1952: May 1st–15th

UFO|UAP & Entity Sightings Archive

The first half of May 1952 opens the busiest stretch of the year’s UFO wave, and the witnesses are not the usual casual skywatchers: Atomic Energy Commission employees at Hanford, DuPont workers inside the Savannah River Plant, a B-36 crew in Arizona that watched two shiny discs overtake their bomber, and Air Force airmen at George AFB who reported five flat-white discs making a 90° turn over the desert. This May 1952 UFO sightings archive gathers every case from May 1 through May 15, from Project Blue Book record cards and Air Intelligence reports to the pilot, radar and press accounts that surround them.

Night after night the reports pile up: a Pan American DC-4 crew over the Atlantic, F-86 and F-51 pilots over North Korea, a deputy-sheriff chase in California’s Imperial Valley, four amateur astronomers under a diamond of glowing ovals in South Carolina, and a British scientist watching a luminous disc climb from the sea off Cyprus. Blue Book later explained many of them as meteors, balloons and aircraft, and those evaluations are recorded here beside each case, but a stubborn core of reports was left unidentified. Because of the volume, May is split into two archive pages; this page covers May 1st–15th, and the companion page covers May 16th–31st.

Date: May 1952 (day unknown; date doubtful)
Location: Allyn (or “Allen”), West Virginia
Time: 8:00 p.m.
Summary: A woman driving at night was paced by an object with many lights; her car slowed to a stop, and she found herself aboard a craft where small grey beings with large eyes examined her and something was placed behind her ear. She reported about three hours of missing time. [Full Report]
Source: NUFORC report

Source Status: Anonymous, unvalidated submission to NUFORC, a hotline founded in 1974; the account’s features postdate 1952, so the date is doubtful. Provisional Hynek CE-IV; Insufficient Data.

Date: May 1952 (day unknown)
Location: Prospect Heights, Cook County, Illinois
Time: 10:50 p.m.
Summary: Mrs. Ann Sohn saw a white luminous disc with a row of square windows, a transparent dome on top and green glowing vapor beneath hover over a vacant lot beside her home. Through the lit windows, three men in hooded, parka-like coveralls appeared to work mechanical levers for three to five minutes; the disc then turned brilliant red-orange and left at “fantastic speed.” [Full Report]
Source: Bob Runser, field investigator, Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS)

Source Status: Single witness; summary report only, with no interview transcript or field notes; Insufficient Data. Provisional Hynek CE-III.

Date: Early May 1952
Location: Willow Grove, Pennsylvania (Naval Air Station)
Time: Unknown
Summary: A Naval Air Station ground-controlled-approach radar tracked a target in bad weather moving at roughly 3,600 mph. The target appeared on two scopes operating at different frequencies and was tracked again the following day.
Source: NICAP chronology (Project Interloper; Jan Aldrich)

Source Status: No Blue Book file in the May 1952 set; the exact date within early May is not given in the source.

Date: May 1, 1952
Location: Moses Lake, Washington (Hanford area)
Time: 5:32 a.m. PST
Summary: Civilian AEC employees at the Hanford area saw a slow-moving, wingless silver object flying straight and level at about 5,000 feet for roughly 1½ minutes. Blue Book noted that a Yakima balloon release at 1:15 a.m. PST was considered doubtful as an explanation and recorded no conclusion.
Source: Project Blue Book record card; Berliner (BBU 1174)

Date: May 1, 1952
Location: Davis-Monthan AFB, Tucson, Arizona
Time: 9:10 a.m. MST
Summary: Two shiny, round metallic discs, the nearer lens- or double-disc-shaped and about 20 to 28 feet across, overtook a westbound B-36 at about 20,000 feet, matched its speed, paced it, made a sharp turn and vanished by shrinking away. Base Air Intelligence Officer Maj. Rudolph Pestalozzi, M/Sgt. Edmond L. Bouton Jr. on the base hospital steps, the B-36 crew and others saw them. According to James E. McDonald’s 1966 letter to Blue Book, every crewman but the pilot reached the starboard blister to look, the nearer disc sat below the fuselage mid-section, and the bomber demanded immediate permission to land. Estimates of how long the discs paced the bomber range from about 20 seconds to several minutes. Blue Book’s record card lists Possibly Aircraft, commenting “Might have been fighters however description precludes this.” [Full Report]
Source: Project Blue Book record card; Davis-Monthan intelligence report of May 2, 1952; James E. McDonald letter to Maj. Hector Quintanilla, July 14, 1966; Hynek UFO Report; Brad Sparks, Comprehensive Catalog of Project Blue Book Unknowns (BBU 1175)

