Topic
Encounters reported by pilots, radar crews and base personnel, from the 1950s to today. 141 events, newest first.
Military4 Sep 1957
Four Portuguese Air Force F-84G pilots on a training flight from Ota reported a changing yellow, then red, sphere with smaller spheres around it over Cordoba for about 35 minutes. Formation leader Jose Lemos Ferreira, later armed forces chief, retold it in 2007; the crew filed a joint report.
Photo: Ricardo Reis from Lisboa, Portugal, CC BY-SA 2.0
MilitarySep 1957
An Army draftsman at Fort Belvoir photographed a black ring in the sky that turned into a white cloud, reportedly seen by about 15 people. The Air Force-funded Condon study identified it as a by-product of an atom bomb simulation demonstration on the base.
Military17 Jul 1957
The crew of a USAF RB-47H testing electronic countermeasures gear reported a light and a radar-emitting source that followed them from Mississippi into Oklahoma, with ground radar also reporting a target. The Condon study left it unidentified; skeptics later proposed an airliner.
Photo: U.S. Air Force photo, Public domain
Military13 Aug 1956
Over the night of Aug. 13-14, 1956, USAF ground radars at RAF Bentwaters and Lakenheath tracked fast-moving targets, some with visual reports, and an RAF Venom night fighter was sent up and reported a radar lock. The Condon study rated a genuine UFO 'fairly high' in probability.
Photo: Bev Dickinson, CC BY-SA 2.0
Military8 Oct 1955
After a private visit with Gen. Douglas MacArthur in New York, Naples mayor Achille Lauro told reporters the general believed nations might one day have to unite against attack from other planets. The often-quoted West Point version of the remark is not supported by the record.
Photo: Caulfield, Public domain
Military14 Oct 1954
Flt. Lt. James Salandin of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force said that after taking off from North Weald in a Meteor jet he saw two round objects streak between two other Meteors near Southend, then a third head straight at him before veering past. He later said he regretted not firing his camera gun.
Photo: Robert Lamb, CC BY-SA 2.0
MilitaryJul 1954
Lord Dowding, who led RAF Fighter Command in the Battle of Britain, wrote in the Sunday Dispatch that he was convinced flying saucers existed and were not built by any nation on Earth. Historians say the statement worried the Air Ministry and drew ridicule.
Photo: Ministry of Information official photographer, Public domain
Military1954
Col. Joao Adil de Oliveira, described as head of Brazilian Air Force intelligence, gave a lecture on flying saucers to military officers and officials. Brazilian researcher Olavo Fontes reported that he called the objects real, worth military study, and of unknown origin.
Military23 Nov 1953
An F-89C interceptor flown by 1st Lt. Felix Moncla Jr. with radar operator 2nd Lt. Robert Wilson vanished over Lake Superior after being vectored toward an unknown radar target. The Air Force said the target was an off-course Canadian C-47; no wreckage or crew were found.
Photo: USAF, Public domain
Military12 Aug 1953
A Ground Observer Corps spotter near Rapid City reported a bright light that Ellsworth AFB radar then tracked; an F-84 pilot chased it and reported a radar lock before breaking off. Blue Book chief Edward Ruppelt, who investigated in person, called it the best report in the Air Force files.
Photo: Staff Sgt. Marc I. Lane, U.S. Air Force, Public domain
Military1953
With Project Blue Book short of staff, its chief Edward Ruppelt arranged for the Air Defense Command's 4602nd Air Intelligence Service Squadron, a unit with field teams across the U.S., to investigate UFO reports. Blue Book would then analyze cases the teams could not explain.
Photo: U.S. government (NORAD Office of History), Public domain
Military1953
Capt. Edward Ruppelt, who had run the Air Force's UFO project through the 1952 wave, left Project Blue Book and the Air Force in 1953. His 1956 book says he asked for a transfer in December 1952, no replacement came, and he was again handling Blue Book cases in August 1953.
Photo: Associated Press, Public domain
Military20 Sep 1952
During the NATO exercise Mainbrace, a U.S. reporter aboard a carrier in the North Sea photographed a silver sphere that pilots and deck crew were watching. Naval Intelligence found no ship that had launched a balloon, and witnesses split over whether it was one.
Photo: AFC J.J. Swartz, U.S. Navy, Public domain
MilitarySep 1952
During the NATO naval exercise Mainbrace, a Meteor jet was sent after a round, silvery object over RAF Topcliffe but lost it. Ruppelt wrote that an RAF officer told him these sightings led the RAF to recognize UFOs officially.
Photo: P Glenwright, CC BY-SA 2.0
MilitaryAug 1952
Control tower operators at Haneda AFB in Tokyo watched a bright light over Tokyo Bay that ground radar tracked at the same time; a scrambled F-94 got a brief radar lock before losing it. Ruppelt said the Far East Air Force investigators rated it among their best cases.
Photo: Project Blue Book, Public domain
Military1 Aug 1952
An Air Defense Command radar near Bellefontaine tracked a fast target north of Dayton, and two Wright-Patterson F-86 pilots photographed a silver sphere on gun-camera film. Blue Book first carried it as unknown, then attributed it to a jet and a weather balloon.
Photo: USAF photo 82042 AC, Public domain
Military29 Jul 1952
An Air Defense Command radar in central Michigan tracked a fast target over Saginaw Bay and vectored an F-94. The crew reported a bright light and a brief airborne radar lock-on before the target pulled away. Blue Book chief Edward Ruppelt later wrote that it had no good explanation.
Photo: US Air Force, Public domain
Military28 Jul 1952
During the July 1952 wave, a front-page newspaper report quoted the Air Force as disclosing that jet fighters were on round-the-clock nationwide alert against flying saucers, with orders to bring one down if they could. HISTORY ties such coverage to a press frenzy the Air Force then tried to calm.
Photo: Unknown author, Public domain
Military24 Jul 1952
Two Pentagon-based Air Force colonels flying a B-25 from Hamilton AFB reported three silver, tailless delta craft passing them at high speed over Carson Sink. Blue Book chief Edward Ruppelt wrote that checks for aircraft and balloons found nothing and the case stayed unknown.
Photo: Airwolfhound from Hertfordshire, UK, CC BY-SA 2.0
Military19 Jul 1952
On two weekends in July 1952, radar at Washington National Airport and Andrews AFB tracked unexplained targets, some matched by pilot sightings, and jets were sent to intercept. The Air Force publicly suggested temperature inversions as a likely cause.
Photo: Warren K. Leffler, Public domain
