E. LONG ISLAND, NEW YORKJanuary 1952

Unidentified

Summary

# Green Flash Over Long Island

On January 17, 1952, a civilian observer in Flushing, New York, on the eastern end of Long Island, witnessed an unusual aerial phenomenon that he documented with detailed written accounts and sketches.

The observer reported seeing a bright light traveling on a horizontal course. As it approached his position, the light appeared to grow brighter and change speed. The object then veered to a new direction while displaying blue and white colors mixed with orange light. According to the description in the case file, the light began to "bloom" and produced a visual display of what the witness called "large green flashing" before it finally disappeared. The entire episode from first sighting to final disappearance lasted approximately 55 seconds.

The witness, identified as Charles Karlik, submitted multiple letters to the Air Force in February and March 1952, including diagrams attempting to show the object's movements and appearance. In his diagrams, Karlik sketched what appeared to be a crescent-shaped object with a dark body and a bright component, and he included theories about what he had seen. He noted that the display bore some resemblance to a flying saucer or a missile with various colored light displays, though the exact nature of the object remained unclear to him.

The Air Force Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base received Karlik's correspondence and forwarded it through official channels for analysis and retention. The file indicates the case was treated as an unidentified aerial phenomenon worthy of technical intelligence review, though the OCR text does not clearly show a final determination or explanation.

The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives across 16 pages.

Reported location

E. LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK

Date of incident

January 1952

State / country

NY / US

Page count

16 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 9

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