Source Status: The original report went missing from Blue Book and was reconstructed in 1966 from McDonald’s interviews; the exact date remained uncertain. Sparks catalogs the case as a Blue Book Unknown although the record card reads Possibly Aircraft.

Date: May 1, 1952
Location: George AFB and Apple Valley, California
Time: 10:50 a.m. PDT
Summary: Three men on the arms range, plus Lt. Col. Lyle Albert Silvernail four miles away in Apple Valley, saw five flat-white discs, three in front and two behind, flying at roughly 1,000 mph at about 4,000 feet and making a 90° turn before the rear pair darted in circles and zig-zags. Silvernail reported the sighting and was told radar was tracking the object(s) and fighters were being scrambled. Blue Book filed it as “well documented,” with no conclusion. Duration was 15–30 seconds, with five or more witnesses. This was the first of nine George AFB reports in three weeks. [Full Report]
Source: Project Blue Book record card; Blue Book Status Report 7, Appendix VI; Berliner; NICAP (BBU 1176)

Date: May 2, 1952
Location: Wichita Falls, Texas
Time: 10:00 a.m. CST
Summary: A former Air Force staff sergeant saw a dull metallic disc fly straight and level, then in an arc, for about five seconds. Blue Book evaluated it as Possibly Astronomical (meteor), noting “too many exact details” in the account.
Source: Project Blue Book record card

Date: May 2, 1952
Location: Olmstead AFB, Pennsylvania
Time: 5:52 p.m.
Summary: A former pilot reported a single circular object flying straight and level that looked red as it approached and white as it receded. Blue Book evaluated the case Insufficient Data, noting that the location named in the report could not be identified.
Source: Project Blue Book record card

Source Status: The time on the card is marked MST although the location is in Pennsylvania; the time zone is unreliable.

Date: May 3, 1952
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Time: Early morning (card: 0548?)
Summary: Multiple observers saw a large white, bullet-nosed object trailing vapor east to west for about 60 seconds. Blue Book evaluated it as Astro (Meteor), with “jet/missile” crossed out, and cross-referenced the Sydney report of the same date.
Source: Project Blue Book record card

Source Status: See the Sydney entry for May 3, 1952, directly below.

Date: May 3, 1952
Location: Between Parkes and Sydney, Australia
Time: Morning
Summary: Two airline pilots and an RAAF officer watched an object move between Parkes and Sydney. A separate account by William Anderson described an “airship or flying submarine” with winking lights, three to four times the size of an airliner.
Source: NICAP chronology (UP dispatch; Gross; Holledge)

Source Status: Blue Book’s Melbourne card cross-references a Sydney report of this date; the Melbourne evaluation was meteor.

Date: May 3, 1952
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
Time: 11:00 p.m. MST
Summary: Former Air Force and Navy pilots saw a white, glowing, cigar-shaped object climbing, with a length-to-width ratio of about 5 to 1 and “molten drippings” falling from it, for about four seconds. Blue Book evaluated it as Probably Astronomical (meteor).
Source: Project Blue Book record card

Date: May 4, 1952
Location: Richmond, Texas
Time: 3:32 a.m. CST
Summary: A high-school student saw a yellowish, tailless object move erratically for about 12 seconds. Blue Book evaluated it as Possibly Astronomical (meteor).
Source: Project Blue Book record card

Date: May 4, 1952
Location: San Francisco, California
Time: Unknown
Summary: Blue Book holds a single photograph labeled “May 4, 1952, San Francisco, California,” credited to Paul Eisenberg: a dark elliptical object in the sky above a house. The file contains the print only, with no record card, witness statement or evaluation.
Source: Project Blue Book photo file 1201

Source Status: Photograph only; no evaluation or witness account survives in the Blue Book file.

