 60 seconds. The U.S. Weather Bureau at Memphis reported the weather at the time as 4,200 feet overcast with visibility of 15 miles.

The Project Blue Book record card marks the observation as air-visual with a conclusion of Unknown and the source as two naval aviators. Its comments read that the pilots observed the object passing near their aircraft while they were over the NAS range station and that the object had a red glowing exhaust trail. The extract from Status Report No. 7 has the same description: “Bright inverted bowl, with slots running vertical and glowing red,” with speed rapid, altitude 2,000 feet and the action “No conclusions.”

RESEARCHER’S NOTES

A Small Bowl at 100 Yards, a Red Exhaust and No Conclusion

Size. At about 100 yards a 3-foot object is a small one. The file does not say how the pilots arrived at the size, or whether they saw it against the clouds.
Headings. The aircraft was flying 18 degrees and the object 300 degrees, so the paths crossed rather than converged. The status extract lists the heading as unknown.
The Pilots. The names are blacked out in the file. The live page names Lt. (jg) Blacky and Lt. (jg) O’Neill from Berliner; I could not verify these.
Blue Book Listing. The Blue Book April list shows two Memphis entries: April 7 (Memphis, Walnut and Macon, Astro meteor) and April 14 (Unidentified). This is the second.

Memphis has two trained observers, a close pass, a short written description with a measured size and a weather report. What it does not have is a cause: the status extract says no conclusions and Blue Book lists it as Unidentified.

«Inverted bowl with slots running vertically from top to bottom.»
— Air Intelligence Information Report IR-170-52, Memphis, Tennessee, April 14, 1952