Cases and themes
Reports from airline, military and private pilots, air traffic controllers and aviation agencies. 136 events, newest first.
Military24 Oct 1968
Missile-site maintenance and security crews near Minot AFB reported a glowing object for over three hours, and a returning B-52 crew tracked a target on radar that paced the bomber while its radios failed to transmit. Project Blue Book attributed the reports to a natural phenomenon.
Photo: Project Blue Book, Public domain
Military17 Jun 1968
On 16-17 June 1968, U.S. Air Force jets whose pilots took the radar returns of allied ships for enemy helicopters attacked several ships near the Vietnam DMZ, hitting HMAS Hobart and killing two sailors. In 1973 USAF chief Gen. George Brown described the episode as a series of UFO sightings.
Photo: RAN Public Relations, CC0
GovernmentNov 1966
During NASA's Gemini 12 flight, Jim Lovell reported four objects near the capsule and judged they were items the crew had thrown overboard. The Condon study agreed, finding the transcript shows four items were discarded, against claims by writer John Keel that only three were.
Photo: NASA/Jim Lovell, Public domain
MediaSep 1966
NBC began airing Star Trek, a weekly hour-long series about a multinational starship crew meeting alien civilizations. It ran only three seasons, to June 1969, but the Smithsonian calls it one of television's most influential shows and holds its Enterprise studio model.
Photo: NBC Television, Public domain
SightingsSep 1966
Gemini 11 astronauts Pete Conrad and Richard Gordon reported and photographed a large tumbling object on their 18th orbit. NORAD identified it as the Soviet Proton 3 satellite, and the Condon study's review of the photos suggested several pieces of that launch.
Photo: NASA, Public domain
Sightings4 Dec 1965
On their second orbit, Gemini 7 astronauts Frank Borman and Jim Lovell reported a 'bogey' and many small particles alongside their booster. The Air Force-funded Condon study listed it among a few astronaut sightings it had not adequately explained.
Photo: NASA, Public domain
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
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
Media30 Mar 1956
MGM released Forbidden Planet, a big-budget science fiction film loosely based on The Tempest in which a future human crew travels by space cruiser to a distant world. The Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry in 2013.
Photo: Loew's International (MGM), Public domain
Media1955
Former RAF pilot Derek Dempster founded Flying Saucer Review in London in 1955. A Gale reference entry says it was seen as uncritical under editor Brinsley le Poer Trench (1956-59) but later, under Charles Bowen, became one of the most influential UFO journals.
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
SightingsJun 1954
The captain and copilot of a BOAC Stratocruiser flying from New York to London reported one large dark object and six smaller ones pacing the airliner toward Goose Bay. The Condon study judged a mirage of distant terrain the likely cause, though one aspect stayed unexplained.
Photo: RuthAS, CC BY 3.0
Media1954
A book credited to Cedric Allingham claimed its author met a Martian pilot near Lossiemouth in February 1954. In 1986 researchers argued it was a spoof: Peter Davies admitted revising it and posing as Allingham, and they named astronomer Patrick Moore, who never admitted a role, as author.
Photo: David Scanlan, Public domain
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
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
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
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
Sightings14 Jul 1952
The crew of a Pan American airliner flying from New York to Miami reported eight UFOs near Newport News, Virginia. Blue Book chief Edward Ruppelt lists it among the July 1952 reports leading up to the Washington radar sightings later that month.
MilitaryMar 1952
A CIA report translated a Vienna newspaper story that two fiery discs maneuvered over uranium mines near Elisabethville, Belgian Congo, and that a fighter pilot from the local airfield chased them without success. The CIA marked it unevaluated; it was never confirmed.
Photo: CIA, Public domain
Military10 Sep 1951
Army Signal Corps radar at Fort Monmouth tracked fast and high targets over two days, and a T-33 crew reported an object near Sandy Hook. The reports reached Gen. Charles Cabell and led to a revived Project Grudge under Edward Ruppelt; investigators later blamed an airplane and balloons.
Photo: Acroterion, CC BY-SA 4.0
Military10 Feb 1951
Crew of a Navy R5D flying from Keflavik to Argentia, including Lt. Graham Bethune, reported a glow that rose toward them and turned into a large circular object before leaving. Five aboard filed Air Force intelligence reports. The Air Force suggested the aurora or a meteor; Bethune disputed this.
Photo: USAAF, Public domain
Sightings20 Jan 1951
After Sioux City tower controllers reported a bright light, the pilots of a Mid-Continent Airlines DC-3 said a large wing-shaped object passed their nose and flew beside them briefly. The Air Force blamed a B-36; Blue Book chief Edward Ruppelt later wrote that no B-36 could have done it.
Photo: Project Blue Book, Public domain
SightingsApr 1950
In spring 1950 the crew and passengers of a TWA DC-3 night flight over northern Indiana reported a large orange-red object. Blue Book chief Edward Ruppelt later wrote that the official answer was blast-furnace light reflecting off haze, an explanation the pilots rejected.