Date: May 5, 1952
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
Time: 10:00 p.m. MST
Summary: A civilian man saw a bluish-green object climbing at about 10° for two seconds. Blue Book evaluated it as Possibly Astronomical (meteor).
Source: Project Blue Book record card

Date: May 5, 1952
Location: Tenafly, New Jersey
Time: 10:45 p.m.
Summary: Mrs. M. M. Judson saw six to seven translucent, cream-yellow objects; one moved in an ellipse while the others moved in and out. The sighting lasted about four to five minutes.
Source: Berliner (BBU 1183)

Source Status: No Blue Book record card for this case appears in the May 1952 file set.

Date: May 7, 1952
Location: Nashville, Tennessee
Time: 1:30 p.m. CST
Summary: A very dark disc moved in a slow swinging arc for five to eight minutes, bearing about 30° from the south city limits. Blue Book evaluated it as Possibly Balloon.
Source: Project Blue Book record card

Date: May 7, 1952
Location: Keesler AFB, Mississippi
Time: 12:15 p.m. CST
Summary: Capt. Morris, a master sergeant, a staff sergeant and an airman first class saw aluminum or silver cylindrical objects, estimated at about ten, darting in and out of the clouds on a southeast course. They were in sight for five to ten minutes. Blue Book’s evaluation was Unknown.
Source: Project Blue Book record card; Berliner (BBU 1185)

Date: May 7, 1952
Location: Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Time: 4:30 p.m.
Summary: Reporter João Martins and press photographer Ed Keffel of O Cruzeiro magazine photographed a metallic or whitish disc, five exposures in about a minute, published in the May 24, 1952 issue. A Brazilian Air Force investigation, released in 1959, called the photographs genuine, and APRO ranked them among the best on record, but skeptics including Menzel, Boyd and Hartmann cite inconsistent shadows. Blue Book’s record card evaluated the case Other: possible hoax, noting that the shadows do not match the trees, that the pictures were “too easy to fake,” and an original asking price of $25,000 later changed to free use for a credit line. [Full Report]
Source: Project Blue Book record card; Project Blue Book photo file 1187; O Cruzeiro, May 24, 1952; Ronald Story, The Encyclopedia of UFOs; Menzel and Boyd, The World of Flying Saucers

Source Status: Disputed: Blue Book considers the photographs a possible hoax; the Brazilian Air Force report called them genuine.

Date: May 8, 1952
Location: Atlantic Ocean, 600 miles east of Jacksonville, Florida (31°20’N 70°00’W)
Time: 2:27 a.m. EDT
Summary: Pan Am Flight 203 pilot Capt. Cent and copilot 1st Officer Gallagher, flying a DC-4 at 8,000 feet from New York to San Juan, saw a brilliant white light approach from below the 10,000-foot overcast and streak past at ⅛ to ¼ mile, followed by two smaller orange balls of fire. Blue Book’s card shows “Unknown” struck out and the evaluation Was Astronomical (meteor), commenting “obviously meteor,” and recorded no naval or air activity or submarines in the area.
Source: Project Blue Book record card; NARCAP; McDonald list; Project 1947; Ruppelt pp. 133–4

Date: May 8, 1952
Location: Misawa AB, Honshu, Japan
Time: 10:00 p.m.
Summary: An Air Force pilot and radar observer saw a multi-colored ball move west to east and disintegrate, in sight for three to five seconds. Blue Book evaluated it as Possibly Astronomical (meteor).
Source: Project Blue Book record card

Date: May 8, 1952
Location: Misawa AB, Honshu, Japan
Time: 10:00 p.m.
Summary: Two soldiers on guard duty reported three flashes, two blue and one red, with the first two spaced about 20 minutes apart; the third had an arcing tail. Blue Book evaluated the report Insufficient Data.
Source: Project Blue Book record card

