July 22nd-25th, 1952 UFO & Entity Sightings Archive
1952: July 22nd-25th
UFO|UAP & Entity Sightings Archive
These four days sit at the absolute peak of the 1952 flap. F-94 crews scrambled from Dover AFB chased blue-white lights across two hours over New Jersey. A Pottstown, Pennsylvania crew watched a pear-shaped object shepherd a much faster delta-shaped companion at over 1,000 knots. An Alaska F-94 crew locked onto a target that simply outclimbed and outran them. And a Trans-Texas Airlines station manager watched a fifty-foot silver disc gyrate over Uvalde before it vanished at a speed the Air Force itself never explained, one of the handful of cases from this entire month still carried today as an official Project Blue Book Unknown. Historians agree that by late July “the 1952 wave reached some kind of a peak, with fantastic sightings happening one after the other.”
The July 1952 UFO sightings of these four days came from everywhere at once: eight bright aluminum-colored objects watched by a control tower operator and two pilots at Los Alamos, prison guards at Norfolk, Massachusetts watching a tilted, greenish flat object drift past with a rushing noise, two Coast Guardsmen at Nahant seeing twin bluish disks turn sharply and climb away, a forest ranger at The Dalles, Oregon watching a balloon-shaped object open and drop a smaller one, and 17 objects in an inverted “J” over the Bronx that a girl painted. Blue Book marked some of them down as aircraft, meteors or light refraction, and left others open.
Date: July 22, 1952
Location: Los Alamos, New Mexico
Time: 10:50 a.m.
Summary: Control tower operator Don Weins and 2 CARCO pilots saw 8 large, round, bright aluminum objects fly straight and level, then dart around erratically. 25 minutes. [Full Report]
Source: Berliner; BBU 1538
Date: July 22, 1952
Location: Stafford, Virginia
Time: 12:00 p.m.
Summary: A USAF pilot of a C-54 transport saw a bright ovoid object hover, then move in stops and starts, first approaching the plane, then paralleling it.
Source: Berliner; Loren Gross; BBU 1654
Date: July 22, 1952
Location: Brookley AFB, Mobile, Alabama
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Summary: A USAF Tech Sgt. and a civilian employee saw a barrel-shaped black object, 3.5-4 ft in diameter, emitting a black smoke trail and a black puff of smoke, flying about 5,000 ft above ground a mile away, heading east then flying “perpendicular” (possibly vertical). 2 minutes.
Source: Hynek-CUFOS-Willy Smith files; BBU
Date: July 22, 1952
Location: Uvalde, Texas
Time: 2:46 p.m. (1446 local)
Summary: Don Epperly, station manager and weather observer for Trans-Texas Airlines, observed a large, round, silver object at an estimated altitude of 20,000 ft, approximately 50 ft in diameter, gyrating for 45 seconds before departing at an estimated speed well over 1,000 mph. Officially carried by Project Blue Book as an “Unknown.” [Full Report]
Source: Berliner; BBU 1536; CCL Item #30
Date: July 22, 1952
Location: New Smyrna Beach, Florida
Time: 5:45 p.m.
Summary: A private pilot, alerted by his wife, saw a hovering, metallic-appearing disc. After about 10 seconds, the disc abruptly shot away, climbing at a steep angle, and disappeared.
Source: NICAP report form
Date: July 22, 1952
Location: 12 miles E of Peterson Field, Colorado
Time: 6:45 p.m.
Summary: USAF ADC personnel in a Cessna 140, and the pilot, saw a round silver object disappear into clouds.
Source: Project 1947; BBU
Date: July 22, 1952
Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado
Time: Unknown (evening)
Summary: A master sergeant and an airman, in a light aircraft, saw a round silver object for about a minute to the east-southeast. The card calls the report very incomplete, with no statement of other air activity or weather, and notes the object could possibly be an aircraft.
Source: Project Blue Book record card
Date: July 22, 1952
Location: Maxwell, Texas
Time: Evening
Summary: Five airmen watched a bluish-green object climb at high speed, hover, then change color from red to blue.
