Hickem AFB, HawaiiAugust 1952

On August 17, 1952, four witnesses at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii saw a shiny metallic object hovering overhead in the middle of the day. The sighting lasted about 10 minutes and occurred at 1715 local time (5:15 p.m.).

The object moved through an estimated 20 to 25 degrees of arc (a measure of how far across the sky it traveled) in 10 minutes, heading west-southwest. It hovered momentarily, then disappeared behind clouds. The witnesses included one civilian and three others. Wind conditions at the time were from the east-northeast at 12 to 8 knots (a measure of air speed). The area had three scattered cloud layers at 3,000 feet, 5,500 feet, and 25,000 feet.

The investigation included a check for weather balloons. Meteorological balloons had been released at Pearl Harbor and at Barbers Point Naval Air Station at 1700 (5 p.m.) on the same day. This timing and location were examined to see if the object might have been a balloon, but the file does not clearly state a final conclusion. A worksheet in the case indicates the source of the report was rated as "good," but the evaluation boxes for what the object actually was remain unclear in the OCR text.

The case was prepared by Captain Mervin M. Taylor of the 94th Air Intelligence Squadron at George Air Force Base, California, and filed on August 22, 1952. The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, comprising 7 scanned pages.