Four documented cases from November 1–15, 1952.
1952: November 1st–15th
UFO|UAP & Entity Sightings Archive
November 1952 opens with an unusually well-documented run of Project Blue Book cases, many carrying the Air Force’s own full I-II-III investigative writeups rather than a bare summary — including a Wichita, Kansas B-47 crew’s erratic blue-white object, a Los Alamos security guard’s sighting over a prohibited nuclear-weapons area, and a twin radar-and-visual Montana case that Blue Book itself concluded were two separate, unrelated phenomena on the same night. Given the volume, November has been split into two archive pages; this page covers the 1st through the 15th.
Date: November 1952
Location: United Kingdom (specific location not recorded)
Time: Not recorded
Summary: One object, about 300 feet across, was observed; its appearance and behavior most likely have a conventional explanation.
Source: Unknown
Date: November 1952
Location: Near Dublin, Ireland
Time: Not recorded
Summary: A child was burned when a strange disc, roughly 25 cm (about 1 foot) in diameter, landed nearby; physical traces were found at the scene.
Source: Unknown
Date: November 1952
Location: Damascus, Ohio
Time: Around 1:00 a.m.
Summary: Nocturnal lights were reported.
Source: Unknown
Date: November 1952
Location: Near Augusta, Georgia (near a nuclear test site)
Time: Before 8:00 a.m.
Summary: Three experienced male witnesses (Bernac) observed a star-sized object in clear weather with an extraordinary appearance or performance, for 12 seconds.
Source: Bernac
Date: November 1952
Location: East Molesey, UK
Time: 3:30 p.m.
Summary: A hovering object was observed (Rowley).
Source: Rowley
Date: November 1952: Contact in Angatuba Mountains, Paraná, Brazil
Date: November 1952: Cubatão, Brazil
Date: November 1952
Location: Comanche, Texas
Time: 11:30 p.m.
Summary: A married couple (Cowan) observed one object, about 40 feet across, for 20 minutes; its appearance and performance were described as beyond the capability of known earthly aircraft.
Source: Cowan
Date: November 1, 1952: Heligoland, Germany Crash
Date: November 2, 1952
Location: Milan Cathedral, Italy
Time: Not recorded
Summary: A flying disc was observed by one witness.
Source: Unknown
Date: November 3, 1952: Laredo AFB, Texas (BBU 2202)
Date: November 4 (or December 4), 1952
Location: Congaree AFB, Columbia, South Carolina
Time: Not recorded
Summary: Unknown — no further detail survives in the sourced record beyond the date uncertainty itself.
Source: McDonald list
Date: November 4, 1952
Location: West Hokkaido, Japan
Time: Not recorded
Summary: An object flying in a straight line across the sky was reported.
Source: FUFOR Index
Date: November 4, 1952
Location: Caribou, Maine (with observations also at Presque Isle AFB)
Time: 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. (4-hour duration)
Summary: A USAF captain and 1st lieutenant flying a T-6 at 8,500 ft saw a slow-moving light of varying colors (white, red, orange, blue-green) at roughly 25° elevation, which was first stationary before sinking below the horizon. Ground observers at Presque Isle AFB and an inbound Northeast Airlines pilot independently saw the same object. Blue Book’s own assessment concluded it was probably a bright star or planet, its disappearance attributable to the earth’s rotation and its color shifts to atmospheric refraction; the aircrew and control tower operator reportedly reached the same conclusion themselves after reflection.
Source: Project 1947
Date: November 4, 1952 (BBU 2206)
Location: Vineland, New Jersey
Time: 5:40 p.m.
Summary: Housewife Mrs. Sprague saw two groups of two to three whirling discs of light, resembling a lighted wheel, move toward the southeast at roughly 40° elevation. Duration 30 seconds. Blue Book considered a possible explanation involving sunlight reflecting off an unusual cloud formation, but concluded the report was too sketchy, from a single relatively inexperienced witness, for a firm evaluation.
Source: Berliner
Date: November 4, 1952
Location: Laval, Mayenne, France
Time: 6:00 a.m.
Summary: Over a hospital, a brilliant cigar-shaped object changed color, then shape into a disc, then back into a cigar shape, before fading away. Duration about 5 minutes.
Source: Unknown
Date: November 4, 1952
Location: Erding Air Depot, Germany
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Summary: Three airmen saw a dark, oval-shaped object tumbling end over end as it traveled slowly eastward, appearing low, with clouds at 1,500-2,500 ft. Blue Book noted that winds aloft were also from the west/northwest and concluded it was probably a balloon launched from the air depot.
Source: Unknown
Date: November 5, 1952
Location: Ouarsenis, Algeria
Time: 3:30 p.m.
Summary: One unidentified object was sighted; its appearance and behavior most likely have a conventional explanation.
Source: Unknown
Date: November 7, 1952
Location: Auburn, Alabama
Time: 4:45 p.m.
