Brooklyn, New YorkDecember 1962

Unidentified

Summary

On December 10, 1962, the ferry Gayhead reported seeing a flashing red light and radar blips near Little Gull Point Light in Long Island Sound, about one mile away and roughly 308 degrees true (northwest). The ferry crew approached the object to investigate, but both the light and the radar signals vanished. A search of the area turned up nothing.

The sighting triggered a flurry of military messages between the Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard, and other commands. A Coast Guard air station in Brooklyn documented the report and launched an investigation. Within hours, the mystery deepened when a submarine, USS Blenny, confirmed it had been operating in the area and using flashing lights. A second submarine, USS Bang (number 385), was also in the vicinity at the same time, returning to base due to weather and darkness.

The Air Force concluded the case by identifying the flashing light and radar signals as coming from one of the two surfaced submarines conducting operations. The case was closed, though the file does not explain why submarine activity produced radar pips that disappeared when the ferry approached, or why initial identification took multiple military messages to establish.

The complete case file, as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below in its 8 pages.

Reported location

Brooklyn, New York

Date of incident

December 1962

State / country

NY / US

Page count

8 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 47

| FE t. 4. E " PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD 4 A 4 1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS | EL i. O Wos Balloon - 10 December 1962 Brooklyn, New York RAL d 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION dda Ah La | E , 0 Was Aircraft 4 seal tidpaneaings i nd Do Lin TE alk AKGround- Visual 0 Ground-Rador a Probably Aircraft E He 11/ 03207 ; 0 Air Visual 0 Air-Intercept Radar D Possibly Aircraft : 5. PHOTOS ‘ - SOURCE O Was Astronomical Eo 0 Yes O Probably Astronomical E. KNe Civilian O Possibly Astronomical ~ | 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE OtherS2archli g In Nic nt Dato for Evaluation | a : 3 O Unknown 1 not reported one flashing light ~ [10 BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS 3 Flashing red light and radar pips Verified flashing light as searc near long island sound. Upon approach light fm one of two submarines ing obJjs disappeared. Second rpt fm returning to base, A Brooklyn shore station of two surfaced 3 submarines. E 0 : E ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52) Eg: : : / 3 ; ‘ ; 4 ¥