THINK ABOUTIT UFO|UAP SIGHTINGS REPORT

1952: Wichita, Kansas, the Blue Light with the Orange Glow

At about 8:25 p.m. on November 12, 1952, Maj. R. L. Wallander, the commander of a B-47 transition section, and A/3c Phipps saw a round blue light with an orange glow trailing behind it near the Kansas National Guard hangar at Wichita Municipal Airport. Phipps described an orange light about three feet across that rose in jerky upward sweeps of roughly 40 feet, pausing 10 to 15 seconds at the top of each.

Capt. Belleman, called out to watch, saw an orange light moving north at great speed and rising. Intelligence called Wallander and Belleman thoroughly reliable and calm, and their accounts mutually corroborative in the main. Two lighted weather balloons had been released from the airport, but the reporting officer noted they did not explain the color, size or apparent hovering.

Date: November 12, 1952

Sighting Time: About 8:25 p.m. CST (0225Z November 13; the teletype gave 0215Z because Maj. Wallander’s watch ran 10 minutes slow)

Day/Night: Night

Location: Wichita Municipal Airport, Kansas, near the Kansas National Guard hangar (3520th Flying Training Squadron)

Urban or Rural: Airport

No. of Entity(‘s): None reported

Entity Type: Not applicable

Entity Description: Not applicable

Hynek Classification: NL (Nocturnal Light)

Duration: 5 to 7 minutes

No. of Object(s): 1

Shape of Object(s): Round, varying in shape

Size of Object(s): About three feet in diameter (A/3c Phipps’s estimate)

Color of Object(s): Blue light with a trailing orange glow (Wallander); orange (Phipps and Belleman)

Distance to Object(s): About a mile away when Wallander saw it, at about 20 degrees elevation

Height & Speed: About 1,400–1,500 feet over the runway center (Phipps); jerky upward sweeps of about 40 feet; hovered about two minutes; left north at great speed, rising

Number of Witnesses: 3 (Maj. Wallander, Capt. Belleman and A/3c Phipps)

Special Features/Characteristics: Jerky upward sweeps with the orange glow strung out behind like a comet’s tail; a two-minute hover; two lighted weather balloons released at the airport that night

Case Status: Blue Book: probably a balloon; the reporting officer noted the balloons did not explain the color, size or hovering

Source: Berliner; Blue Book file (3520th Flying Training Squadron intelligence report, November 20, 1952)

Summary/Description: Three Air Force men at Wichita Municipal Airport saw a blue-and-orange light rise in jerky sweeps, hover for about two minutes and leave north at great speed on November 12, 1952. Lighted weather balloons were nearby; Blue Book concluded probably a balloon.

Related Cases: Other early-November file cases on the November 1st–15th page

DETAILED REPORT

Maj. Wallander, commanding officer of the B-47 Transition Section and a senior pilot with more than 5,000 hours, described a round blue light with an orange glow trailing it. A/3c Phipps described an orange light averaging about three feet across and varying in shape, first seen about 1,400 to 1,500 feet above the center of the runway. It moved in jerky upward sweeps, gaining about 40 feet each time and pausing 10 to 15 seconds at the top of each, with the orange glow strung out behind it like a comet’s tail. It disappeared toward the north after about five minutes.

Wallander saw it slightly later, apparently hovering over the Wichita Municipal Airport terminal building at about 20 degrees elevation, roughly a mile away on a bearing of about 290 degrees. It moved to a position north of the city and hovered about two minutes, at which point it stood about 40 degrees up on a bearing near 350, then moved due north and rose out of sight. Capt. Belleman, who arrived at the last pause, saw an orange light moving north at what appeared to be great speed, at about 50 degrees elevation.

The sighting lasted five to seven minutes. The teletype gave the time as 0215Z, but it was later established that Wallander’s watch was 10 minutes slow, which puts it at about 0225Z on November 13, or about 8:25 p.m. CST on November 12. The report calls Wallander and Belleman thoroughly reliable and calm, says nothing is known of Phipps’s reliability, and notes the three were interrogated separately and their evidence is mutually corroborative in the main.

Two white nylon weather balloons were released on the base, one at the terminal building and one at the south end of the runway, each carrying a small bright white flashlight on a three-foot cord. The reporting officer noted that they did not explain the reported color, size or apparent hovering. Blue Book concluded probably a balloon.

RESEARCHER’S NOTES

Wichita 1952: Balloons That Only Partly Fit

• Date and time correction: The file places the sighting on the evening of November 12 (0225Z November 13), not November 15. A slow watch moved the time to about 8:25 p.m.; the earlier listing’s 7:02 p.m. and November 15 date do not match the report.
• The balloons: Flashlight-lit nylon balloons are a plausible source for a light that rises and pauses, but the reporting officer himself said they did not match the color, size or hovering.
• Witness quality: Wallander is a senior pilot with more than 5,000 hours and the report calls him and Belleman thoroughly reliable and calm, which makes a simple misidentification less likely.
• Differences between witnesses: Wallander saw blue with an orange trail while Phipps and Belleman saw orange. The report treats these as the normal discrepancies in such a case.

Wichita is a case where the official answer is a balloon and the officer who wrote the file noted it did not fully fit. The record holds both.

“Major Wallander and Captain Belleman are both thoroughly reliable and calm.”

— Intelligence report, 3520th Flying Training Squadron, Wichita Municipal Airport, November 20, 1952 (Blue Book file; OCR)