selected ufo cases
All Cases: Sorted by Oldest First
The Bethune / Gandor Air Encounter
February, 10, 1951 - Gandor, Newfoundland, Canada
US Naval Reserve Lieutenant Graham Bethune, copilot of Flight 125, first sighted a huge object [at least] 300 feet in diameter on a near collision course with their aircraft. "A rough estimate would be at least 300 feet in diameter, over 1,000 miles per hour in speed, and approached to within 5 miles of the aircraft." View full report
Source: Disclosure Project / NICAP website / ufologien.net ID: 980
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Pilot/Aircrew, Military, Radar, Witness Photo, Witness Sketch
Cigar-shaped UFO over Mt. Kilimanjaro witnessed by pilot and passengers
February, 19, 1951 - Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
In 1951 a huge cigar-shaped UFO, which hovered over the famous Mt. Kilimanjaro, was photographed from an East African Airways plane flying in the vicinity, and witnessed by the crew and passengers. After remaining motionless for a considerable period of time, the object suddenly climbed steeply and disappeared. The movie film was developed and reportedly showed a clear and sizeable image of the object, according to the Natal Mercury. View full report
Source: NICAP / Richard Hall, 1964 (citing Nairobi Sunday Post, Feb. 25, 1951) ID: 648
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Pilot/Aircrew, Group Sighting
Squadron of Discs Over Atomic Test Site
October, 1951 - Nellis Air Force Base, Yucca Flat, Nevada, United States
Formation of 18 silvery, rotating, disc-shaped objects, each one with a dome, come down over a nuclear test site, hover for 10 to 15 minutes, and then depart, at an angle, vanishing out of sight in seconds." View full report
Source: NICAP, Walter Webb ID: 35
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Military, Nuclear Facility
F-86 intercepts and shoots at saucer-shaped UFO
1952 - United States
In the summer of 1952 a United States Air Force F-86 jet interceptor shot at a flying saucer. This fact, like so many others that make up the full flying saucer story has never before been told... The object was definitely round and flat saucer shaped. The pilot described it as being "like a doughnut without a hole." View full report
Source: Captain Edward J. Ruppelt, 'The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects' (Credit: NICAP.org) ID: 1024
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Pilot/Aircrew, Military, Radar
Puerto Maldonado Photograph (Cigar-shaped object with trail photographed in Argentina)
1952 - Puerto Maldonado, Peru
On July 19, 1952, the attention of Customs Inspector Sr. Domingo Troncoso was called to a very strange cigar-shaped flying object over the river area. The big dirigible-shaped craft was flying horizontally and fairly low in the sky, passing from right to left from the observers position. It was leaving a dense trail of thick smoke, vapor, or substance on its wake. The object was estimated to be over a hundred feet long. View full report
Source: Wendelle Stevens / B.J. Booth / Mark Cashman ID: 876
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Photo, E-M Effects
Several groups of UFOs fly over witnesses in Flint, Michigan
April, 20, 1952 - Flint, Michigan, United States
A naval aviation student, his wife, and several others were at a drive-in movie, during which time they saw several groups of objects fly over. There were from two to nine objects in a group and there were about 20 groups. The objects were shaped like conventional aircraft. The unaccountable feature of the objects was that each had a red glow surrounding it and was glowing itself, although it was a cloudless night. View full report
Source: U.S. Air Force Project Blue Book Special Report #14 (Battelle Institute Study), 1955 ID: 671
Case Type: SummaryReport Features: Multiple UFOs, Group Sighting
Scientist Reports Sighting Disc
April, 25, 1952 - San Jose, California, United States
Directly over a building across the street was a small, metallic-looking disc, tilted at about a 20 degree angle and rotating around a vertical axis, wobbling "like the motion of a disc in a water meter". The distance was estimated to be about 50 ft, and the disc appeared to be 4-5 feet in diameter View full report
Source: NICAP, Dr. James McDonald ID: 34
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Scientist/Engineer
Canadian Naval Officer Has Close Encounter In Hawaiian Waters, 1952
May, 1952 - Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, United States
From the witness: "Suddenly one of these objects appeared at close range on our port bow at a low elevation. It was disc shaped and consisted of a very bright light with black windows running around the whole side which was visible to us. It maintained perfect station on us for at least fifteen minutes. I scanned the object with binoculars attempting to see into the windows but saw nothing." View full report
Source: Gavin McLeod, UFO*BC, 3-6-98 (credit: Rense.com) ID: 1078
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Portholes/Windows, Military, Silent, Water-Related
Engineer and others observe manuevering object in California
May, 13, 1952 - National City, California, United States
