Milton, Mass, April 1952April 1952

On April 24, 1952, a civilian electronics scientist working at a radar facility near Milton, Massachusetts observed two objects flying in a wobbly, undulating pattern. The observer was standing on top of a tower at the Great Blue Hill installation when the objects first appeared in the northwest direction, roughly two miles away, at about 1430 (2:30 p.m.). Both objects were dark red or orange, flat and square in shape. The observer watched them rise rapidly for about 4,000 feet, then level off and fly in an unsteady horizontal path for four to six miles, before climbing again at an undetermined angle and disappearing from view. The total observation lasted roughly one and one-half to two minutes.

The observer used a standard battery commander's telescope mounted on a stand with wheels to track the objects. He stated definitively that the objects were not kites, birds, large pieces of paper, or any aircraft he knew of. A radar system in the tower was inoperative at the time of the sighting. A fellow employee confirmed the sighting. The observer reported that his account was not influenced by anything he had read about unknown objects, and he filed the report with the Air Force for whatever intelligence value it might have.

A second sighting occurred the same day and was also observed from the Great Blue Hill installation around 1420 to 1445 hours. This sighting involved two similar objects described as dark orange or red, with flat, flexible, square-like shapes. They traveled with a wobbly, undulating motion for four to six miles and passed out of sight naturally due to distance.

The Air Force evaluated the case as "probably balloon." The file states no conclusive explanation was found in the available evidence. The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, consisting of 8 scanned pages.