Four documented cases from June 18–30, 1952.
1952: June 18th–30th
UFO|UAP & Entity Sightings Archive
The back half of June 1952 is dense even by this month’s standard — a Kirksville, Missouri radar track moving at over 3,600 mph, a ramming-attack pursuit at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and the extensively documented O’Hare Airport hover case witnessed by air policemen and Chicago firemen alike. This page covers June 18th through 30th; see the companion page for June 1st–17th.
Date: June 18, 1952 (BBU 1302)
Location: Columbus, Wisconsin
Time: 9 a.m.
Summary: R. A. Finger saw a crescent-shaped object hover, then speed away.
Source: Berliner
Date: June 18, 1952 (BBU 1305)
Location: Walnut Lake (Pontiac), Michigan
Time: 10 p.m.
Summary: Marion Hoffman and four relatives, using 4x binoculars, saw an orange light zigzag then hover for an unspecified length of time. This appears to be the same witness family reported in the April 27 and May 25, 1952 entries elsewhere in this archive.
Source: Berliner
Date: June 18, 1952
Location: 100 miles east of March AFB, California
Time: Unknown
Summary: A UFO paced a B-25 bomber for 30 minutes. No explanation was found and the case was classified as an unknown.
Source: Ruppelt p. 146; et al.
Date: June 19, 1952 (BBU 1308)
Location: Goose Bay, Labrador, Canada
Time: 2:37 a.m.
Summary: 2nd Lt. D’Agostino and an unidentified radar operator saw a red light turn white while wobbling. Radar tracked a stationary target that suddenly enlarged then returned to its previous size — possibly a disc rotating to present a wider reflective surface.
Source: Berliner; cf. Ruppelt p. 146
Date: June 19, 1952 (BBU 1310)
Location: Yuma, Arizona
Time: 2 p.m.
Summary: USAF pilot John Lane saw a round, white object fly straight and level.
Source: Berliner
Date: June 20, 1952 (BBU 1313)
Location: Central Korea
Time: 3:03 p.m.
Summary: A flight of four USMC F4U-4B Corsair pilots (7302nd Sq) on a mission spotted a silvery-white object passing below them, banking into a left turn. As the object circled, the flight leader dove toward it; the object, roughly 10–20 feet in diameter, flew away at an estimated 1,000 mph and disappeared toward friendly lines.
Source: BB files
Date: June 20, 1952
Location: Near Paulette, Mississippi
Time: 8:26 p.m.
Summary: USAF pilot Lt. Milo Roberts and bombardier Lt. Julius Prottengeier (308th Bomb Sq, 310th Bomb Wing, Forbes AFB, Kansas), flying a B-29 at 190 mph and 17,000 ft, saw a cone-shaped object approach on a collision course from the 2 o’clock position. After evasive action, the object made a sharp left turn and disappeared, followed by a possible second object. Length-to-width ratio roughly 3:1, about 8–10 ft long at an estimated distance of 1,200–1,500 ft (or roughly 100 ft if actually 15 miles away).
Source: NARCAP; BB files
Date: June 21, 1952 (BBU 1319)
Location: Kelly AFB, Texas
Time: 12:30 p.m.
Summary: T/Sgt. Howard Davis, flight engineer of a B-29 at 8,000 ft, saw a flat object with a sharply pointed front and rounded rear — white with a dark blue center and red rim, trailing sparks — dive past the aircraft at a distance of about 500 ft in roughly one second.
Source: Berliner
Date: June 21 (or 23), 1952
Location: Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Time: 10:58 p.m.
Summary: A Ground Observer Corps post spotted a target, confirmed by ADC radar, followed by an F-47 fighter interception of a 6–8-inch white blinking light, which made ramming attacks on the F-47 between 10,000 and 27,000 ft.
Source: Ruppelt p. 43
Date: June 22, 1952 (BBU 1323)
Location: Pyeongtaek, South Korea
Time: 10:45 p.m.
