Sacramento, Calif., August 1952August 1952

On the night of August 26, 1952, a man who worked in intelligence for the U.S. Air Force was returning from a late movie in Sacramento, California. As he walked through a parking lot near the Gibson Bus Line Terminal, a friend pointed up at the sky toward the north. Looking in that direction, he saw three orange-colored objects, each about the size of a grapefruit, flying in a "V" formation at extremely high altitude and traveling very fast. There was no sound or exhaust from the objects.

As he watched, the object on the right seemed to bank or turn toward the object on the left. At about the point where they might have collided, all three objects faded out and disappeared. The entire sighting lasted approximately four seconds. The observer reported the objects traveling from south to north. The Air Force documented the sighting time as 0400 hours (4 a.m.) Pacific Daylight Time on August 26, 1952, though one written statement in the file dates it to August 25 at approximately 2:40 a.m.

The observer was a 24-year-old assigned to the Intelligence Section at McClellan Air Force Base. The investigating officer noted he was a reliable source of information. Weather conditions at the time showed winds at 10,000 feet blowing from 210 degrees at 2 knots, light winds that would not account for the reported movement. There was no radar confirmation of the sighting, no other aircraft were in the area, and no physical evidence was recovered.

The Air Force's final evaluation in the case file indicates the sighting remained "unknown." The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, consisting of 7 pages.