Symposium on unidentified flying objects: hearings before the Committee on Science and Astronautics, U.S. House of Representatives, Ninetieth Congress, second session, July 29, 1968.

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speed objects over the Cape. On January 1, 1967, in a transoceanic shortwave
broadcast from South Africa, the authenticity of this report was confirmed,
though no additional data beyond what had been cited earlier were presented.
In the six passes, the target's altitude varied between 5,000 and 15,000 ft., and its
closest approach varied between 7 and 10 miles. Speeds were estimated at over
1200 mph, well beyond those of any aircraft operating in that area at that time.
Discussion.—This report, on which the available information is slim, is cited
to indicate that not only visual sightings but also radar sightings of seemingly
unconventional objects appear to comprise a global phenomenon. By and large,
foreign radar sightings are not readily accessible, and not easily cross-checked.
Zigel (Ref. 38) briefly mentions a Russian incident in which both airborne and
ground-based radar tracked an unidentified in the vicinity of Odessa, on April 4,
1966, the ground-based height-finding radar indicating altitudes of well over
100,000 ft. Such reports, without accessory information, are not readily evaluated,
of course.
4. Case 38. Washington, D.C., July 19, 1952
By far the most famous single radar-visual sighting on record is the one which
occurred late in the evening of July 19, and early on July 20,1952, in the vicinity
of Washington, D.C. (Refs. 2, 4, 5, 10, 24, 25). A curiously similar incident oc-
curred just one week later. The official explanation centered around atmospheric
effects on radar and light-propagation. Just before midnight on July 19/20, CAA
radar showed a number of unidentified targets which varied in speed (up to about
800 mph) in a manner inconsistent with conventional aircraft. A number of ex-
perienced CAA radarmen observed these returns, and, at one juncture, com-
patible returns were being received not only at the ARTC radar but also on the
ARS radar in a separate location at Washington National Airport, and on still a
third radar at Andrews AFB. Concurrently, both ground and airborne observers
saw unidentifiable lights in locations matching those of the blips on the ground
radar.
Discussion.—I have interviewed five of the'CAA. personnel involved in this case
and four of the commercial airline pilots involved, I have checked the radiosonde
data against well-known radar propagation relations, and I have studied the CAA
report subsequently published on this event. Only an extremely lengthy discussion
would suffice to present the serious objections to the official explanation that this
complex sighting was a result of anomalous radar propagation and refractive
anomalies of the mirage type. The refractive index gradient, even after making
allowance for instrument lag, was far too low for "ducting" or "trapping" to
occur; and, still more significant, the angular elevations of the visually observed
unknowns lay far too high for radar-ducting under even the most extreme
conditions that have ever been observed in the atmosphere. Some of the pilots,
directed by ground radar to look for any airborne objects, saw them at altitudes
well above their own flight altitudes, and these objects were maneuvering in
wholly unconventional manner. One crew saw one of the unknown luminous
objects shoot straight up, and simultaneously the object's return disappeared
from the ARTC scope being watched by the CAA radar operators. The official
suggestion that the same weak (1.7°C) low-level "inversion" that was blamed for
the radar ducting could produce miraging effects was quantitatively absurd, even
if one overlooks the airline-pilot sightings and deals only with the reported
ground-visual sightings. From the CAA radar operators I interviewed, as well
as from the pilots I talked to about this case, I got the impression that the
propagation-anomaly hypothesis struck them as quite out of the question, then
and now. In fact, CAA senior controller Harry G. Barnes, who told me that the
scope returns from the unknowns.
"were not diffuse, shapeless blobs such as one gets from ground returns under
anomalous propagation"
but were strong, bright pips, said that
"anomalous propagation never entered our heads as an explanation."
Howard S. Conklin, who,like Barnes,is still with FAA, was in the control tower
that night, operating an entirely independent radar (short-range ARS radar). He
told me that what impressed him about the sighting that night was that they were
in radio communication with airlines crewmen who saw unidentified lights in the
air in the same area as unknowns were showing up on his tower radar, while
simultaneously he and Joseph Zacko were viewing the lights themselves from the
tower at the D.C. Airport. James M. Ritchey, who was at the ARTC radar with