Date: May 8, 1952
Location: Mishawaka, Indiana
Time: 9:30 p.m. CST
Summary: A 16-year-old girl saw a reddish oval hover for 28 seconds and then move away. Blue Book evaluated it Insufficient Data, noting that balloons had been launched at 3:00 a.m. and that a high balloon could look red.
Source: Project Blue Book record card

Date: May 9, 1952
Location: São Paulo, Brazil
Time: About 10:00 a.m.
Summary: A civilian reporting by letter described a white, meteor-shaped object that arched downward and exploded in about three seconds. Blue Book evaluated it Possibly Astronomical (meteor); the letter itself is not in the file.
Source: Project Blue Book record card

Date: May 9, 1952
Location: George AFB, California
Time: 10:30 a.m. PDT
Summary: Ground observers and two F-86 pilots saw a round silver object north of George AFB; the jets broke off the chase low on fuel. Blue Book noted that a balloon had been released at Edwards AFB at 9:35 a.m., 55 minutes earlier, called it “very probable” the balloon was the object, and evaluated the case Possibly Balloon. Photo file 1193 holds one print. [Full Report]
Source: Project Blue Book record card; Ruppelt memo and Status Report 7, Appendix VI; Berliner; FUFOR Index; Project Blue Book photo file 1193

Date: May 9, 1952
Location: George AFB, California
Time: 12:30 p.m. PDT
Summary: Two objects moved slowly with the breeze, silver metal with a dark spot in the center, flaring brightly at certain angles to the sun. Blue Book thought it “very possible paper was caught in thermals and swept along,” noting a similar sighting had turned out to be exactly that. [Full Report]
Source: Project Blue Book record card; Status Report 7, Appendix VI

Date: May 9, 1952
Location: George AFB, California
Time: 5:20 p.m. PDT
Summary: An airman first class saw a dull, thundercloud-colored arrowhead-shaped object fly straight and level for about ten seconds. Blue Book drew no conclusion, noting the object was seen by one observer “who has made several reports” and “could be too good an observer.” The card reads Unknown. [Full Report]
Source: Project Blue Book record card; Status Report 7, Appendix VI

Date: May 9, 1952
Location: San Diego, California
Time: 9:00 p.m.
Summary: A civilian couple saw a blue, tubular object, estimated at 50 by 20 feet with green and orange lights, moving silently east at 200–300 mph. One observer was a member of a “Flying Saucer Sighting Club.” Blue Book evaluated it as Was Astronomical (meteor).
Source: Project Blue Book record card

Date: May 10, 1952
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Time: 3:00 p.m. MST
Summary: An Air Force colonel and his wife (identified in NICAP’s listing as Lt. Col. Maurice Bechtel) saw two silver discs flying straight and level for five to ten minutes, the first southwest of Kirtland AFB moving northeast, estimated at B-36 size. Radar was alerted but obtained no pickup. Blue Book evaluated the case Possibly Balloon.
Source: Project Blue Book record card; McDonald files; Jan Aldrich; FUFOR Index

Date: May 10, 1952
Location: Paphos, southwest Cyprus
Time: 8:30 p.m.
Summary: A British scientist and others saw a luminous circular object rise sharply from sea level, waver back and forth, and fade directly overhead. Blue Book evaluated the report Insufficient Data.
Source: Project Blue Book record card; Jan Aldrich

Date: May 10, 1952
Location: Ellenton, South Carolina (Savannah River Plant, Atomic Energy Commission)
Time: 10:40–11:15 p.m. EST
Summary: Four DuPont employees at the Savannah River Plant saw four yellow-to-gold, disc-shaped objects, about fifteen inches in diameter, approach the plant’s “400 area” from the south at high speed and altitude without a sound. Further objects followed at about 11:05, 11:10 and 11:15 p.m., and the eighth flew low enough that it had to rise to clear tall tanks. The FBI report counts eight objects; the Robins AFB OSI synopsis counts six. Blue Book’s record card reads Insufficient Data, noting the sightings fell near balloon-launch time. [Full Report]
Source: Project Blue Book record card; FBI report to AFOSI; 6th District OSI, Robins AFB; Look Magazine, June 24, 1952 (BBU 1198)