Source: Project Blue Book record card
Date: July 22, 1952
Location: Orlando, Florida
Time: 9:50 p.m. EST
Summary: Two civilian men saw a blue flash or “source of light” fly in straight, level flight at 3,000 to 5,000 ft for three to five seconds to the west-northwest. The card notes a T-33 in the area climbed from 1,500 to 3,000 ft.
Source: Project Blue Book record card
Date: July 22, 1952
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Time: 10:25 p.m.
Summary: F-89 crews attempted to intercept a UFO observed visually. No radar contact was made. Afterburners were used, without success.
Source: Blue Book files; FUFOR Index; BBU
Date: July 22, 1952
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Time: 10:30 p.m. CDT
Summary: A civilian couple on the south side of Chicago watched four distinctly grey, round objects, about the size of a silver dollar at arm’s length, fly in formation (elements of two, stepped up) at a fast, constant speed for two minutes. There was no sound and no visible trail or exhaust.
Source: Air Intelligence Information Report (706th Defense Wing); Project Blue Book record card
Date: July 22, 1952
Location: Dallas, Texas
Time: 10:30 p.m. CST
Summary: A group of civilians in Dallas twice saw a round, bright orange object, very high and traveling at great speed, within fifteen minutes. An Air Technical Intelligence Center reply to a witness is dated August 28, 1952.
Source: Project Blue Book record card
Date: July 22, 1952
Location: Near Braintree, between Boston and Provincetown, Massachusetts
Time: 10:20 and 10:47 p.m.
Summary: A USAF pilot and radar operator of an F-94B jet interceptor saw a large, round, spinning object throwing off a blue light. At 10:47 p.m., the same or a different F-94B chased a blue-green or green object circling at high speed, with airborne radar tracking and lock-on. Another F-94 intercepted 2 objects with flickering white light and swishing, circling blue light which passed the jet, with airborne radar tracking and ground visual observation.
Source: Berliner; cf. Weinstein; BBU 1556
Date: July 22-23, 1952
Location: Trenton, New Jersey
Time: 10:50 p.m., 12:45 a.m., 1:28-3:47 a.m.
Summary: Crews of several USAF F-94 jet interceptors from Dover AFB, Delaware made 13 visual sightings and one radar tracking of blue-white (or orange) lights. White, green, and blue lights were seen by both ground observers and F-94 pilots moving in arcs and blinking out suddenly. One F-94 crew got a radar lock-on at 30,000 ft distance on an object the size of an F-94; at 9,000 ft distance the object made a sharp right turn, suddenly dropped in height, and disappeared. Other sightings occurred across the wider Dover-Trenton area. 2 hours.
Source: Berliner; Loren Gross; BBU 1572
Date: July 22, 1952
Location: East Springfield, Massachusetts
Time: Unknown
Summary: A civilian man saw a yellow-white pinpoint of light move very fast for about three seconds. Project Blue Book evaluated it as a meteor.
Source: Project Blue Book record card
Date: July 23, 1952
Location: Nahant, Massachusetts
Time: 2:15-2:18 a.m.
Summary: A seaman on watch at the Nahant Coast Guard Station observed two bluish lights, approximately 5 ft in diameter, appearing as flat, disc-shaped objects with no aerodynamic features, moving without sound or exhaust trail at a speed faster than a four-engine airliner, at an altitude of 1,100-2,000 ft. At roughly 1.5 miles from the observation point, they executed an extremely sharp turn, described as similar to a ball bouncing off a wall.
Source: Blue Book files
Date: July 23, 1952
Location: Santa Cruz, California
Time: 4:10-4:54 a.m.
Summary: Three or more circular lights were seen high in the sky, changing color from blue to red to purple. Two of the objects circled overhead, sped away at high speed, then returned to hover overhead. The associated teletype message notes a “visual with possible GCI radar sighting.”
Source: Dan Wilson, BB files; BB
Date: July 23, 1952
Location: Jamestown, Rhode Island
Time: 7:36 a.m.
Summary: USN radar tracked a high-speed target heading north at 42,000 ft, confirmed by ADC radar at Camp Hero, New York. F-94s and F-86s were scrambled but the intercept was unsuccessful.
Source: McDonald list; Loren Gross, Dan Wilson; BBU
Date: July 23, 1952
Location: Pottstown, Pennsylvania
Time: 8:40 a.m.
