HISTORICAL

1952 Washington D.C. UFO incident — Multiple radar operators tracked UFOs over the US Capitol over two consecutive weekends. The Air Force scrambled F-94 jets and held the largest UFO press conference in its history.

Over two consecutive weekends in July 1952, multiple unidentified radar returns were tracked over the restricted airspace of Washington, D.C., simultaneously by ground radar at Washington National Airport and Andrews Air Force Base, and visually by airline pilots and military fighter pilots. The "Washington flap" prompted the largest press conference held by the US Air Force since World War II and forced UFO reporting onto the front pages of every major American newspaper. 【Background】 Washington National Airport's radar room observed seven slow-moving radar targets in restricted airspace south of the city beginning around 11:40 p.m. on July 19, 1952. The senior air traffic controller, Edward Nugent, immediately called the chief controller, who joined him at the screen. 【The Encounter】 Andrews AFB radar, located across the Potomac, also picked up the targets. Captain S.C. Pierman of Capital Airlines, on approach to Washington National, was vectored toward one target by air traffic control and visually observed six "bright lights, like falling stars without trails" moving in formation. Air Force F-94 jet interceptors were scrambled but the radar contacts faded as the interceptors arrived. The same pattern recurred the following weekend, July 26-27, with additional aircraft visual sightings. 【Investigation】 The Air Force convened a televised press conference on July 29, 1952, the largest since 1945. Major General John Samford attributed the contacts to "temperature inversion" — anomalous radar returns from heated atmospheric layers. Air Force radar engineers and several civilian meteorologists subsequently rejected the inversion explanation as inconsistent with the speed and behaviour of the targets, which had repeatedly accelerated from a hover to over 7,000 mph between sweeps. 【Modern Assessment】 The Washington flap was the proximate cause of the Robertson Panel — a CIA-sponsored 1953 review of UFO reports that recommended the US government actively discourage public UFO reporting to "minimise the risk of panic." The 1952 case files are core documents in the declassified Project Blue Book archive and are still cited in contemporary academic UAP literature as a case the official explanation has never satisfactorily resolved. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1952_Washington%2C_D.C._UFO_incident

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Source: Wikipedia