Date: May 11, 1952
Location: Seattle, Washington
Time: 1:20 a.m. PST
Summary: Many witnesses on the ground and in the air saw a vivid blue sphere with a streaming tail dive steeply and explode in a brilliant flash, followed about two minutes later by a shock wave felt across Puget Sound. A Northwest Airlines pilot and two University of Washington astronomers called it a meteor, and Blue Book evaluated it Was Astronomical (meteor). [Full Report]
Source: Project Blue Book record card; Seattle press clippings in the Blue Book file

Date: May 11, 1952
Location: George AFB, California
Time: 12:20 p.m. PDT
Summary: The same airman first class who reported on May 9 saw a white disc “flipping end over end,” like a white paper plate, for three minutes, making a 90° turn and trailing two smaller objects. Blue Book noted this was the “third report in three days” from the same observer and suggested paper or an object in a strong thermal. Evaluation: Insufficient Data. [Full Report]
Source: Project Blue Book record card; Status Report 7, Appendix VI; Blue Book 11–31 May evaluation table

Date: May 11, 1952
Location: Deephaven, Minnesota
Time: 8:58 p.m. CST
Summary: A former Army liaison pilot saw a spherical object with a tail cross about 75 percent of the sky straight and level in ten seconds. Blue Book evaluated it Other: probably meteor.
Source: Project Blue Book record card

Date: May 12, 1952
Location: Kenton, Ohio
Time: 9:16 p.m. EST
Summary: A former Navy pilot reported an unidentified object under a clear sky; the report is vague and Blue Book evaluated it Insufficient Data.
Source: Project Blue Book record card

Date: May 12, 1952
Location: 40 miles west of Roswell, New Mexico
Time: 8:45–9:10 p.m. MST
Summary: Walker AFB Technical Sergeant Raymond Bare, in a car downtown, saw a bluish-green disc estimated at 20,000–30,000 feet, 40–50 miles away. It climbed perpendicular, descended at 25° and repeated the same triangular course three times, faster than a jet, its brightness varying with altitude, for about 25 minutes. Blue Book evaluated it Possibly Aircraft and Probably Astronomical, with “PROB VENUS” written on the card.
Source: Project Blue Book record card; AF Form 112; Fran Ridge; NICAP chronology

Source Status: NICAP gives 8:45 p.m. MST for the start; the Blue Book card gives 2045–2110 MST.

Date: May 13, 1952
Location: El Centro Naval Air Station, California
Time: 3:15 a.m. PST
Summary: An F9F pilot taking off saw what appeared to be a shooting star diving at about 60°. A radar crew separately logged a long streak southeast of El Centro for two antenna sweeps. Blue Book evaluated the case Other: possible meteor and listed El Centro as a meteor in its 11–31 May table. Four separate unidentified-object reports were logged in the El Centro area on this date.
Source: Project Blue Book record card; Dan Wilson

Date: May 13, 1952
Location: Imperial, California
Time: 3:10 a.m. PST
Summary: Two deputy sheriffs saw five soft white-yellow lights, described to El Centro NAS as five “flying saucers” as large as B-36s: three heading north were joined by two, all five orbited in a tight circle at high speed, then three vanished and two headed south without a sound. Four F9Fs were airborne between 3:00 and 4:30 a.m. PST. Blue Book evaluated it Possibly Aircraft.
Source: Project Blue Book record card; Dan Wilson

Date: May 13, 1952
Location: Yuma, Arizona
Time: 3:50 a.m. PST
Summary: An Air Force staff sergeant, a tower operator, saw an orange and blue light hover on a bearing of 320°. His own source thought it was cars on a highway, and Blue Book evaluated it Other: ground lights.
Source: Project Blue Book record card

Date: May 13, 1952
Location: Niland, California
Time: 4:42 a.m.
Summary: A deputy sheriff saw a bright white light hover and then move southwest over Cain Springs; the nearest pilot-balloon launch was at El Centro, 30 miles southwest. Blue Book’s 11–31 May table lists Niland as Aircraft.
Source: Project Blue Book record card; Blue Book 11–31 May evaluation table

Source Status: The record card file is labeled “Hiland, California”; the location is Niland.

