July 8th-14th, 1952: a night of radar and a formation over the bay.
1952: July 8th-14th
UFO|UAP & Entity Sightings Archive
The second week of July 1952 is the moment the Cold War’s summer UFO wave caught fire. A packed evening of radar activity over Illinois and Wisconsin on July 12 produced timestamped tracks, a scrambled interceptor and a visually confirmed reddish-orange fireball that made a local front page within two days. A Canadian destroyer tracked discs on radar off Korea. A Belgian child’s Marian apparition and a German entity encounter both entered the record. And the week closes with the Nash-Fortenberry sighting on July 14: eight objects in tight echelon formation over Chesapeake Bay, seen by two commercial pilots and corroborated by independent ground observers.
Project Blue Book’s own evaluation list for July 10-14 shows how thin the unexplained core of a wave can be. Most of the reports it logged that week became aircraft, meteors, stars and balloons, or lacked the data to judge, and only three were left Unidentified: Annapolis, Kirksville and Norfolk, Virginia, the Nash-Fortenberry case. The July 1952 UFO sightings of this week read best that way: a flood of reports, and a few that held up.
Date: July 9, 1952
Location: Portland, Oregon
Time: 1900Z (11:00 a.m. PST)
Summary: A civilian saw a single object travel northeast. Project Blue Book concluded it was a balloon.
Source: Project Blue Book record card
Date: July 9, 1952
Location: Rapid City AFB, South Dakota
Time: 3:30-3:35 p.m.
Summary: A sergeant and three airmen of the 717th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron, 28th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, lying on their backs off the edge of the East-West runway, reported three milky white discs between 30,000 and 40,000 ft, appearing 3-4 inches in diameter at arm’s length, moving faster than any jet they’d seen. Direction of travel was northerly, objects seen one at a time roughly a minute apart, each visible about 5 seconds. This followed a similar object seen minutes earlier by other airmen at the station. At 3:30 p.m., two more airmen at the east end of the runway reported an object at 20,000+ ft, disc-shaped, grayish-white, 3-4 inches at arm’s length, crossing the northwest corner of the airfield from the southwest, stopping to hover, losing and regaining altitude.
Source: FUFOR Index; BBU
Date: July 9, 1952
Location: Hasselbach, Germany
Time: Unknown
Summary: A UFO with occupants was encountered in Hasselbach, Germany. See the full report for complete case detail. [Full Report]
Source: See full report
Date: July 10, 1952
Location: Near Quantico, Virginia
Time: 8:18 p.m.
Summary: The pilot of National Airlines Flight 42, a C-60 aircraft, saw a very bright amber glow, stationary, then climbing slowly until it disappeared.
Source: Project 1947; Project Blue Book evaluation: Aircraft
Date: July 10, 1952
Location: Gerpinnes, Belgium
Time: Unknown
Summary: An entity, interpreted by the 7-year-old witness (Rosette Colmet) to have been the Virgin Mary or “the Madonna,” appeared to her, wearing a white dress decorated with red and blue hearts. See the full report for complete case detail. [Full Report]
Source: Erich Von Daniken, Miracle of the Gods?
Date: July 10, 1952
Location: Near Korea
Time: Unknown
Summary: The crew of the Canadian destroyer HMCS Crusader saw two shiny discs and tracked them on radar.
Source: Unknown
Date: July 10, 1952
Location: Florence, South Carolina
Time: Unknown
Summary: Project Blue Book logged a report from Florence, South Carolina, and evaluated it as aircraft.
Source: Project Blue Book evaluation list, July 10-12, 1952 sightings
Date: July 10, 1952
Location: Garner, North Carolina
Time: Unknown
Summary: A civilian report from Garner, North Carolina, evaluated by Project Blue Book as Insufficient Data.
Source: Project Blue Book evaluation list, July 10-12, 1952 sightings
Date: July 10, 1952
Location: Prairie Village, Kansas
Time: Unknown
Summary: Project Blue Book evaluated this report as astronomical (stars or planets). The individual record cards for the case are missing from the file.
Source: Project Blue Book evaluation list, July 10-12, 1952 sightings
Date: July 10, 1952
Location: Glendale, Arizona
Time: Unknown
Summary: A military observer reported a sighting at Glendale, Arizona. Project Blue Book evaluated it as astronomical: a meteor.