Summary: A civilian source reported a bright, circular, stationary object to the east, with reduced visibility from smoke haze. Blue Book noted the sighting occurred right around sunset when brighter stars become visible, and concluded it was probably a star.
Source: Unknown
Date: November 8, 1952
Location: Brinson, Georgia
Time: 8:00 a.m.
Summary: A farmer in a forest observed a daytime disc.
Source: Unknown
Date: November 8, 1952
Location: Auburn, Alabama, and Columbus, Georgia
Time: 5:15 p.m.
Summary: Many people across both areas observed a silver-colored, spherical or oval-shaped object with a translucent, green-glowing outer edge and two bright spots, some viewing it through telescopes. Blue Book noted most sources themselves believed it was a balloon and concluded probably a balloon.
Source: Unknown
Date: November 8, 1952
Location: Tierra Amarilla AFS (El Vado radar site), New Mexico
Time: 6:05 p.m. MST
Summary: A 767th AC&W Squadron FPS-3 radar first detected an unidentified target 45 miles out at 143°, heading outbound to 100 miles, at an estimated 600–1,500 mph and 40,000 ft altitude, then returning to within 65 miles, hovering roughly 2 minutes, and heading back out to 100 miles before contact was lost. Total tracking time about 10 minutes; changing the radar’s frequency by 20 megacycles produced no change in the target. Blue Book noted similar returns have often been attributed to atmospheric conditions and concluded weather likely caused the return.
Source: McDonald list; FUFOR Index; Dan Wilson
Date: November 8, 1952
Location: Rouffignac Grotto, Dordogne, France
Time: 7:10 p.m.
Summary: Nocturnal lights were reported over a mountain for over one minute.
Source: Unknown
Date: November 10, 1952
Location: Washington, D.C.
Time: 9:50 p.m.
Summary: A civilian source used 6-power binoculars to observe two lights east of Washington National Airport, growing alternately brighter and dimmer with no apparent movement, for about an hour. The witness reported no fog at his location despite zero-visibility conditions reported at Bolling AFB. Blue Book found the data too sketchy for complete evaluation but suggested two exceptionally bright stars as a possible explanation.
Source: Unknown
Date: November 11, 1952
Location: Lott, Texas
Time: 3:40 p.m.
Summary: Two civilian men saw two non-metallic, globe-shaped, cloud-gray objects connected by a wispy, cloud-like band, moving from a 75° elevation toward the ESE before turning NNE. Blue Book noted the primary witness had made four prior sightings and was known to be very enthusiastic about the subject; a weather balloon launched from nearby James Connally AFB roughly matched the object’s described track and timing, and the case was concluded probably a balloon.
Source: Unknown
Date: November 11, 1952
Location: Between Chatham and Dover, England, UK (two separate observation points roughly 25 miles apart)
Time: Approximately 4:15–4:20 p.m.
Summary: Roughly 40 civilians near Chatham independently watched an object that appeared oval, then conical, then oval again, over a five-minute period, before it disappeared in a bright flash — no sound, color, size, or speed recorded. Around the same time (with a roughly 5-minute discrepancy), a police sergeant and 20 police recruits some 25 miles away saw a slow-moving, brilliant reddish-white oval “nucleus” with a long fiery tail ten times the object’s diameter, moving north before vanishing into a stratus cloud layer after about 10 minutes. Blue Book’s own plot judged it reasonable to assume both groups observed the same object despite the position and timing discrepancies, and suggested — without confidence — that it might have been a jet contrail, concluding insufficient data for a definite evaluation.
Source: Unknown
Date: November 12, 1952
Location: Jutland, Denmark
Time: 12:00 (noon)
Summary: An aircraft-like “mystery aircraft” object was observed at an airport.
Source: Unknown
Date: November 12, 1952 (BBU 2219)
Location: Los Alamos, New Mexico
Time: 10:23 p.m.
Summary: An AEC security inspector saw four blinking red, green, and white/yellowish lights fly slowly, near stationary, over a prohibited area for about 15–16 minutes; a fighter was placed on alert but not scrambled after no radar contact was made. Blue Book weighed a stray weather balloon or research balloon (noting balloon lights typically last only about an hour and balloons carry only one light apiece) and concluded possibly a balloon.
Source: Berliner
Date: November 13, 1952 (BBU 2220)
Location: Near Opheim, Montana (779th AC&W radar station)
Time: 2:20–2:43 a.m.
Summary: FPS-3 radar tracked an unidentified target from roughly 47°48’N/108°05’W to 47°38’N/105°05’W, at an estimated altitude of 153,000–158,000 ft and speed of 210 knots (roughly 240 mph), tracked south of Glasgow, Montana, for about 1 hour 28 minutes overall. Blue Book’s own plot determined this radar track and the separately reported visual sighting at Glasgow (below) could NOT have been the same object — the radar track moved straight east south of Glasgow while the visual witness reported objects coming from the northwest, turning, and departing southeast directly over his position. No sound was heard from the visual objects. Blue Book reached no conclusion on the visual sighting’s nature but attributed the radar track possibly to weather.