Date: May 13, 1952
Location: About 20 miles northeast of Lisbon, Portugal
Time: 11:00 a.m.
Summary: A newspaper report described an aluminum, aircraft-shaped object visible for half an hour. Blue Book suggested it could have been one of the new jet aircraft being delivered to Portugal under NATO and listed it as Aircraft.
Source: Project Blue Book record card

Date: May 13, 1952
Location: George AFB, California
Time: 2:25 p.m. PDT
Summary: A T-6G pilot and observer at 10,500 feet saw a white or silver round object at an estimated 45,000 feet, nearly overhead, for about 30 minutes before it vanished almost instantly “like a light being turned off.” An Edwards balloon had been released at 1:40 p.m. PDT, 45 minutes earlier, and Blue Book recorded Was Balloon. [Full Report]
Source: Project Blue Book record card; Status Report 7, Appendix VI; Dan Wilson

Date: May 13, 1952
Location: National City, California (San Diego Bay)
Time: 8:55 p.m. PDT
Summary: Aeronautical engineer Donald R. Carr saw what first looked like a meteor’s red trail, then a white, self-luminous object that leveled off at an estimated 10,000–15,000 feet and moved silently in an oscillating, side-to-side pattern over San Diego Bay and Point Loma. About 9:25 p.m. he saw it again, passing over downtown San Diego and reflecting ground lights off what seemed a metal hull. Harold Strawn, a former Navy pilot, and a group of students in La Mesa also saw the maneuvers. Carr concluded it was under intelligent control; Blue Book’s record card evaluated the case Other: meteor. [Full Report]
Source: Project Blue Book record card; Richard Hall, The UFO Evidence (1964); NICAP

Date: May 13, 1952
Location: Greenville, South Carolina (Furman University)
Time: 10:33 p.m. EST
Summary: Richardson and three other amateur astronomers, telescopes set up in a dark area of the Furman campus, saw four oval, reddish-yellow luminous objects in a tight diamond formation pass nearly overhead, wobbling and rotating a quarter turn, and disappear after about three seconds across a 12° arc. Each looked about the size of a half dollar held at arm’s length. One observer thought they were geese; the other three were sure they were not. Blue Book evaluated the case Other: possible geese, without a definite conclusion. [Full Report]
Source: Project Blue Book record card; 6th District OSI Spot Intelligence Report, May 28, 1952; Blue Book Status Report; Blue Book Chop Clearance List Item #15; FUFOR Index

Source Status: Blue Book’s Chop Clearance List misdates this case as May 18, 1952.

Date: May 14, 1952
Location: Yellow Springs, Ohio
Time: 12:50 a.m. EST
Summary: A college senior saw a half-moon-sized object travel straight and level on a course of 220° for four to five seconds under a clear sky, without sound. Blue Book evaluated it Probably Astronomical (meteor).
Source: Project Blue Book record card

Date: May 14, 1952
Location: Malung, Sweden
Time: 2250 GMT
Summary: Four civilians in a car saw an illuminated white aircraft-shaped object on a course of 135° for about ten seconds. Blue Book noted “the Swedes think meteoric” and evaluated it Other: possible meteor.
Source: Project Blue Book record card

Date: May 14, 1952
Location: George AFB, California
Time: 2:05–2:30 p.m. PDT
Summary: The T-6 pilot and observer who reported on May 13 saw a silver-metallic circular object hover for about 25 minutes and photographed it; the prints show only a small spot, and F-86 and F-94 aircraft from Edwards made no contact. Blue Book wrote that the description “fits incident of 13 May so perfectly” that a balloon was highly probable, and recorded Possibly Balloon. [Full Report]
Source: Project Blue Book record card; Status Report 7, Appendix VI; McDonald list; FUFOR Index

