US EditionThe 1952 UFO Washington Sighting that Upended Decades of Denial
Multiple radar sites and pilots tracked fast-moving objects over Washington, D.C., in July 1952; 701 UFO sightings remain unidentified from Project Blue Book records.
- On July 26, 1952, William L. Patterson, flying at 20,000 feet, was scrambled to intercept radar returns over Washington, D.C., amid two weekends of unknown targets tracked at Washington National Airport and Andrews Air Force Base.
- By 1952, Project Blue Book was logging record reports as newspapers seized on flying-saucer headlines, while U.S. Air Force readiness posture kept pilots airborne against possible Soviet bombers.
- Pilots reported four bright lights 10 miles ahead, with radar targets reversing, hovering, and making sharp turns at Washington National and Andrews, while targets vanished and reappeared.
- Despite Gen. John Samford, Air Force Director of Intelligence, saying `about a 50/50` chance the blips were weather-related, tower personnel and investigators disagreed, and public pressure grew.
- More than 70 years later the Washington Flap remains officially unresolved in Project Blue Book records, with 701 sightings still listed as unknowns while the Department of Defense’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office studies UAPs.
12 Articles
12 Articles
The 1952 UFO Washington sighting that upended decades of denial
For most of the 20th century, unidentified flying objects existed at the edge of American imagination. They were part Cold War anxiety, part science-fiction fantasy, and part misunderstood natural phenomena. But over the last decade, public perception and government policy have shifted dramatically. What were once dismissed as “flying saucer stories” are now officially recognized as Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs) and treated as legitimate …
By Danya Gainor, CNN. The night was warm and humid over New Castle Air Force Base in Delaware, the kind of heat that clung to the metallic skin of the fighter jets lined up along the runway. Lieutenant William L. Patterson of the 142nd Fighter Interceptor Squadron didn't stray far from the flight line as part of the routine pilot readiness in 1952: keep the engines warm, be ready for takeoff in minutes, and be alert to the remote possibility of …
In 1952, DC’s skies were littered with US fighter jets chasing UFOs. More than 70 years later, the mystery persists
The night was warm and muggy over New Castle Air Force Base in Delaware, the kind of heat that clung to the metal skins of the alert fighter jets lined along the runway.
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