YORK, PENNSYLVNA, October 1952October 1952

On the evening of October 13, 1952, a man working at his drawing board near his home in York, Pennsylvania glanced out and saw a bright yellow-orange light almost directly overhead. The object was moving rapidly toward the southeast, but during the short observation it curved around to head toward the northeast. The man watched for approximately 12 to 15 seconds before the light disappeared behind nearby trees.

The observer reported hearing no sound, despite being in a residential area of the city. He noted that the object appeared round, had a definite edge, and seemed as bright as the planet Jupiter visible in the sky at the time. Most notably, the object appeared to maintain level flight while undulating slightly from side to side, moving in a pendulum-like arc from left to right. The observer emphasized that it moved under some form of deliberate control and was not simply falling or caught in gravity, as its level flight path made clear.

The Air Technical Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio received the report and sent out a detailed questionnaire. The civilian observer, a man with above-average powers of observation and experience as both a broadcast professional and freelance artist, completed the form thoroughly. He estimated the object's size as roughly six inches in diameter at his distance from it, though he acknowledged uncertainty about whether it was a very large aircraft flying high or a small aircraft like a Piper Cub flying at low altitude. If it were the size of a Piper Cub, he estimated its speed at approximately 90 to 100 miles per hour above 1,000 feet.

Weather conditions at the time were clear with 15 miles visibility. In their official analysis, intelligence officers at Olmsted Air Force Base near Middletown, Pennsylvania noted that while the observer had described an object with characteristics resembling an aircraft, they could offer no definite explanation for the sighting. The object's appearance and behavior suggested several possibilities, but none could be confirmed.

The Air Force's conclusion for this case was listed as unknown. The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, consisting of 33 pages.