Project Blue Book Case File
17 miles S. Fresno, CaliforniaMay 1952
Summary
On the early morning of May 30, 1952, a man driving on Highway 99 about seventeen miles south of Fresno, California spotted an unusual object in the sky at around 0400 (4 a.m.). The object appeared to be a sphere with a bright green body and a yellow tail roughly as long as the object's diameter. The witness watched the object emit bright green flames as it traveled across the sky in an arched path, moving at a speed slower than a typical meteor. The entire sighting lasted about one second before the flames died out and the object disappeared.
The Air Force collected weather data from Hamilton Air Force Base, which showed conditions at the time of the sighting: a ceiling of 25,000 feet, thin and broken clouds, visibility of fifteen miles or better, calm winds, and a temperature of seventy degrees. The investigative report noted that no military or civilian aircraft were known to be in the area at the time. The Air Force also checked with the 84th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron and flight operations at nearby airfields, but found no explanation through those channels.
The case was classified as unidentified by the Air Force. No follow-up interception or identification action was taken. The full case file, consisting of seven pages, is reproduced below as held by the National Archives.
Reported location
17 miles S. Fresno, California
Date of incident
May 1952
State / country
CA / US
Page count
7 scanned pages
USAF evaluation
unidentified
Microfilm
T1206, Roll 10