Summary: Two U.S. Marine sergeants saw a 4-ft-diameter orange object dive at a runway from the north, dropping from 800 ft to 100 ft altitude over the west end of the runway while shooting 2–5 ft red flames, then heading west at roughly 300–450 mph for 2–3 seconds, hovering briefly over a hill, turning 180° over 45–60 seconds, flashing, heading east half a mile, flashing again, and blinking out. No sound was reported.
Source: Hynek UFO Report, pp. 82–83
Date: June 23, 1952 (BBU 1334)
Location: Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Time: 3:30 a.m.
Summary: Secretary Martha Milligan saw a bullet-shaped object with burnt-orange exhaust fly straight and level.
Source: Berliner
Date: June 23, 1952
Location: Unknown location; report relayed via Japan HQ (CV 4359)
Time: 6:08 a.m.
Summary: USAF pilot Wermack of the 18th Fighter-Bomber Group saw a black, coin-shaped object, 15–20 ft in diameter, approach to within 1,500 ft at 6,000 ft altitude, then make an irregular descent.
Source: Berliner; Project 1947
Date: June 23, 1952 (BBU 1335)
Location: Near Owensboro, Kentucky
Time: 10 a.m.
Summary: National Guard Lt. Col. O. L. Depp saw two objects resembling giant soap bubbles, reflecting yellow and lavender colors, flying in trail.
Source: Berliner
Date: June 23, 1952 (BBU 1331)
Location: Spokane, Washington
Time: 4:05 p.m.
Summary: Airport weather observer Rex Thompson saw a round disc with a metallic shine flash and flutter like a flipped coin.
Source: Berliner
Date: June 23, 1952 (BBU 1332)
Location: McChord AFB, Washington
Time: 9 p.m.
Summary: 2nd Lt. K. Thompson saw a very large light fly straight and level. No further information survives in the files.
Source: Berliner
Date: June 23, 1952
Location: Kirksville AFS, Missouri
Time: 7:30 or 7:35 p.m.
Summary: USAF ADC radar operators Lt. A. N. Robinson Jr. and Airman Ray H. Foote, along with five other controllers, officers, and maintenance technicians, tracked one (possibly two) unidentified targets with a clear, sharp radar return the size of a B-29’s (or B-50/B-36’s), which suddenly appeared 80–85 miles north-northwest of the radar site and moved at a constant speed of roughly 3,600–4,300 mph along a straight, roughly 120–125-mile path heading 357° (nearly due north) until disappearing off the scope.
Source: Hynek-CUFOS files
Date: June 25, 1952 (BBU 1340)
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Time: Unknown
Summary: Unknown — no further detail survives in the sourced record.
Source: Berliner
Date: June 25, 1952
Location: Michigan
Time: Unknown
Summary: Unknown — no further detail survives in the sourced record.
Source: FUFOR Index
Date: June 25, 1952 (BBU 1347)
Location: Japan-Korea area
Time: Unknown
Summary: Military witness(es); no further detail survives in the sourced record.
Source: NARA
Date: June 25, 1952 (BBU 1344)
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Time: 8:30 p.m.
Summary: Mrs. Norbury and Mr. Matheis saw a bright yellow-white, egg-shaped object, sometimes trailing a red tail, make seven circles.
Source: Berliner
Date: June 26, 1952 (BBU 1348)
Location: Terre Haute, Indiana
Time: 2:45 a.m.
Summary: USAF 2nd Lt. C. W. Povelites saw an undescribed object fly at 600 mph, then stop. No further information survives in the files.
Source: Berliner
Date: June 26, 1952 (BBU 1351)
Location: Pottstown, Pennsylvania
Time: 11:50 p.m.
Summary: Assistant airport manager Mr. Wells made three sightings of flashing lights: two lights two miles apart, one flashing steadily and the other irregularly; two similarly flashing lights one mile apart; and finally a single light. Speed estimated at 150–250 mph.
Source: Berliner
Date: June 27, 1952 (BBU 1355)
Location: Topeka, Kansas
Time: 6:50 p.m.
Summary: Forbes AFB USAF pilot 2nd Lt. K. P. Kelly and his wife saw a pulsating red object change shape from circular to a vertical oval as it pulsed, first stationary then moving.
