ATLANTIC CITY N J, October 1952October 1952

On the evening of October 12, 1952, two Air Force officers flying an F-94B fighter jet spotted a brilliant white light off the coast of New Jersey. The pilots were on combat air patrol about 25 miles north of Atlantic City when they spotted the object at roughly 2 o'clock high in the sky, meaning off to their right side and above them. They were flying at 20,000 feet when they first saw it. The object was far brighter than any star in the area, which is why they initially dismissed the idea that it was a star. They soon realized the object seemed to be losing altitude, so they called the ground control station to ask if anyone was tracking it on radar.

The ground radar station reported a faint contact in the area and vectored the aircraft toward it on a heading of 080 degrees. The object appeared to be several miles away and about 20 to 30 degrees above the aircraft. As the F-94B flew toward the light at a speed of 250 knots, the object gradually moved to the right and climbed higher in the sky, reaching a position about 40 to 45 degrees above the pilots. At first, both the pilot and radar observer thought they might be chasing an aircraft with its landing lights on from a great distance. But after flying toward it for about 10 minutes, both men agreed the object looked circular or egg-shaped. It had what appeared to be a midwing with roughly 30 to 40 degrees of dihedral, meaning the wings angled upward from the fuselage. Below this circular section was a tall or cone-shaped section that glowed the same brilliant white as the rest of the object. This cone seemed to grow and shrink in size. The pilots likened the overall shape to an F-86 fighter aircraft standing on its nose, except the object was more oblong or egg-shaped than the streamlined fuselage of a real jet.

Throughout the sighting, which lasted about 20 minutes total, the observers noticed no exhaust, propulsion method, contrail, or sound. The entire object simply glowed with a steady white light. The object showed no indication of violent maneuvers, only gradual changes in position and altitude. The aircraft's own radar could not pick up the object, though the ground radar station maintained its faint contact. After about 10 minutes of pursuit, the aircraft could not get any closer to the object. The ground controller eventually lost the radar contact, and the F-94B was directed to return to its home base.

The two officers were experienced pilots. The pilot, Second Lieutenant Robert Sonnett, had logged 500 hours of flying time and nearly two years of experience. The radar observer, Second Lieutenant James W. Wallace, had 150 hours of observer time, plus additional naval aviation training. The weather at the time included limited ceiling and visibility with slight ground haze. A temperature of minus 15 degrees Celsius was recorded at 20,000 feet. The Air Force concluded in its evaluation that the object was "unknown," though some sections of the file note possibilities including balloon, aircraft, and astronomical phenomena without committing to a final explanation.

The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives and comprises 8 pages of scanned documents.