Source: Project Blue Book evaluation list, July 10-12, 1952 sightings
Date: July 10, 1952
Location: Orlando, Florida
Time: Unknown
Summary: Project Blue Book logged a sighting at Orlando, Florida, and evaluated it as aircraft.
Source: Project Blue Book evaluation list, July 10-12, 1952 sightings
Date: July 10, 1952
Location: Goose Air Base, Labrador
Time: Unknown
Summary: A military observer at Goose Air Base reported a sighting that Project Blue Book evaluated as Insufficient Data.
Source: Project Blue Book evaluation list, July 10-12, 1952 sightings
Date: July 11, 1952
Location: Bloomingdale, Indiana
Time: Unknown
Summary: A white circular object sustained fast, horizontal flight for six to eight seconds before dropping out of sight beyond the horizon. Project Blue Book’s July 10-12 evaluation list records a civilian report from Indiana dated July 11 (listed as “Bloomington”) as astronomical: a meteor.
Source: Project Blue Book record card; Project Blue Book evaluation list, July 10-12, 1952 sightings
Date: July 11, 1952
Location: Marinette, Arizona
Time: Unknown
Summary: Project Blue Book logged a sighting at Marinette, Arizona, and evaluated it as a balloon.
Source: Project Blue Book evaluation list, July 10-12, 1952 sightings
Date: July 12, 1952
Location: Annapolis, Maryland
Time: 3:30 p.m.
Summary: Insurance company president William Washburn saw 4 large, elliptical-shaped objects fly very fast, stop, turn 90°, and fly away. 7-8 seconds. [Full Report]
Source: Berliner; BBU 1431; Project Blue Book evaluation: Unidentified
Date: July 12, 1952
Location: Northern Illinois / Williams Bay, Wisconsin
Time: 8:05-8:30 p.m.
Summary: An Air Intelligence Information Report from the 755th AC&W Squadron, Williams Bay, Wisconsin, combined civilian visual reports with multi-radar detection. In Chicago, four named civilian witnesses — Mr. J. M. Stark, Mr. L. Matheis, Mr. L. Schrenk, and Mr. A. Cressy — independently reported objects: a greenish object that came to a standstill then moved off at high speed; a yellowish object that turned westward; a reddish object weaving at low altitude; and a fourth, non-jet-type object. Through the 31st Air Division and ADCC, three separate ground radars — Mastiff (AN/FPS-3), Origin (FPS-10), and Cousin (AN/GPS-6B) — picked up strange objects heading west and north at 3,000+ mph across several areas at differing altitudes. Originally logged on this page as two separate entries (one framed around the Chicago civilian sightings, one around the multi-radar detection); merged here as the same underlying report.
Source: Dan Wilson
Date: July 12 (or 13), 1952
Location: Kirksville, Missouri
Time: 9:00 p.m.
Summary: Several radar controllers, all military officers, saw several large radar blips tracked at 1,500 knots (1,700 mph). No visual sighting was made. [Full Report]
Source: Berliner; BBU 1436; Project Blue Book evaluation: Unidentified (military radar and scope photographs); photograph file 1436 (7 photographs, July 13)
Date: July 12, 1952
Location: Arlington, Illinois
Time: 9:04 p.m.
Summary: A USAF pilot in a flight of two F-86s with the 62nd Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, coming out of a right turn, saw (and possibly radar-tracked) an oblong yellowish, lighted object trailing a light, flying a straight course on heading 240°, about 15 miles away at 22,000 ft, traveling 700 knots. The F-86 pursued at maximum speed but the object pulled away. Both pilots heard a strange radio transmission on their restricted comm channel during the pursuit, saying the name of the pursuing pilot, Casey, in an eerie tone. 20 seconds.
Source: Project 1947; BBU
Date: July 12, 1952
Location: Unspecified
Time: 9:05 p.m.
Summary: An American Airlines Convair pilot and copilot saw an object paralleling the aircraft, then dropping down.
Source: Project 1947
Date: July 12, 1952
Location: Dayton, Ohio
Time: 9:13 p.m.
Summary: USAF pilots of two F-86s with the 97th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron saw two brilliant round white lights hovering at 21,000 ft, which then disappeared.
