Holloman AFB, New MexicoAugust 1952

Unidentified

Summary

On August 25, 1952, two civilian employees at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico saw an unusual object in the sky. The men, Fred Lee (a utilities supervisor with six years at the base) and Lawrence A. Aguilar (an electrical foreman with ten years there), spotted it from a road on the base at around 1540 (2:40 p.m.). The sighting lasted three to five minutes.

The object was round and silver in color, reflecting sunlight. It made no sound and showed no sign of exhaust or a propulsion system. The men watched it move in an unusual way. It headed south at first, then made a complete 360-degree turn and headed north. It climbed into a cloud, broke through the other side, made another complete 360-degree turn, and then climbed almost straight up and vanished. The observers said the object moved faster than any jet aircraft they knew of.

The Air Force checked with local radar operators at Land-Air, Inc., a contractor facility on the base. The radar equipment there was being shut down at the time of the sighting, so no radar confirmation was possible. The Air Force also logged aircraft movements in the area that afternoon and reviewed weather data, which showed scattered clouds and good visibility. Because it was a weather observation day, a 750-gram weather balloon (called a rawinsonde, used to measure atmospheric conditions) had been launched at 1400 (2:00 p.m.) and climbed to 90,000 feet over 72 minutes. The file notes that when a balloon parachutes down after bursting, observers might see a parachute, instruments, and balloon scraps.

Despite the investigation, the Air Force concluded the object was unidentified. The full case file, eight pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.

Reported location

Holloman AFB, New Mexico

Date of incident

August 1952

State / country

NM / US

Page count

8 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 14

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 8

View transcribed text

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i PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD
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i. DATE ( LOCATION | ( 12. CONCLUSIONS
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NS Pegrasmds 2P fi > " -. - ae N ia : Fol :
ma AAP ori 28, ! a0lloman AFD, LW +2X1CO OU Nos Bolloon :
3 Predably Balloon :
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3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4 TYPE OF OBSERVATION bog 8 cir fe Frese ts :
Local -— HS EE oiicae 32 Ground-Visual 2 Ground-Radar od dor Aircraft 4 ’
<1 Peapably Arrerafe )
" b 8 Possibly Avereh
A TR se Cr Sg A SYLAR SIA C Ar Visa! OO Avecintercont Radar 3 Pasably Arerais |
5. PHOTOS 6. SOURCE™ #0 Rio CRM SR GR. ST PR (ATR ARaR |
{i Yes : forenan OJ Preboniy Astronontcal :
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7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION ' 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS 9. CRURSF ww Other sR AREER ; :
CO dnsutficrent Data Sgr Evaiuation |
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16. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS
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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28949054