THINK ABOUTIT UFO|UAP ENCOUNTER REPORT

1952 Carson Sink, Nevada Case: Two Pentagon Colonels and a Delta Formation

At 3:40 in the afternoon of July 24, 1952, two Air Force lieutenant colonels flying a B-25 bomber over the Carson Sink area of Nevada spotted what they first took to be a routine formation of F-86 jet fighters — until the three objects banked in close, revealing themselves to be tailless, canopy-less, silver delta shapes that shot past the bomber within 400 to 800 yards at a speed both men estimated at three times that of any conventional jet, gone in four seconds flat. What makes this case unusual isn’t the maneuver itself — it’s the witnesses. John L. McGinn and John R. Barton weren’t ordinary pilots; they were Pentagon-assigned officers with classified clearances covering virtually every aircraft design flying anywhere in the world, and both had been openly skeptical of “flying saucer” reports from friends before that afternoon. Project Blue Book’s own historian later called it “the best of those in the files marked unidentified.”

Date: July 24, 1952 (BBU 1584)

Sighting Time: 3:40 p.m. MST

Day/Night: Day (clear, unlimited visibility, not a cloud in the sky)

Location: Carson Sink area, Nevada, on airway “Green 3” between Sacramento and Reno

Urban or Rural: Airborne, over remote Nevada terrain

No. of Entity(‘s): Not Applicable

Entity Type: Not Applicable

Entity Description: Not Applicable

Hynek Classification: CE-I (Close Encounter, First Kind — object observed in close proximity, within 500 ft; the objects here closed to within 400-800 yards, well inside standard CE-I range)

Duration: Approximately 4 seconds for the close pass itself; the full sighting, from first noticing the objects to their departure, lasted somewhat longer

No. of Object(s): 3

Description of the Object(s): Silver-white, delta/arrowhead-shaped objects with no tails and no pilot’s canopies, each with a distinct ridge running from nose to tail across an otherwise clean, sharply-defined upper triangular wing surface, flying in a tight V formation

Shape/Size/Color of Object(s): Delta/arrowhead-shaped, slightly larger than an F-86 (roughly 40 ft), silver-white

Distance to Object(s): Passed within 400 to 800 yards of the B-25 during the close maneuver

Height & Speed: Observed from the B-25’s cruising altitude of 11,000 ft; speed estimated at a minimum of three times that of a conventional jet fighter of the period

Number of Witnesses: 2 (Lt. Col. John L. McGinn, Deputy of Operations, Fighter Branch; Lt. Col. John R. Barton, AFOOP-OP-D — both Pentagon-assigned command pilots with several thousand flying hours each)

Special Features/Characteristics: Objects initially appeared to be F-86 jets flying an unusually tight, perfect V formation at an altitude inconsistent with civil air regulations; upon closer approach, no tail, canopy, or other standard aircraft feature was visible, only a clean triangular delta wing surface with a distinctive nose-to-tail ridge; the objects made a slight left bank before shooting past the B-25 at extreme speed and vanishing

Case Status: Officially Unidentified — Project Blue Book’s own investigation ruled out every known delta-wing aircraft in the U.S. inventory (Air Force and Navy, none present in the area), checked all standard and large research balloon flights (none found), and confirmed Flight Service had no record of any aircraft near Carson Sink at the time; described by Michael David Hall, a Blue Book historian, as “the best of those in the files marked unidentified”

Source: Michael David Hall, “UFOs, A Century of Sightings,” p. 187; Capt. Edward J. Ruppelt, “Report on Unidentified Flying Objects,” p. 10

Summary/Description: At 3:40 p.m. MST on July 24, 1952, Lt. Col. John L. McGinn and Lt. Col. John R. Barton, flying a B-25 bomber at 11,000 ft and 185 knots on a cross-country flight from Hamilton AFB to Colorado Springs, spotted three objects ahead and to their right over the Carson Sink area of Nevada. Initially assuming they were F-86 jets in formation, the two officers realized as the objects closed in that they were instead silver-white, delta-shaped craft with no tails or canopies, each marked by a distinctive ridge running nose to tail, flying a tight V formation. The three objects made a slight left bank and shot past the B-25 within 400 to 800 yards at an estimated speed of at least three times that of a conventional jet fighter, gone within about four seconds. Upon landing at Colorado Springs, McGinn and Barton immediately reported the sighting to Air Defense Command. A subsequent Blue Book investigation found no record of any aircraft, balloon, or known object in the area at the time, and the case was filed as officially Unidentified.

