Project Blue Book Case File
[ILLEGIBLE], June 1952June 1952
Summary
On a June day in 1952, T/Sergeant Howard Davis, a flight engineer aboard a B-29 bomber, observed an unusual object while flying over South Texas. The aircraft was cruising at 8,000 feet near Kelly Air Force Base when Davis spotted something out the right window. He saw an object traveling at extreme speed, about 500 feet away. The object had a dark blue center surrounded by a white glow with orange flames around the edges. Davis estimated it was about three feet in diameter and roughly three and a half feet long. Sparks and streaks of light trailed behind it. The object descended rapidly from above the aircraft toward the ground and vanished from sight in less than a second.
Davis described the object's appearance in detail. Its main body glowed like a welding flame. He noticed a trail of sparks about three feet behind the object. The object seemed to be made of an undeterminable material and appeared flattened. He estimated its speed at around 500 miles per hour, which he compared to a rifle bullet fired from a long-range rifle. No sound accompanied the sighting. The sky below showed broken cumulus clouds at 5,000 feet with about eight-tenths coverage.
After Davis alerted the pilot and crew, the aircraft made a 360-degree turn to search for the object, but it had already disappeared. No other aircraft were reported in the area at the time. The Air Force could find no meteorological or other known conditions to explain the sighting. The case file runs 117 pages as held by the National Archives.
Reported location
[ILLEGIBLE], June 1952
Date of incident
June 1952
State / country
? / XX
Page count
117 scanned pages
USAF evaluation
unknown
Microfilm
T1206, Roll 10