Project Blue Book Case File
[ILLEGIBLE], July 1952 - Incident Number: [ILLEGIBLE]July 1952
Summary
On July 27, 1952, Captain Harold B. Kinison was piloting a B-25 bomber from Des Moines to Washington, D.C., flying at 7,300 feet and 220 miles per hour. About ten miles southwest of Columbus, Ohio, he noticed a white light hovering near Columbus at roughly his own altitude. At first the light appeared stationary, but as Kinison's plane drew closer, the object began to climb steeply in what he described as a chandelle maneuver, a sharp climbing turn used in aerobatics. As the climb began, the single light split into two lights of equal size.
The climb lasted only five to ten seconds, after which the object leveled off at an altitude of 10,000 to 15,000 feet and began traveling westward at an estimated speed of 75 to 100 miles per hour. When the object passed near Kinison's aircraft, it appeared to have four flashing lights, two at the top and two at the bottom, blinking alternately. The captain recalled possibly seeing one green light but noted that none of the lights were red. The lights remained visible even after the object had passed the airplane, which convinced him that they could not be standard landing lights of a conventional aircraft.
Kinison was flying with four other officers, all experienced pilots, including a Colonel Watman and Lieutenant Colonel Shockley from the Pentagon, plus a crew chief who also observed the object. All aboard were qualified pilots, and Kinison himself had logged over 3,000 hours of flying time. Despite presenting facts that seemed to contradict it, Kinison stated that he believed the object was an aircraft, though he acknowledged that the evidence did not support that conclusion.
The Air Force officers filed an intelligence report noting that weather conditions at the time included scattered clouds at 36,000 feet and winds from 320 degrees at twenty knots. The report concluded that no meteorological activity could account for the object and that it was definitely not a star or balloon. The case file shows an USAF evaluation of "unknown." The complete case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, comprising 8 scanned pages.
Reported location
[ILLEGIBLE], July 1952 - Incident Number: [ILLEGIBLE]
Date of incident
July 1952
State / country
? / XX
Page count
8 scanned pages
USAF evaluation
unknown
Microfilm
T1206, Roll 13