Summary: Two-man crews of 3 USAF F-94 jet interceptors saw a large silver object, shaped like a long pear with 2-3 squares beneath it, flying at 150-180 knots (170-210 mph), while a smaller object, delta-shaped or swept-back, flew around it at 1,000-1,500 knots (1,150-1,700 mph). [Full Report]
Source: Berliner; BBU 1554
Date: July 23, 1952
Location: Altoona, Pennsylvania
Time: 12:50 p.m.
Summary: Two-man crews of 2 USAF F-94 jet interceptors at 35,000-46,000 ft altitude saw 3 cylindrical objects in a vertical stack formation, flying at an altitude of 50,000-80,000 ft. 20 minutes.
Source: Berliner; BBU 1567
Date: July 23, 1952
Location: Long Beach, California
Time: 1:50 p.m.
Summary: A witness named Collinson, at the Naval Shipyard, observed an orange-red, oval-elliptical object overhead moving at high speed. At an estimated altitude of 4,000 ft, it made a zigzag maneuver and was visible for about 16 seconds, appearing as large as a nickel held at arm’s length.
Source: Blue Book files, Dan Wilson; BB
Date: July 23, 1952
Location: East of Misawa AFB, Japan
Time: 8:20 p.m.
Summary: A USAF pilot flying an F-94 jet fighter chased a blue-green fireball.
Source: Weinstein; BBU
Date: July 23, 1952
Location: Alexandria, Virginia
Time: 9:00 p.m.
Summary: A red object, size undetermined, was seen southwest of Alexandria, Virginia. It hovered for 10 minutes, then disappeared to the west at high speed. Witnesses were a county policeman, two airmen, and a civilian. Note: the “Alvin Moore fragment” is later said to have been found at Vienna, Virginia (WNW of Alexandria) — the object here was last seen moving west, toward that location.
Source: Blue Book documents
Date: July 23, 1952
Location: Near Washington, D.C.
Time: 9:00 p.m.
Summary: Wilbert Smith (Canadian Project Magnet) stated that a UFO fragment had been recovered near Washington after an Air Force jet fired on the object — the “Alvin Moore fragment.” Smith said he was told the disk was glowing, about 2 feet in diameter; a glowing chunk broke off and the pilot watched it glow all the way to the ground, where a ground party recovered it, still glowing, about an hour later. This is the same claim recorded earlier in this archive under the general date “July 1952” — this entry provides the more specific date and time given in this part of the source.
Source: Need to Know: UFOs, the Military, and Intelligence, Timothy Good
Date: July 23, 1952
Location: Norfolk, Massachusetts
Time: 9:05 p.m. EDT
Summary: Prison guards at the Norfolk Prison Colony saw a slow-moving, greenish, round, flat object moving south at low altitude. It appeared to be tilted and was followed by a loud rushing noise. 2 to 5 seconds.
Source: Project Blue Book record card
Date: July 23, 1952
Location: Near Springfield, Ohio
Time: Between 8:05 and 10:15 p.m.
Summary: Two lights, described by some as white globes, were seen high in the sky. Jet aircraft were seen investigating, later confirmed as the 97th Fighter Squadron scrambling some of its planes. At 8:05 p.m., Major A. S. Griffin, Base Comptroller’s Office, reported seeing three lights high above Springfield Municipal Airport while at a scout camp near Yellow Springs, Ohio. Watching through field glasses, he saw two jets that appeared to be investigating.
Source: Unknown
Date: July 23, 1952
Location: McDill AFB, Florida
Time: 10:30 p.m. EST
Summary: Many sources sighted an object or objects over the base during the evening. The McDill radar unit called the object or objects definitely aircraft.
Source: Project Blue Book record card
Source Status: a separate McDill AFB radar-visual case dated July 24 appears elsewhere on this page.
Date: July 23, 1952
Location: South Bend, Indiana
Time: 11:35 p.m.
Summary: USAF pilot Capt. H. W. Kloth saw 2 bright, blue-white objects flying together, before the rear one veered off. 9 minutes.
