At sea on (U.S.S. Franklin D. Roosevelt.), September 1952September 1952

On September 20, 1952, at roughly 4:05 p.m., a Metropolitan Sunday Newspapers photographer named Litwin was standing on the flight deck of the U.S.S. Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Navy aircraft carrier participating in NATO maneuvers in the Atlantic. A helicopter pilot stood nearby. Litwin spotted a round object floating several hundred to a thousand feet above the ship, positioned aft (toward the rear). He quickly took three color photographs of the object before it rose rapidly out of sight.

Litwin noted that the ship's weather officer had released a weather balloon at 3:30 p.m., but he did not believe the object he photographed was that balloon. According to his account, the balloon had risen and disappeared into the overcast clouds in about fifty seconds. The object he saw moved differently and behaved in a way that made him think it was something else entirely.

The Air Force sent the three color transparencies to Washington for analysis. An intelligence officer requested information about whether any other ships in the naval formation had released weather balloons around the time of the sighting. The investigation also sought details about a report from RAF officers in the NATO maneuvers who claimed to have seen a silver circular object over Yorkshire on September 22, to determine if the two incidents might be related.

The Air Force's final assessment, found in a message dated November 18, 1952, concluded that the object was probably a weather balloon released shortly before the pictures were taken. The file notes that a 1500-gram aerological balloon with a radar reflector had been launched from the Roosevelt shortly before the photographs were shot. At sea level, the balloon inflated to about five feet in diameter and would have expanded further as it rose. Despite the photographer's initial skepticism about the balloon explanation, Air Force investigators determined that this balloon was the most likely source of the sighting.

The full case file, comprising 15 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.