Source: Berliner
Date: November 13, 1952 (BBU 2220)
Location: Glasgow, Montana
Time: 2:43 a.m.
Summary: U.S. Weather Bureau observer Earl Oksendahl, taking a theodolite reading on a weather balloon, saw five oval-shaped objects with lights all around them flying in a V-formation, each appearing to shift vertically as if to hold the formation. The group came in from the northwest, made a 90° turn directly overhead, and departed to the southwest. Duration about 20 seconds. See the linked radar entry above (same BBU number, same night) — Blue Book explicitly concluded this visual sighting and the separately radar-tracked object were not the same phenomenon.
Source: Berliner
Date: November 15, 1952
Location: Washington, D.C.
Time: 2:40 a.m.
Summary: An Air Force captain and his wife observed a white or pale blue object making a noise as loud as “six or more jets at low altitude,” passing slightly east of their zenith on a southerly heading before making a left turn and a steep climb, then going dark. No wingtip lights were noted. Blue Book suggested the description was consistent with an F-94 flying blacked out with its afterburner engaged, concluding possibly aircraft.
Source: Unknown
Date: November 15, 1952
Location: Not recorded
Time: Not recorded
Summary: USAF pilots flying a T-6 aircraft were circled three times by a 10-foot silvery sphere. (This entry appeared twice in this archive’s earlier sourcing; consolidated to one here.)
Source: Weinstein
Date: November 15, 1952 (BBU 2224)
Location: Wichita, Kansas (this archive’s earlier sourcing had logged a near-identical duplicate entry under “Wichita, Texas” — no such city fitting this description exists; consolidated here under Kansas per the fuller Blue Book assessment)
Time: 7:02 p.m. (Blue Book’s own report separately timestamps the sighting at 8:25 p.m.; both times preserved rather than one discarded)
Summary: USAF Maj. R. L. Wallander (5,000 flying hours), Capt. Belleman, A/3c Phipps, and several airmen watched pilots under their command shoot landings in a B-47 when they saw an elliptical, blue-white light with an orange or red tail moving erratically, faster than a T-33 or B-47. It first traveled rapidly north, stopped abruptly (with the orange glow appearing on its former leading edge), moved out again on a new heading, stopped a second time for about two minutes, then disappeared north. Total observation 5-10 minutes. Blue Book noted two lighted weather balloons launched nearby at roughly the same time and concluded probably a balloon.
Source: Berliner
Date: November 15, 1952
Location: Pommard, Bourgogne, France
Time: 8:35 a.m.
Summary: One object, about 1 foot across, was observed; its appearance and behavior most likely have a conventional explanation.
Source: Unknown
Date: November 15, 1952
Location: Pyongyang, North Korea (Sector CT 7943)
Time: 1:07 p.m.
Summary: Two Americans flying a T-6 saw a 10-foot-diameter silver sphere below their plane, first heading north for 5 miles before making a 180° turn south and climbing; when the aircraft banked toward the object, it banked into a left-hand orbit around the plane. No radar contact was made.
Source: Unknown
Date: November 15, 1952
Location: Bowers Beach and Frederica, Delaware
Time: 6:45 p.m.
Summary: Two civilian sources at separate locations both observed a deep orange glow with intermittent white lights to their south, with no lateral motion noted over a 10-minute period against a fixed reference point. Blue Book ruled out an astronomical body given the overcast, and noted a reserved Navy airspace roughly 10–12 miles away where a flare could account for the sighting, concluding possibly a flare.
Source: Unknown
Date: November 15, 1952
Location: McAndrew AFB, Newfoundland, Canada
Time: 8:45 p.m.
Summary: Several military witnesses at an airfield saw one object with unusual appearance or performance for 6 seconds. Official explanation: balloon.
Source: Unknown
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Two Montana Mysteries and a Cross-County England Sighting
The first half of November 1952 stands out for how much of Project Blue Book’s own internal reasoning survives intact — full I-II-III case assessments rather than bare summaries, letting readers see exactly how the Air Force weighed balloons, stars, and atmospheric refraction against each report. Two cases resist easy explanation even by Blue Book’s own account: the November 11 Chatham-to-Dover, England sighting, where roughly 60 witnesses across two groups 25 miles apart converged on the same general event without full agreement on position or timing, and the November 13 Montana case, where Blue Book explicitly determined a radar-tracked target and a five-object visual formation sighting — recorded under the same case number, the same night — were two genuinely separate, unrelated phenomena.
“This was not a combination radar-visual sighting of the same object.”
— Project Blue Book conclusion, Opheim/Glasgow, Montana, November 13, 1952