Source: Berliner; BBU 1578
Date: July 23, 1952
Location: Culver City, California
Time: Unknown
Summary: Several aircraft plant employees saw a bright, silvery, elliptical object move northwest, then stop and hover. Two small discs emerged and circled the area before rejoining the “mother ship.” The object then climbed straight up out of sight at tremendous speed.
Source: Unknown
Date: July 23, 1952
Location: Lockbourne AFB, Ohio
Time: Unknown
Summary: This case was investigated by the Office of Special Investigations (OSI). Numerous witnesses observed 4 objects hovering near Lockbourne AFB, Columbus, Ohio. The objects were round and fluorescent white in color. Two F-84 jets were dispatched but were unable to identify the objects. Approximately 90 percent of the base’s personnel observed the objects. Through triangulation, the objects were later determined to be at 75,000 ft altitude.
Source: Unknown
Date: July 23, 1952
Location: Braintree, Massachusetts
Time: Unknown
Summary: No narrative is on record for this report beyond a brief classification note (“Cat 9. G,A,V”).
Source: Unknown
Date: July 24, 1952
Location: Clovis, New Mexico
Time: 9:30 p.m.
Summary: Personnel of the 140th Fighter-Bomber Wing document unidentified flying objects similar to types reported over “Operation Desert Rock” (October 30, 1951), observed by an officer of the wing. Contemporary source commentary notes that by this point the 1952 wave had “reached some kind of a peak, with fantastic sightings happening one after the other,” as Air Defense Command radar detected unknown objects across the United States from July 25 through early August, with jet interceptors repeatedly scrambled to pursue objects that both ground and airborne radar confirmed were exactly where reported.
Source: Unknown
Date: July 24, 1952
Location: MacDill AFB, Florida
Time: 10:45 p.m.
Summary: A USAF pilot and copilot of a bomber with the 364th Bomb Squadron saw a high-speed object over MacDill AFB, tracked by ground radar.
Source: Project 1947; McDonald list; BBU
Date: July 24, 1952
Location: Elmendorf AFB, Alaska
Time: 11:20 p.m. (0820Z, July 25)
Summary: 1st Lt. Jones (pilot) and 2nd Lt. Aubrey M. Brenner (radar observer), flying an F-94 southeast of Talkeetna, Alaska, made radar contact with a target appearing larger than an F-94 at 14,000 yards. Lock-on was achieved with the target moving 40 knots faster than the aircraft. Aircraft speed was increased to 350 knots in a 4,200 ft/minute climb; the target was still pulling away at over 100 knots. After climbing to 18,500 ft, the target appeared to level off and increase speed; the chase was broken off. [Full Report]
Source: Unknown
Date: July 24, 1952
Location: Carson Sink, Nevada
Time: Unknown
Summary: A Carson Sink, Nevada sighting. See the full report for complete case detail. [Full Report]
Source: See full report
Date: July 24, 1952
Location: Travis AFB, California
Time: Unknown
Summary: No narrative is on record for this report.
Source: NARA; BBU 1588
Date: July 24, 1952
Location: Serchio River, Italy
Time: Unknown
Summary: A discoid UFO, roughly 60 ft in diameter, hovered for 10 minutes over the river. The UFO directed a greenish “ray” at a fisherman, who felt an electric shock as the ray struck him. A mysterious stranger with a foreign accent reportedly attempted to intimidate the witness several days later. This case may be connected to the standalone San Pietro a Vico Italy Encounter (dated one day later, July 25) — the possible link is flagged for further research, not confirmed as the same incident.
Source: David Ritchie, The Definitive Guide to Unidentified Flying Objects and Related Phenomena
Date: July 24, 1952
Location: Biggs AFB, Texas
Time: Unknown
Summary: Project Blue Book catalogs a photograph file (File 1586, one photograph) for Biggs AFB, Texas, July 24, 1952.
Source: Project Blue Book photograph file 1586
Date: July 25, 1952
Location: Manassas, Virginia
Time: 12:00 a.m.
Summary: A bright light was observed in the sky east of Manassas by members of the 647th AC&W Squadron; the object was extremely bright and remained in view for approximately 4 hours. Two F-94 pilots from the 148th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron were scrambled to intercept; they sighted the object but estimated its altitude to be far beyond their aircraft’s capability. At least 2 airborne and 11 ground observers in total.
