Washington, D.C. UFO flap

Shortly before midnight on July 19, 1952. Controllers at Washington National Airport picked up seven unidentified targets on radar southwest of the city. Senior controller Harry Barnes watched them move at 100-130 mph. Then they accelerated abruptly. Andrews Air Force Base radar and a tower operator saw corresponding returns and lights. Airline pilots reported bright lights that moved in ways they had never seen. Two F-94 interceptors from New Castle AFB arrived after delays. The objects disappeared from radar while the jets searched. They reappeared after the jets left.

On July 26-27 the pattern repeated. More targets. More observers. This time reporters were present. An F-94 pilot, Lt. William Patterson, reported being surrounded by lights that closed in on his aircraft before departing.

The events dominated front pages and reportedly alarmed President Truman. On July 29 Major General John Samford held a press conference. He attributed the radar returns to temperature inversions and the visual lights to stars and meteors. Project Blue Book head Edward Ruppelt later wrote that the explanation did not satisfy him. The controllers insisted the returns were solid.

The flap contributed to the CIA convening the Robertson Panel in January 1953, which recommended debunking UFO reports to reduce public interest. The case is one of the strongest radar-visual cases on record. Critics note that 1952 radar was prone to inversion clutter, and that the visual reports were of lights rather than structured objects.