Washington, IndianaApril 1952

Unidentified

Summary

On April 1, 1952, in the evening near Washington, Indiana, three civilian men driving west into the setting sun reported an object. At first they thought the red glow was the color of the sun, but when it moved they stopped the car to watch. The object was gray with a deep orange tail and a spherical tail shape.

The object first appeared near the setting sun and came toward the observers, then veered off to a heading of about 95 degrees. It had a long tail and appeared to change in size. The witnesses said it moved too slowly for a meteor. The report was phoned to a nearby Air Force base. The Air Force evaluated the case as probably a balloon.

Reported location

Washington, Indiana

Date of incident

April 1952

State / country

IN / US

Page count

6 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 9

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 6

View transcribed text

ChE ~~ PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD 3 RA
JFRPPRRIURERPE. 3, JIU FUT A p— ES at ei — ee = fA. A teats a emia me ee wm co ¢ & awe -
“1% CATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
1 April 52 £4 Washington, Indiana O Vos Bolloon ;
] - : @] Probably Balloon
3. DATETINE GROUP - 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION ~1O Possibly Betlomn ;
Local e508 WR - BX Ground-Visval 0 Ground-Redor . i Re ag ¢
; ¢oh2s Car D Possibly Aircraft
go REE Re. ts | 0 Air-Visvel O Air-Intercopt Rador ivy Mrerart ;
© "15 PHOTOS ‘ 8. SOURCE O Wos Astronomicel ?
3 Yes 0 Probably Astronomical
x Na : 3 male civilians O Possibly Astronomicol
7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION “| 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE 10 Omer SOE2LTTA AAL
3S . 27% Insulficiont Dato for Evaluation
‘4 minutes 1 A O Unknown
- |io. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING He a - A
: ~ Oray color with deep orange tall. Object first observed near setting sun.
| ~ Spherical tail. Made 45 deg turn. ; Come toward observers tha veered off to
| J Too slow for meteor. Background 95 deg heading. Had long tail then
+ | of sources eketchy, report was phoned to varied in size.
ots, Atterbury AFB, .
. +n. ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52) 5 :

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28941012