Related Cases: Frequently cited by UFO historians (including Edward Ruppelt himself) as one of the strongest and best-documented cases from the entire Blue Book era, given the witnesses’ technical qualifications and the thoroughness of the ruled-out conventional explanations

Detailed Report

According to Michael David Hall’s account, the Carson Sink sighting drew immediate and serious attention at both ATIC and the Pentagon specifically because of who reported it. Lieutenant Colonels John L. McGinn and John R. Barton were both Air Force command pilots assigned to highly classified Pentagon positions, intimately familiar with essentially every aircraft or missile design flying anywhere in the world at the time — precisely the kind of witnesses whose reports couldn’t be easily dismissed as simple misidentification.

The two officers had requisitioned a twin-engine B-25 bomber for a cross-country flight from Hamilton Air Force Base near San Francisco to Colorado Springs. The day was clear, with unlimited visibility, and after crossing the Sierra Nevada between Sacramento and Reno, they entered the “Green 3” airway toward Salt Lake City. At 3:40 p.m. MST, flying at 11,000 feet over the Carson Sink area of Nevada, the pilots spotted three aircraft ahead and to their right.

Their first assumption was that these were F-86 jet fighters. Something about the sighting didn’t quite add up, however — if they were F-86s, civil air regulations should have placed them lower, and it seemed unusual for military jets to be flying in what appeared to be a perfect V formation. As the B-25 closed the distance, the truth became clear: these weren’t F-86s at all. Each craft was bright silver with a delta wing-like airfoil, but with no tail and no pilot’s canopy — ruling out even an unfamiliar new delta-jet design, since any such aircraft would still need a cockpit. Each displayed a clean triangular upper wing surface, broken only by a distinct ridge running from nose to tail.

Before the two men had fully processed what they were looking at, the objects made a left bank and shot within 400 to 800 yards of the B-25 — an uncomfortably close pass. Their speed was estimated at a minimum of three times that of any conventional jet fighter then flying. After roughly four seconds, the maneuver was complete and the objects were gone.

Upon landing at Colorado Springs, McGinn and Barton immediately contacted Air Defense Command Headquarters. When they learned that no civilian or military aircraft had been recorded anywhere near their position at 3:40 p.m., the significance of what they’d witnessed became clear. Both men held distinguished service records, each with several thousand flying hours, and both — by their own prior account — had previously been openly skeptical when friends described seeing “flying saucers.” After Carson Sink, they had changed their minds.

Blue Book’s investigation was thorough. Analysts located every delta-wing jet in the U.S. inventory at the time — exclusively flown by the Navy — and confirmed none were operating anywhere near the Green 3 corridor. Other sources were checked for balloon flights, aircraft, or any known object in the area; nothing was found. Of the roughly 100 UFO sightings reported worldwide on July 24, 1952 alone, and among the 22 reports that reached ATIC that day, the Carson Sink case — BBU 1584 — stood out enough to be independently described by Blue Book historian Michael David Hall as “the best of those in the files marked unidentified.”

Edward J. Ruppelt, who led Project Blue Book, gave his own detailed account of the case in his memoir, corroborating the same sequence of events and adding that the investigation specifically checked both Air Force and Navy delta-wing aircraft (all accounted for elsewhere) and all standard and 100-foot-diameter research weather balloon flights (none found in the area).

RESEARCHER’S NOTES

The Carson Sink Case — Two Pentagon-Cleared Witnesses and a Thorough Ruled-Out List

The witnesses’ technical qualifications are about as strong as any case in this archive can offer. Two Pentagon-assigned command pilots with classified clearances covering global aircraft designs, thousands of flying hours each, and — critically — prior stated skepticism toward UFO reports, are a genuinely difficult pair of witnesses to dismiss as simply mistaken.
Blue Book’s own investigation ruled out the obvious conventional explanations systematically rather than superficially. Checking every Navy and Air Force delta-wing aircraft’s actual location, plus all standard and large research balloon flights, and finding nothing, is a more rigorous elimination process than many Blue Book cases received.
The case’s endorsement by two separate, credible sources — Blue Book historian Michael David Hall and Project Blue Book’s own former director Edward Ruppelt — lends it unusual institutional weight. Both independently singled this case out as among the strongest unidentified reports in the entire Blue Book archive.
The tailless, canopy-less delta configuration is a specific enough design detail to weigh seriously. Two experienced military pilots, intimately familiar with existing aircraft designs, specifically noted the absence of features (a canopy, a tail) that any conventional 1952 aircraft — piloted or otherwise — would need.
The close pass distance (400-800 yards) at an estimated multiple of jet speed is itself a striking, if roughly estimated, performance claim. A four-second engagement window limits precision, but the pilots’ professional experience in judging relative aircraft speed and distance carries some weight in evaluating the estimate.

The Carson Sink case stands as one of the archive’s most credible Blue Book “unknowns” — not because of any single dramatic detail, but because of the sustained combination of highly qualified, initially skeptical witnesses and a genuinely thorough official investigation that eliminated every conventional explanation it could find. It remains, officially and by expert consensus, unresolved.