DETROIT, MICHIGANAugust 1952

On the morning of August 7, 1952, at 12:05 a.m., a Detroit resident named Whitcomb spotted an unusual object in the sky over northern Michigan. The object appeared to be roughly the size of a bright star, white in color, with occasional flickers of red. The witness observed it from the ground without any optical aid.

For fifteen to twenty minutes, the object seemed to hang motionless in the sky. The witness estimated its speed at around one hundred to one hundred fifty miles per hour, but noted the object's apparent stillness during most of the observation. After about thirty-three minutes of viewing, which lasted from 12:05 a.m. to 12:38 a.m., the object drifted toward the north-northwest and disappeared from sight. The observer noted no sound or exhaust coming from the object. Weather conditions were clear, with fifteen-mile visibility and light winds from the northeast.

The Air Force investigated the sighting and found that two military jets had taken off from the area near Selfridge Air Force Base at 11:56 p.m. the previous evening, though their position made them unlikely candidates for the sighting. Detroit Municipal Airport was also in the vicinity. Despite these details, the Air Force could not determine what the witness had seen. The case file notes insufficient data for a definitive evaluation, though the initial assessment favored the "probably balloon" conclusion. A weather balloon with a five-hundred-gram capacity was launched in the region around the time of the sighting, according to records from the Oakland, California Weather Bureau. The full case file of 22 pages is reproduced below as held by the National Archives.