From the witness: "To the naked eye the object appeared as a sphere of about 1/16 inch diameter... Through the [6 power] telescope the object presented a larger disc but the brightness did not appreciably increase... In level flight the object seemed to dart from side to side in an oscillating motion without diminishing of forward speed...Its dive from an extreme altitude at possibly meteoric speed, its deceleration, leveling off, and circle of the city twice indicate that it arrived from interplanetary space and was under intelligent control." View full report
Source: Richard Hall, UFO Evidence, 1964 (NICAP - National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomenon) ID: 1097
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Group Sighting, Scientist/Engineer, Silent
UFO with occupants encountered by former mayor in Hasselbach, Germany
July, 9, 1952 - Hasselbach, Germany
Oscar Linke, former Wehrmacht major, and his daughter Gabrielle, 11, had to leave their motorcycle when they had a flat tire. Inside the woods the girl noticed two men in silvery suits examining the ground in a clearing near a pink disk-shaped object, 13-15 meters in diameter, showing a double row of openings around the rim and a black turret on top. One of the men had a flashing box. Both men went inside, and the disk vibrated, rose along the turretlike cylinder, then spun faster and rose out of sight. View full report
Source: Kathimerini newspaper (Athens, Greece), 1952, found in declassfied CIA files ID: 715
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Humanoid/Occupant, Landing, Portholes/Windows, Humming, Physical Trace
The Nash-Fortenberry Sighting (aircraft encounter with formation of UFOs)
July, 14, 1952 - Virginia, United States
A Pan American World Airways DC-4 was on a routine flight from New York to Miami. The crew included Captain Koepke, First Officer William B. Nash and Second Officer William H. Fortenberry. Suddenly, they noticed six bright objects in echelon formation streaking toward them at tremendous speed. They had the fiery aspect of hot coals, but of much greater glow. View full report
Source: Tom Tulien, Sign Historical Group ID: 92
Case Type: MajorCase Features: Pilot/Aircrew, Witness Photo, Multiple UFOs
Lac Chauvet UFO Photos
July, 18, 1952 - Lac Chauvet, France
Andre Fregnale, an engineer and photographer, walked around France's Lake Chauvet taking pictures of a UFO that came out of the Northwest sky. The photographs have been scrutinized by many experts and all have found them to be real shots of a real UFO. View full report
Source: STUDIOVNI ID: 256
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Photo
UFO seen at close range with appearance of occupant aboard
August, 1952 - Seat Pleasant, Maryland, United States
Sometime in August, 1952 (the exact date cannot be recalled) during the major UFO sighting wave of that year, Mrs. Suzanne E. Knight, a young housewife and mother, saw a UFO at close range with what appeared to be an occupant aboard. The UFO appeared to Mrs. Knight to resemble the wingless fuselage of a plane and was dull silver in color. View full report
Source: NICAP (National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomenon), ID: 557
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Humanoid/Occupant, Portholes/Windows
The Haneda AFB case, Japan, 1952
August, 5, 1952 - Haneda US Air Force Base , Near Tokyo, Japan, Japan
This is one of the cases that the Colorado Project has considered "explained" - a star and an anomalous radar propagation. Not so. On the contrary, as a careful study of the records shows, it is a very interesting case of anomalous flying objects in the sky who fly under intelligent control and cannot be of human origin. View full report
Source: UFOs at Close Sight (Patrick Gross) ID: 10
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Radar, Military
Two disc-shaped UFOs seen by marine engineer in Holland
August, 7, 1952 - Kerkrade, Netherlands
On the night of August 6-7, 1952, Will Jansen, a marine engineer and designer, was visiting in Kerkrade, Holland. Just after midnight a disc-shaped craft with visible superstructure swooped down to low altitude, hovered, zigzagged and sped away. A second disc-shaped UFO, similar in outline, was then seen hovering farther away. Finally it tilted up vertically and shot up out of sight. View full report
Source: NICAP / Richard Hall, 1964 (from letter to CSI of Los Angeles) ID: 647
Case Type: SummaryReport Features: Scientist/Engineer, Multiple UFOs
'Figures' seen through windows of oval-shaped object
August, 25, 1952 - Pittsburg, Kansas, United States
Among those cases declared Unidentified by the Air Force which are reported to involve alleged occupants is a sighting by William Squyres. He described the object as resembling two turtle shells placed edge to edge. Along the rim where the two halves joined he noticed a series of small propellers six to twelve inches in diameter projecting outward all the way around the object. View full report
Source: NICAP (National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomenon), ID: 556
Case Type: StandardCase Features: Humanoid/Occupant, Physical Trace, Portholes/Windows