Source: Project 1947; Project Blue Book evaluation: Astronomical (meteor)
Date: July 12, 1952
Location: Belleville, Illinois
Time: 8:30-9:20 p.m.
Summary: The 798th AC&W Squadron logged 5 separate radar contacts over roughly 50 minutes, with speeds up to 1,700 knots. At 2110Z (9:10 p.m.), three airmen visually observed a large, intensely reddish-orange, round object flying a straight, horizontal course faster than any known aircraft, for about 20 seconds; one aircraft was scrambled to observe. Around 9:00 p.m., a large fireball-type object was independently seen by many witnesses across the wider Belleville/St. Louis area, making the front page of the Edwardsville Intelligencer two days later. [Full Report]
Source: Edwardsville Intelligencer, Illinois, July 14, 1952, page 1; Project Blue Book evaluation: Astronomical (meteor)
Date: July 12, 1952
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Time: Unknown
Summary: An Air Force weather officer and many others at Montrose Beach saw a large red object with small white lights on its side reverse course directly overhead.
Source: UFOE, III; Project Blue Book evaluation: Balloon
Date: July 12, 1952
Location: Haslemoen, Norway
Time: Unknown
Summary: A civilian report from Haslemoen, Norway, evaluated by Project Blue Book as Insufficient Data.
Source: Project Blue Book evaluation list, July 10-12, 1952 sightings
Date: July 13, 1952
Location: 60 miles SW of Washington, D.C.
Time: 4:00 a.m.
Summary: National Airlines Flight 611 pilot Capt. William Bruen, flying north from Jacksonville, Florida, saw a round ball of bluish-white light hovering to the west, then ascending to the airliner’s altitude of 11,000 ft before paralleling the aircraft off the left wing at about 2 miles’ distance. It took off upward at 1,000 mph when Bruen turned on all the aircraft’s lights.
Source: Hynek UFO Report, pp. 90-91; NARCAP; Project Blue Book evaluation (“SW Washington, D.C.,” record cards missing): Astronomical (meteor)
Date: July 13, 1952
Location: Osceola, Wisconsin
Time: Unknown
Summary: The 674th AC&W Squadron tracked eleven unidentified flying objects on radar at speeds of 12,000 to 20,000 knots.
Source: Project Blue Book evaluation: Other (radar interference)
Date: July 13, 1952
Location: Fordland, Missouri
Time: Unknown
Summary: At the 797th AC&W Squadron, one object was observed on radar, very large at times, varying in size up to 3 degrees in width, at an estimated speed of 180 to 600 mph. It appeared to stop maneuvering for as long as two minutes. The object was tracked from west to east and back west toward Kansas City before fading.
Source: Project Blue Book evaluation: Insufficient Data
Date: July 13, 1952
Location: New Braintree, Massachusetts
Time: Unknown
Summary: Project Blue Book logged a sighting at New Braintree, Massachusetts, and evaluated it as a balloon.
Source: Project Blue Book evaluation list, July 13-14, 1952 sightings
Date: July 13, 1952
Location: Spokane, Washington
Time: Unknown
Summary: Project Blue Book logged a sighting at Spokane, Washington, and evaluated it as a balloon.
Source: Project Blue Book evaluation list, July 13-14, 1952 sightings
Date: July 13, 1952
Location: Dallas, Texas
Time: Unknown
Summary: Project Blue Book logged a sighting at Dallas, Texas, and evaluated it as Insufficient Data.
Source: Project Blue Book evaluation list, July 13-14, 1952 sightings
Date: July 13, 1952
Location: Nouasseur Air Base, Morocco
Time: Unknown
Summary: Multiple observers at Nouasseur Air Base reported a sighting that Project Blue Book evaluated as astronomical: a meteor.
Source: Project Blue Book evaluation list, July 13-14, 1952 sightings
Date: July 14, 1952
Location: Holloman AFB, New Mexico
Time: 10:20 a.m. MST
Summary: Unidentified objects were observed over the missile test range during a Hughes Aircraft project mission. Two hundred feet of 35mm film was taken of two maneuvering objects at a high elevation angle to the NNE. Two other witnesses watching a B-29 on the mission through 6-power binoculars saw an object cross in front of the B-29, similar in size and apparent speed to the project’s F-86 — but it wasn’t the F-86, which overtook the B-29 shortly afterward. Mr. H. R. Morris and Mr. Floyd Fannon, operating the project’s X-band radar, observed something on their “A” scope resembling a jet going the opposite direction from the B-29. A bright object was also observed passing through the field of vision by an optical tracker using a 20-power monocular scope near the radar site. The radar “pip” was about the size and apparent speed of a jet fighter at 35,000 ft, observed for a few minutes.
