San Antonio, Texas, May 29, 1952: the tilting tube.
THINK ABOUTIT UFO|UAP SIGHTINGS REPORT
San Antonio, Texas: A Pilot Watches a Tube of Light Tilt, Stretch and Turn Red
At about 7:00 on the evening of May 29, 1952, a USAF pilot with 3,100 hours of flying time stepped outside his San Antonio home and saw a bright, tube-shaped object moving slowly from left to right in the sky. Over the next fourteen minutes it turned upright and hung motionless for eight minutes, tilted down toward the horizontal, rose back to the vertical, then lengthened and turned red as it accelerated out of sight in about four seconds.
The San Antonio, Texas UFO sighting was reported to the Air Force by teletype, flagged by Blue Book as a “good report — very similar to one reported from Alaska,” and left Unidentified. The observer himself thought he had seen a flame trail rather than a solid object.
Date: May 29, 1952
Sighting Time: 7:00 p.m. to 7:14 p.m. CST
Day/Night: Day (before sunset)
Location: A residential neighborhood in the San Antonio, Texas area
Urban or Rural: Urban
No. of Entity(‘s): Not Applicable
Entity Type: Not Applicable
Entity Description: Not Applicable
Hynek Classification: Daylight Disc (DD)
Duration: 14 minutes (8 minutes upright)
No. of Object(s): 1
Description of the Object(s): A bright tubular object that moved left to right, turned upright and remained so for eight minutes, tilted to near horizontal, assumed the vertical again, then accelerated upward, lengthened and turned mild red or orange
Shape/Size/Color of Object(s): Tubular / unknown / bright, turning mild red or orange
Distance to Object(s): Unknown; observed over a neighbor’s television antenna
Height & Speed: About 25–30° elevation; disappeared about four seconds after accelerating
Number of Witnesses: Three: the pilot, his wife (per the report) and a next-door neighbor, who saw most of it
Special Features/Characteristics: Thin high stratus changed shape in the same area while the object kept its form; the observer believed he saw a flame trail rather than a material object
Case Status: Unidentified (Project Blue Book)
Source: Project Blue Book record card; teletype report; Air Intelligence Information Report; Berliner (BBU 1236)
Summary/Description: A veteran Air Force pilot watched a bright tube of light tilt upright for eight minutes, tilt back and then lengthen and turn red as it shot out of sight.
Related Cases: A “very similar” report from Alaska (cited by Blue Book); Houston, May 20, 1952
Detailed Report
The teletype summary describes the object moving slowly to the north, tipping to a vertical position and remaining motionless for about eight minutes, then slowly resuming the horizontal and moving north again. It assumed the vertical again, a possible flame exhaust extended, and it “moved right up and out of sight,” taking about two seconds from the last vertical position to disappearance. The observer was “positive not conventional aircraft, very positive of altitude and motion.” The reporting headquarters speculated that the observation may have been of the exhaust and not the object itself.
The Air Intelligence Information Report places the observation on May 29 from 1900 to 1914 hours Central, visually from the surface. The observer, a pilot on flying status with 3,100 hours, wrote that the object changed position from horizontal to vertical several times before ascending out of sight, over a neighbor’s television antenna. A thin stratus layer in the same general direction changed in shape and position, but the object did not. It traveled from left to right for several minutes, giving the illusion of being very high or traveling very slowly, then turned upright for eight minutes by the clock before slowly tilting to near-horizontal again, completing a gradual turn, then rising again.
During acceleration upward the object lengthened and changed from an intense light to a mild red or orange. The observer believed it was a flame trail rather than a material object because of the change in length and color; the speed could not be established but he estimated about four seconds to vanish from the final vertical position. His wife and the next-door neighbor, who was working on her lawn, were directed to the object and, with the exception of the first few minutes, also saw it. Elevation was about 25–30° except for the last few seconds, with thin high stratus clouds and good visibility. Blue Book’s card struck out “Was Astronomical,” noting that the object was near the sun, that stratus clouds were mentioned, and that it could be a reflection in the clouds, but also “good report — very similar to one reported from Alaska.” The evaluation: Unknown.
RESEARCHER’S NOTES
A Tube That Would Not Behave Like a Cloud
- Evaluation: Blue Book considered a sun reflection in stratus clouds but marked the final evaluation Unknown, and the 11–31 May table lists San Antonio as UNIDENTIFIED.
- Witness quality: The observer was a rated pilot with 3,100 flying hours; his wife and a neighbor corroborated the later portion of the sighting.
- Flame trail: The observer’s own opinion that he was seeing a flame or exhaust trail, not a solid object, is in the record and was echoed by the reporting headquarters.
- Name: Berliner names Maj. D. W. Feuerstein; the name is redacted in the file, so this is stated as per Berliner.
- The Alaska comparison: Blue Book called the case “very similar” to an Alaska report; the file does not identify it.
The San Antonio case is an experienced pilot’s careful description of something that behaved unlike aircraft or cloud: tilting through the vertical, hovering upright for eight minutes, then lengthening and turning red as it accelerated away. Blue Book weighed a cloud reflection and left it Unknown.
“The observer believed the object to be a flame trail rather than a material object due to its change in length and color.”
— Air Intelligence Information Report, San Antonio, Texas, May 29, 1952
