Near Allentown, Pennsylvania, September 13, 1952, about 7:40 p.m.
THINK ABOUTIT UFO|UAP SIGHTINGS REPORT
1952: Allentown, Pennsylvania, the Hobler Collision Course
At about 7:40 p.m. on September 13, 1952, private pilot W. A. Hobler, an inactive Air Force Reserve captain flying alone at 10,000 feet in a Beechcraft Bonanza near Allentown, Pennsylvania, saw a flaming orange-red object shaped like a fat football come down at him on a collision course from his 11 o’clock high position. He climbed sharply. The object pulled up in a 65-degree climb right in front of his aircraft and moved off in the opposite direction.
Hobler estimated its speed at roughly 700 mph and saw it for about 15 seconds. He hesitated to report it, and did so only after reading a newspaper clipping about other people seeing something similar nearby. Blue Book commented that the brevity and description fit a meteor, but that the object’s change of direction was inconsistent with that theory.
Date: September 13, 1952
Sighting Time: About 7:40 p.m.
Day/Night: Night (dusk)
Location: Near Allentown, Pennsylvania, in flight toward Caldwell-Wright Airport
Urban or Rural: In the air over mixed countryside
No. of Entity(‘s): None reported
Entity Type: Not applicable
Entity Description: Not applicable
Hynek Classification: NL (Nocturnal Light)
Duration: About 15 seconds (the pilot also says he saw it for not more than two seconds at the closest approach)
No. of Object(s): 1
Description of the Object(s): A flaming orange-red football-shaped object that descended at about 30 degrees on a collision course, then pulled up in a 65-degree climb in front of the aircraft and reversed course
Shape of Object(s): Fat football
Size of Object(s): About 3 feet
Color of Object(s): Flaming orange-red
Distance to Object(s): About 450–600 feet at first sighting
Height & Speed: At about 10,000 feet; estimated about 700 mph
Number of Witnesses: 1 (the pilot)
Special Features/Characteristics: Apparent collision course; abrupt pull-up and reversal of direction; the pilot made a rapid 180-degree turn but lost sight of it; a newspaper clipping of a related Morristown, New Jersey sighting prompted his report
Case Status: Unexplained (Blue Book card: Unknown; comment says a meteor does not fit the change of direction)
Source: Berliner; NARCAP; Blue Book file (BBU 2085; OSI Air Intelligence Information Report, October 1952)
Summary/Description: A private pilot at 10,000 feet near Allentown saw a flaming orange-red football-shaped object dive at him, pull up in a 65-degree climb and reverse direction at an estimated 700 mph. Blue Book listed it as Unknown.
Related Cases: the September 12–13 Morristown, New Jersey flaming-object reports on the September 1st–16th page
DETAILED REPORT
Hobler’s own letter to the Commanding General, First Air Force, Mitchel AFB, dated September 23, 1952, is quoted in the OSI report. He wrote that he would probably not have reported it had he not seen a newspaper clipping, since others near where he saw the phenomenon had seen the same thing. He was flying alone at 10,000 feet from Allentown, Pennsylvania, toward the Caldwell-Wright airport in a Beechcraft Bonanza when the object appeared about 11 o’clock high, flaming orange-red, shaped like a football, and descended at about a 30-degree angle on a collision course.
He climbed sharply, and the object pulled up and passed in front of his aircraft in a 65-degree climb, moving in the opposite direction from his course. He made a rapid 180-degree turn but could not find it again, and he estimated its speed at about 700 mph. He called the way it altered course “astonishing.”
The OSI report attaches the Newark Evening News report of September 13, 1952, “Flying Saucer Seen in Morris…,” in which six persons described a flaming red ball with a tail hovering at about 1,000 feet for 20 minutes. The Blue Book record card lists the object as Unknown and carries the comment that the description fits a meteor but the change of direction does not.
RESEARCHER’S NOTES
Allentown 1952: A Pilot, a Collision Course and a Meteor That Turned
- Witness quality: A rated private pilot and Air Force Reserve captain, flying alone with a clear view, wrote his own account. He is a careful witness who admits he nearly did not report it.
- The meteor question: A fast meteor can fit the brightness, color and brevity. Blue Book’s own comment shows why it was left unresolved: a meteor does not pull up and reverse direction.
- Related reports: The attached Morristown clipping describes a flaming red ball with a tail a night earlier. The archive lists it separately because it is a different location and observers.
- Estimates: The 450–600 foot distance and 700 mph speed are the pilot’s estimates, not measurements.
Allentown is a short close-range encounter reported by a careful pilot, and Blue Book left it Unknown because its own meteor suggestion did not fit what the pilot saw.