Source: Berliner
Date: June 28, 1952
Location: Kirtland AFB, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Time: 1:20 p.m.
Summary: Two observers with CARCO air service saw two silvery disc-like objects high in the sky, moving slowly south and noiselessly, before suddenly climbing nearly vertically at high speed — one heading SSE, the other almost due east.
Source: Hynek UFO Exp, ch. 6, case DD-7
Date: June 28, 1952 (BBU 1361)
Location: Lake Koshkonong, Wisconsin
Time: 6 p.m.
Summary: Metcalfe saw a silver-white sphere become an ellipse as it turned and climbed away very fast.
Source: Berliner
Date: June 28, 1952 (BBU 1363)
Location: Nagoya, Japan
Time: 4:10 p.m.
Summary: Capt. T. W. Barger, a USAF Electronics Counter Measures officer, saw a dark blue, elliptical-shaped object with a pulsing border fly straight and level at 700–800 mph.
Source: Berliner
Date: June 28, 1952
Location: Pacific Ocean, between Hawaii and California
Time: 10:50 p.m.
Summary: A USAF C-47 pilot saw a very bright light pass across the flight path from left to right.
Source: Project 1947
Date: June 29, 1952 (BBU 1364)
Location: O’Hare Airport, Chicago, Illinois
Time: 5:45–6:30 p.m.
Summary: Three USAF air policemen of the 83rd Air Base Sq (S/Sgt. Lopez, A/1c Weber, A/3c Korkowski) saw a bright silver, smooth-surfaced, flat oval object roughly 30 ft across, about 500–1,000 ft up and 2–3 miles away, reflecting sunlight and surrounded by a blue haze for the first 20–25 minutes while hovering between the radio towers of stations WGN and WBBM, seven miles away, near the setting sun. The object then moved very fast — left, right, up, and down relative to the towers — far faster than any jet fighter, rocking on its longitudinal axis and appearing oval (roughly 2.2:1 major-to-minor axis ratio) when vertical, thin and hard to see when horizontal. It receded at high speed and disappeared “like shutting off a light,” with no trail and no noise. Independently witnessed by Chicago firemen several miles away.
Source: Jan Aldrich; unpublished Ruppelt manuscript
Date: June 30, 1952
Location: Columbia, Missouri
Time: 1:46–3:54 a.m.
Summary: A U.S. Weather Bureau observer, tracking an object at extreme distance through a theodolite, recorded it irregularly changing color from red to green, appearing to move away to the north-northeast, with only “small” angular movement across 14 recorded position measurements over two hours.
Source: Jan Aldrich
Date: June 30 (or July 1), 1952
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
Time: Unknown
Summary: Witness(es) recorded as Gaudet (and possibly Wolf); no further detail survives in the sourced record.
Source: Jan Aldrich; FUFOR Index
Date: June 30, 1952
Location: Sea of Japan
Time: 7 p.m.
Summary: Three USAF crew members of a C-54 transport saw a circular object, flattened on top and bottom.
Source: Weinstein; BB files
Date: June or July 1952: “Horned” Humanoid Sightings in Belgorod-Dnestrovsky
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Kirksville’s 3,600-mph Radar Track, an Oak Ridge Ramming Pursuit, and the O’Hare Hover Case
The back half of June 1952 delivers three of the month’s standout cases in close succession. On June 23, Kirksville AFS radar operators tracked a target moving at a constant 3,600 to 4,300 mph across a 120-mile straight-line path — among the highest confirmed speeds in the entire Blue Book radar record. Two days earlier, an Oak Ridge, Tennessee GOC post and ADC radar had confirmed a small blinking light that made repeated ramming attacks on an intercepting F-47 fighter. And on June 29, three air policemen and independent firemen witnesses watched a silver oval hover for over twenty minutes between two Chicago radio towers before it vanished at a speed “much faster than any jet fighter.” Korean-theater pilot and radar reports continue at a steady clip throughout, alongside the usual mix of brief, thinly documented civilian light sightings.
“The object receded at high speed then disappeared like shutting off a light. No trail, no noise.”
— USAF air police report, O’Hare Airport, Chicago, June 29, 1952