Source: Dan Wilson; Project Blue Book evaluation: Balloon; photograph file 1448 (2 photographs)
Date: July 14, 1952
Location: Chesapeake Bay, Virginia
Time: Night
Summary: The Nash-Fortenberry Sighting — two commercial pilots, William B. Nash and William H. Fortenberry, saw eight UFOs flying in a tight echelon formation over Chesapeake Bay. Precise measurements of the objects’ motion and size were possible against known landmarks, and the encounter was corroborated by several independent groups of ground witnesses. Listed by Project Blue Book as an “Unknown.” See the full report for complete case detail. [Full Report]
Source: See full report; BBU (Project Blue Book evaluation list: Unidentified, Norfolk, Virginia)
Date: July 14, 1952
Location: Near Okinawa (Kadena Air Base)
Time: 10:10 p.m.
Summary: At Kadena Air Base, S/Sgt. Eugene K. Chalmers and 2nd Lt. Phillip Galtieri observed a spherical object to the north of the base. The object was moving straight down, but its course changed immediately, moving to the northeast across the sky. When the course change occurred, the object appeared to slow down and almost stop in midair, then picked up considerable speed and vanished.
Source: Project Blue Book evaluation (“Ryuku Islands, near Okinawa”): Insufficient Data
Date: July 14, 1952
Location: Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania
Time: 11:40 p.m. EDT
Summary: Five civilians watched a single small yellow-to-red light for 75 minutes. It appeared to move in an elliptical orbit. The card notes that Flight 855A was in the area.
Source: Project Blue Book record card
Date: July 14, 1952
Location: 20 miles S of McChord AFB, Washington
Time: 11:50 p.m.
Summary: USAF pilots of two fighters from the 318th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron saw a strange object with red and green lights slowly rolling between the two aircraft.
Source: Project 1947; BB
Date: July 14, 1952
Location: Washington, D.C.
Time: Unknown
Summary: Multiple observers reported objects over Washington, D.C. Project Blue Book evaluated the reports as balloons.
Source: Project Blue Book evaluation list, July 13-14, 1952 sightings
Date: July 14, 1952
Location: Great Falls Air Force Base, Montana
Time: Unknown
Summary: A civilian report from Great Falls Air Force Base, evaluated by Project Blue Book as Insufficient Data.
Source: Project Blue Book evaluation list, July 13-14, 1952 sightings
Date: July 14-15, 1952
Location: Oberlin Gardens, Pennsylvania
Time: Unknown
Summary: Project Blue Book logged a sighting at Oberlin Gardens, Pennsylvania, and evaluated it as a balloon.
Source: Project Blue Book evaluation list, July 13-14, 1952 sightings
1952: July 15th-21st UFO|UAP & Entity Sightings Archive
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
A Flood of Reports, Three Blue Book Unidentifieds
The night of July 12, 1952 alone produced radar or visual reports from at least six separate locations across Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri and Ohio within a few hours of each other, a level of simultaneous, multi-station activity that makes it one of the most radar-dense single nights of the month. The Belleville, Illinois case stands out for a rare feature: contemporaneous newspaper coverage from two days after the event. Blue Book evaluated the Belleville, Dayton and Indiana-Illinois-area reports of that night as meteors, which leaves the Annapolis, Maryland sighting of four large elliptical objects, 7 to 8 seconds, as the night’s unexplained case.
The week closes with the Nash-Fortenberry sighting on July 14, among the most analytically significant cases Blue Book ever logged, with landmark-referenced measurements and independent ground corroboration. Kirksville, Missouri, where military radar controllers tracked blips at 1,500 knots and photographed the scope, is the week’s other Unidentified. Gerpinnes, Belgium, Hasselbach, Germany and Nash-Fortenberry have standalone reports linked here.
“The speed of the object was faster than any known aircraft.”
— Edwardsville Intelligencer, on the July 12, 1952 Belleville, Illinois case
