Hermanas, New MexicoAugust 1952

On August 24, 1952, Colonel Gerald W. Johnson was piloting an F-84G jet aircraft from California to Georgia when he spotted something unusual near Hermanas, New Mexico. Flying at about 250 miles per hour at an altitude of 35,000 feet, he observed two round, silvery objects roughly six feet in diameter about two miles away. The objects appeared between ten and eleven o'clock relative to his position and were traveling east.

During the three-minute sighting, Johnson watched the objects maneuver in ways that caught his attention. One object made a sharp right turn and seemed to change shape, becoming elongated and gray instead of round and silver. The second object accelerated rapidly and also appeared to shift from a round shape to an elongated gray form roughly twice as long as it had been. Neither object left a trail or exhaust, and there was no visible propulsion system. After about three minutes, both objects disappeared from view.

About seven minutes later, when Johnson was over El Paso, Texas, he saw two similar objects again in roughly the same area where the first pair had vanished. One climbed straight up about 2,000 to 3,000 feet before the second one joined it in close formation. The objects eventually faded from sight as they climbed higher.

Johnson reported the incident to the Air Force and emphasized that the objects moved far faster than any aircraft he knew of. The Air Force Technical Intelligence Center investigated by checking with nearby military bases and weather stations. Investigators confirmed that White Sands and El Paso had released weather balloons that morning at 8:00 a.m., and those balloons had traveled southeast and burst before the reported sighting. However, no single recorded balloon could account for all the details Johnson described. An intelligence officer also noted that the way the objects changed shape, reflected sunlight differently to appear gray rather than silver, and moved rapidly into new wind streams was consistent with balloon behavior.

Investigators concluded the sightings were unidentified, even though the behavior and characteristics suggested weather balloons remained the most probable explanation. The full case file, comprising 34 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.