Source: Dan Wilson; BB
Date: July 25, 1952
Location: Kirtland AFB, New Mexico
Time: 12:05 a.m.
Summary: An Air Intelligence Information Report (per AFL 200-5) states Airman 1st Class J. M. Donaldson, standing near the Service Club, saw 8, 9, or 10 bright orange objects flying in a triangular formation with an open wedge. At 30° elevation, north of his position, moving west to east, the objects moved faster than any aircraft he had seen, for 3-4 seconds, with no exhaust or trail. Ceiling unlimited, visibility roughly 50 miles, winds north at 16 mph. Witness reliability considered excellent; listed as Unidentified.
Source: Berliner; BBU 1637
Date: July 25, 1952
Location: Osceola, Wisconsin
Time: Morning
Summary: Numerous unidentified objects were picked up on radar by the 674th AC&W Squadron. Speeds on the radar scope varied between 14,400 and 20,000 knots. There was correlation between these electronic sightings and visual sightings made by pilots of the 109th Fighter Squadron from Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Source: Blue Book files, Dan Wilson; BB; Project Blue Book photograph file 1619 (13 photographs, July 25)
Date: July 25, 1952
Location: Thomaston, Connecticut
Time: 12:30 p.m. EDT
Summary: Two civilian women, riding in a moving automobile, saw a black cigar-shaped object with a “gondola” underneath for four to five minutes.
Source: Project Blue Book record card
Date: July 25, 1952
Location: The Dalles, Oregon
Time: 12:45 p.m. PST
Summary: A forest ranger on a mountaintop watched a white, balloon-shaped object travel upward and out of sight. The object opened and dropped a central object, which later exploded. The card notes a commercial flight in the area at about the same time and a balloon dropped later in the area.
Source: Project Blue Book record card
Date: July 25, 1952
Location: Wilmington, Delaware
Time: Afternoon
Summary: A VA employee saw 2 discs reflecting light while climbing.
Source: BBU
Date: July 25, 1952
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio
Time: 5:30 p.m. EST
Summary: A civilian man saw a circular, blue-silver object about 50 ft in diameter at 20,000 ft, moving at roughly 200 mph to the southwest.
Source: Project Blue Book record card
Date: July 25, 1952
Location: New York, New York (the Bronx)
Time: 10:15 p.m. EDT
Summary: A group of women in the Bronx watched 17 objects appear in an inverted “J” formation for about ten seconds, flying very fast (an estimated 800 mph). The incident was reported by a young girl who painted what she saw. Project Blue Book evaluated it as light refraction.
Source: Project Blue Book record card
Date: July 25, 1952
Location: San Pietro a Vico, Italy
Time: Unknown
Summary: A San Pietro a Vico, Italy encounter. Possibly connected to the July 24 Serchio River, Italy entry above — flagged, not confirmed. See the full report for complete case detail. [Full Report]
Source: See full report
1952: July 26th-31st UFO|UAP & Entity Sightings Archive
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Peak of the Wave and an Official Blue Book Unknown
These four days are the densest stretch of the entire 1952 flap, with radar-visual jet intercepts logged nearly every night across Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Alaska. The Uvalde, Texas case stands apart as one of the small number of cases from this archive still carried today as an official, unresolved Project Blue Book Unknown: a trained aviation professional, a stable, decades-consistent record, and no conventional explanation ever reached. A second Alaska F-94 intercept, at Elmendorf on July 24, closely mirrors the Beluga Lake case from earlier in the week: different crew, same pattern of a target outpacing the interceptor.
The Blue Book cards added for this stretch show the other side of the wave. The McDill AFB radar unit called its night’s objects “definitely aircraft,” the Colorado Springs report was flagged as very incomplete and possibly an aircraft, and the Bronx women’s “J” formation was judged light refraction. The Wilbert Smith fragment claim, noted only as “July 1952” on the Unknown Dates page, appears here at its specific July 23 date.
“One large, round, silver object flew at more than 1,000 mph for 45 seconds, while gyrating.”
— Project Blue Book Unknown Case Files, on the July 22, 1952 Uvalde, Texas case
