SAN RAEFAEL, CALIF, July 1952 - Incident Number: [ILLEGIBLE]July 1952

Insufficient Data

Summary

On July 28, 1952, two observers at a Civil Defense post near San Rafael, California, watched an unidentified object fly overhead for roughly one minute in the early morning hours. Lieutenant Grover C. Owens, a retired Air Force officer, and Phillip Tuckett reported seeing a star-shaped object that resembled a light bulb. The object was reddish-yellow in color, flew in a straight line at an estimated speed of 150 miles per hour, and traveled at an altitude between 10,000 and 15,000 feet. The object was heading roughly west. No sound accompanied the sighting, and weather conditions in the area were clear with good visibility.

The Air Force investigation found a potential explanation. A Navy fighter plane was in the area at 20,000 feet at the time of the sighting. One of the observers suggested the object might have been an aircraft with landing lights on. Naval fighters were known to produce an orange or reddish glow from their exhaust. Based on this information, the Air Force concluded the sighting was likely caused by the aircraft in the area.

No physical evidence of the sighting was reported, and the investigators found no other reasons to suspect anything unusual had occurred. The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, containing 11 scanned pages.

Reported location

SAN RAEFAEL, CALIF, July 1952 - Incident Number: [ILLEGIBLE]

Date of incident

July 1952

State / country

? / XX

Page count

11 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 13

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