Landmark case · 1952Washington, D.C., USA
Washington D.C. Radar Sightings
July 19–20 and 26–27, 1952
Over two consecutive weekends, radar operators and pilots reported unidentified returns and lights over the Washington, D.C. area.
Primary source · U.S. National ArchivesProject Blue Book — U.S. Air Force UFO investigation recordsOpen ↗What is on the record
- On the nights of July 19–20 and 26–27, 1952, controllers at Washington National Airport and Andrews Air Force Base tracked unexplained radar returns.
- Some airline pilots and observers reported seeing lights in the same period.
- The U.S. Air Force held a large press conference on July 29, 1952 to address the reports.
- The events were recorded and evaluated within Project Blue Book.
The ordinary explanation / open question
Air Force analysts attributed most of the radar returns to a temperature inversion (anomalous propagation) bending signals from ground objects; some witnesses and researchers considered that explanation incomplete.
Documented in Project Blue BookView the location on the atlas map →
Sources
A documented event, presented with sources — not a claim about its cause. Where a mundane explanation exists it is noted above; where the record is genuinely open, that is said plainly.