Washington Post, Monday, July 28, 1952: "'Saucer' Outran Jet, Pilot Reveals"

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Hat tip, this documentary-style movie, which scared me to pieces when I first saw it some fifty years ago. The incident gets lengthy coverage in the film:

UFO (1956 film)

1952 Washington, D.C. UFO incident

The 1952 Washington, D.C. UFO incident, also known as the Washington flap, the Washington National Airport Sightings, or the Invasion of Washington, was a series of unidentified flying object reports from July 12 to July 29, 1952, over Washington, D.C. The most publicized sightings took place on consecutive weekends, July 19–20 and July 26–27. UFO historian Curtis Peebles called the incident "the climax of the 1952 (UFO) flap" - "Never before or after did Project Blue Book and the Air Force undergo such a tidal wave of (UFO) reports."

Events of July 19–20

At 11:40 p.m. on Saturday, July 19, 1952, Edward Nugent, an air traffic controller at Washington National Airport (today Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport), spotted seven objects on his radar.[3] The objects were located 15 miles (24 km) south-southwest of the city; no known aircraft were in the area and the objects were not following any established flight paths. Nugent's superior, Harry Barnes, a senior air-traffic controller at the airport, watched the objects on Nugent's radarscope. He later wrote:

We knew immediately that a very strange situation existed . . . their movements were completely radical compared to those of ordinary aircraft.

....

On one of National Airport's runways, S.C. Pierman, a Capital Airlines pilot, was waiting in the cockpit of his DC-4 for permission to take off. After spotting what he believed to be a meteor, he was told that the control tower's radar had detected unknown objects closing in on his position. Pierman observed six objects — "white, tailless, fast-moving lights" — over a 14-minute period. Pierman was in radio contact with Barnes during his sighting, and Barnes later related that "each sighting coincided with a pip we could see near his plane. When he reported that the light streaked off at a high speed, it disappeared on our scope."
....

Events of July 26–27

At 8:15 p.m. on Saturday, July 26, 1952, a pilot and stewardess on a National Airlines flight into Washington observed some strange lights above their plane. Within minutes, both radar centers at National Airport, and the radar at Andrews AFB, were tracking more unknown objects. USAF master sergeant Charles E. Cummings visually observed the objects at Andrews, he later said that "these lights did not have the characteristics of shooting stars. There was [sic] no trails . . . they traveled faster than any shooting star I have ever seen."

Meanwhile, Albert M. Chop, the press spokesman for Project Blue Book, arrived at National Airport and, due to security concerns, denied several reporters' requests to photograph the radar screens. He then joined the radar center personnel. By this time (9:30 p.m.) the radar center was picking up unknown objects in every sector. At times the objects traveled slowly; at other times they reversed direction and moved across the radarscope at speeds calculated at up to 7,000 mph (11,250 km/h). At 11:30 p.m., two U.S. Air Force F-94 Starfire jet fighters from New Castle Air Force Base in Delaware arrived over Washington. Captain John McHugo, the flight leader, was vectored towards the radar blips but saw nothing, despite repeated attempts. However, his wingman, Lieutenant William Patterson, did see four white "glows" and chased them. He later said that "I tried to make contact with the bogies below 1,000 feet. I was at my maximum speed...I ceased chasing them because I saw no chance of overtaking them." According to Albert Chop, when ground control asked Patterson "if he saw anything", Patterson replied "'I see them now and they're all around me. What should I do?'...And nobody answered, because we didn't know what to tell him."
....

[3] Carlson, Peter; Carlson, Peter (21 July 2002). "50 Years Ago, Unidentified Flying Objects From Way Beyond the Beltway Seized the Capital's Imagination". Washington Post.

Monday, July 28, 1952:

Flying Saucers Over DC?
7/18/2014 in DC by Patrick Kiger

Even the Alexandria Gazette ran the story. Tuesday, July 29, 1952:

"Eye-witness Story of 'Flying Saucers' Seen Along Alexandria-Clarendon Axis"



I can't leave without posting a picture of a Capital Airlines DC-4.

Capital Airlines Douglas DC-4 NC91069 (c/n 10363)



Most Capital Airlines publicity shots were taken over the capital city. This DC-4 is in the first livery adopted by the airline and is almost identical to that of the Pennsylvania-Central markings. The nice shot below, also from Capital, shows the same machine circa 1951, in the revised livery (most notable change was the emblem) in almost the same area of air space. It was carrying the name "Capitaliner Youngstown". Shortly after PCA was renamed Capital Airlines the company commenced the first cut rate "coach class" service to be introduced in the United States by offering an off peak hours fare of $33.00 from New York to Chicago. DC-4s were used on these "Nighthawk" services. It was to be some four years later before other airlines responded with their own coach fares (lowering the price again by a small margin). This DC-4 was destroyed in an accident whilst operating for a small charter outfit known as Mideastern Airways in 1970.

[sagesnow]

1. Hope they are coming

to rid us of Rump!