FOIA: Washington D.C. Multiple Sightings July 23, 1952

Wash_DC_Jul_19_to_20_1952.pdf
Washington D.C. UFO Sightings July 19 and 23, 1952
Multiple in air sightings of UFOs around the Washington D.C, East Coast areas by pilot and radar observer witnesses.
Document date: 1952-07-23
Department: USAF, 142d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron
Author: 1st Lt. Leslie C. Tripp
Document type: Air Intelligence Information Report
pages: 8

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Archivist's Notes: Good quality scans, few blackouts, official USAF reports, handrawn images, pilot and radar observer witnesses, sightings in Alterra, PA of three stacked unidentified objects. Additional report of a pilot being followed by from West Virginia to Washington, multiple crafts and lights. Additional report of sighting of a brighter than a star object over Burlington, Ohio that hovered and sped away.

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[edit on 2-8-2008 by worldwatcher]

I'm glad to deal with this document as part of the famous Washington UFO wave. Is 1952, time when Washington DC has entered in history for the so called ufo flap. The first three weeks of July (even during April, May and June) skies over Washington DC were filled with numerous unidentified flying objects and the reports from the populace were overwhelming. And the number kept going up as the days went by. The Blue Book list of unexplained observations for 1952 reflects this dramatic increase. There were 3 nights of intense activity over Washington, D.C. On July 19/20, July 26/27 and August 2/3, the skies above the nation's capital were crowded with UFOs darting here and there, over the White House, over the Capitol Building, over the Pentagon.

Our document here deals with a sighting that falls in between this dates. According to the observer (a pilot) on 23 July 1952 at approximately 12.50 (broad day light) above the skies at Altorra were seen three objects at the attitude 50.000-80.000 feet. These objects were stacked above each other where the one in the middle appeared to be moving slowly and horizontally about 30 feet from the position of the others, remaining there for 45 seconds and then turning back to the original position. Their shape was rectangular to cylindrical. These objects were under observation for 20 minutes. They were bright in color and seamed to reflect the sun light. Their diameter was reported to be 80 feet.

The whole sighting was reported by four witness, two pilots respectively 5 and 1 1/2 years of flying experience and two radar observers respectively 1 and 9 of experience. Therefore highly trained observers. There are no photo taken during the sighting due to the fact that the plane cockpit could raise above 45.000 feet in order to get a shoot of the objects but the document containes few schematics from the witness.

Something worth to add about this document: Is part of the Blue Book Project.

This is one of the more interesting documents, as Telos has already explained, and part of the “Washington Flap” or I have also heard it called the “Washington Merry-go-Round”, which is also a 1932 movie of the same name. The first pages of the document are of a report on July 23, 1952 and were not part of this incident. Interesting to be sure, because it was seen by four credible witnesses from an aircraft and each describe three objects in vertical formation and seen for approximately 20 minutes.

The teletype document on page 5 is about the sighting of seven objects, first picked up on radar, on July 19th that behaved beyond the capabilities of known aircraft. The objects moved in random patterns flew over the White house and the Capitol building in Washington DC. Some ground observations were made, but the objects disappeared. This sighting made it to the headlines of the newspapers, which made it so memorable. It was the next weekend that a repeat of the previous weekend where more UFO’s were picked up on radar, and this time jets were scrambled to intercept. The pilots radioed back saying they made visual contact with the objects but they also eventually disappeared.

The last pages of this document are more teletypes of sightings during this period to add to 1952 being named the “Year of the UFO”.

Related ATS thread:
UFOs over DC in 1952, Jets Scrambled

Related Wikipedia Article:
1952 Washington D.C. UFO incident