December 10, 1952 — Odessa, WA / Hanford Works
7:15 p.m. The pilot and radar observer of an F-94 patrolling from Moses Lake AFB [now the Grant County International Airport] spots a light over the Hanford nuclear plant near Richland, Washington, while flying at 26,000 feet.
They contact the ground control station, which reports that they know of no planes in the area and that their ground radar shows nothing. They close in on the object, which is large, white, and round and features a dim reddish light coming from two windows. They lose visual contact then get a lock-on from their ARC-33 airborne radar. As they attempt to close in, the object reverses direction and dives away. They attempt several more times to approach the light and have to alter course to avoid a collision that seems imminent. [Eberhart]
Record Card:
Hanford Memorandum:
Blue Book Galley of Menzel Book:
Sources:
Brad Sparks, Blue Books Unknowns Catalogue, Case 889, p. 185;
Larry Hatch UFO Database - Nuclear Connection Project - #2666;
Project Blue Book Report #10, Feb 1953, p. 19;
Edward Ruppelt, The Report On Unidentified Flying Objects, 1956, p. 43;
James E. McDonald, “Statement on Unidentified Flying Objects,” in Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects, Hearings, US House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 90th Cong., 2nd Sess., July 29, 1968, p. 66;
Edward Condon, Final report of the scientific study of unidentified flying objects conducted by the University of Colorado, pp. 140-141;
Donald Keyhoe, Aliens From Space, Doubleday ed., 1973, pp. 4-5;
Martin Shough, RADCAT: Radar Catalogue: A Review of Twenty-One Ground and Airborne Radar UAP Contact Reports Generally Related to Aviation Safety for the Period October 15, 1948, to September 19, 1976, National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena, NARCAP Report TR-6, December 8, 2002, pp. 42–46;
NICAP, “F-94 R/V with Round Object”;
CUFOS Case file:
Patrick Gross, “Radar Visual Aircraft UFO Encounter near Hanford Nuclear Plant, December 10, 1952”;