Date: May 14, 1952
Location: Mayagüez, Puerto Rico (18°11’N 67°13’30″W)
Time: 7:00–7:30 p.m.
Summary: Five witnesses on a cliff-top overlooking Mayagüez Bay, including an attorney and former pilot who used 18×50 Zeiss field glasses, watched two orange spheres off the coast for 20 to 30 minutes. The larger object stayed stationary while the smaller darted away and reappeared close beside it, with no exhaust, sound or contrail. The investigating officer judged the observers sound and credible and found no natural explanation. Blue Book’s conclusion line reads “None”; its 11–31 May table lists the case as UNIDENTIFIED. [Full Report]
Source: Project Blue Book record card; Air Intelligence Information Report; Berliner (BBU 1213)

Source Status: The names “Stipes” and “Garcia-Méndez” appear in Berliner’s catalog; the names are redacted in the Blue Book file, so they could not be verified there.

Date: May 15, 1952
Location: South of Changsong-ni and north of Nangnim Mountain, North Korea
Time: 11:00 a.m.
Summary: Lt. McCarthy and another pilot flying two F-86E jets (25th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, 51st Fighter Interceptor Wing) at 30,000 feet saw a silvery, oval object larger than a MiG, about 20 miles away at an estimated 1,200–1,500 mph, appearing to roll before it disappeared to the north. It lasted three to five seconds. Blue Book’s 11–31 May table lists the North Korea reports as balloon with flare, after an Air Force intelligence note that enemy light-balloons were in use near the front.
Source: Project Blue Book record card; Jan Aldrich

Date: May 15, 1952
Location: South of Changsong-ni and north of Nangnim Mountain, North Korea
Time: 6:35 p.m.
Summary: An F-51 pilot of the 18th Fighter Bomber Group at 9,000 feet saw a 50-foot silver object at about 1,000 mph climb steeply, loop, level off, waver, then descend and vanish into haze at 7,000–8,000 feet. Blue Book’s table lists the May 15 North Korea reports as balloon with flare.
Source: Jan Aldrich; Blue Book 11–31 May evaluation table

Date: May 15, 1952
Location: Georgetown, Washington, D.C.
Time: 9:35 p.m. EDT
Summary: U.S. Navy Lt. H. W. Taylor, a second lieutenant and two women saw a soft, yellowish-gold oval, estimated 5–6 feet across, travel straight and level through a 60–70° arc, fading at 20–30° above the horizon, for about ten seconds. A balloon launched at 0300Z would have had to be very low to appear so fast. Blue Book evaluated the case Was Astronomical (meteor).
Source: Project Blue Book record card; McDonald files; Jan Aldrich; FUFOR Index

Source Status: Secondary listings give 10:25 p.m. (and alternates of 9:35 or 9:50 p.m.); the Blue Book card gives 2135 EDT.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Nuclear Plants, a B-36 Escort, and the George AFB Cluster

The first fortnight of May 1952 is defined by who was looking up. AEC employees at Hanford and DuPont workers at the Savannah River Plant, an Air Force intelligence officer and a B-36 crew at Davis-Monthan, and a run of airmen at George AFB all filed reports, and Blue Book itself later noted that the 1 May George AFB sighting began a series of nine reports there in three weeks, all by military personnel. On May 8, Secretary of the Air Force Finletter sat through an hour-long Blue Book briefing in Washington, while the cases piled in from Korea, the Atlantic, Cyprus and the American Southwest.

Blue Book’s own record cards sort the half-month into three groups: a long list of meteors, balloons and aircraft, a handful of reports with no data to judge, and a small unidentified core that includes the Mayagüez spheres, the Keesler cylinder, the Moses Lake silver object and the five-disc George AFB report. Several cases the file explains and several it does not still rest on credible, trained witnesses, which is why this half of May is worth reading case by case.

“It appeared to disappear very fast, almost like a light being turned off.”

— T-6G observer, George AFB, California, May 13, 1952