Project Blue Book Case File
RED BLUFF, CALIF, August 1952August 1952
Summary
On August 1, 1952, two women at a ground observation post near Red Bluff, California, spotted a round, bluish object traveling south at high speed. The sighting lasted about one minute. The object was described as roughly the size of an automobile headlight and was estimated to be flying at an altitude of 3,000 feet, approximately 4 miles west of the observation post. No sound was reported.
The observers, Mary Barr and Alice Rayecroft, were stationed at a Ground Observer Corps post, a civilian network that helped track aircraft for the Air Force. The weather that day was clear with 30 miles of visibility. Winds at high altitude were recorded, but these details appear in the file without clear connection to the sighting itself.
A United Airlines DC-4 aircraft was in the area at the time and had been spotted shortly before the object appeared. The Air Force's investigation noted this coincidence but found no information available to determine what the object actually was. The case file offers no definitive explanation for the sighting.
The full case file, consisting of 14 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.
Reported location
RED BLUFF, CALIF, August 1952
Date of incident
August 1952
State / country
? / XX
Page count
14 scanned pages
USAF evaluation
unknown
Microfilm
T1206, Roll 13