Washington State ‘UFO’ Investigation, 1952-1960
- Date
- 1952 to 1960
- Place
- Washington State (Pasco, Seattle/Sand Point Naval Air Station, University Bridge, Kelso, Kennewick, and other locations), United States
- Record
- Pentagon file
- Assessment
- Not assessed
- Evidence strength
What was reported
A 55-page Seattle Field Office collection of UFO-related memoranda, 1952-1960, similar in structure to the Newark file: numerous citizen phone reports of discs, balls of light and vapor trails referred to the Air Force OSI; a 1953 letter from a self-described CIA U-2 design supervisor offering his own skeptical explanation (a plastic radar-target balloon) for an object he saw through a rifle scope; and a notable June 1954 incident in which a ground radar station (call sign TIMOTHY) tracked an unknown target near Puget Sound for 8-12 minutes, two F-86 'Blue Flight' interceptors from McChord AFB were vectored to intercept and their pilots and an airborne radar operator obtained visual/radar contact, with the Air Defense Command tentatively evaluating the target as consistent with a large aircraft type.
What officials concluded
Tentative explanation
Air Defense Command tentatively evaluated the June 1954 target as consistent in radar presentation and general configuration with a B-36/B-52-type aircraft with an estimated pullout speed around Mach 1
- Agency
- FBI
- Released in
- 123456
Evidence profile
- Yes: Visual
- No: Infrared
- Yes: Radar
- No: Video
- No: Photo
- No: Film
- No: Audio
- No: Night vision
- No: Other sensor
- Yes: Civilian
- Yes: Military aircrew
- No: Military ground
- No: Airline crew
- Yes: Sensor operator
- No: Law enforcement
- No: Scientist
- No: Astronaut
- No: Intelligence official
- No: Other
- No: Light only
- No: Orb or sphere
- Yes: Disc
- No: Triangle
- No: Cylinder
- No: Cube
- No: Other shape
- No: Physiological
- No: Physical trace
- No: Electromagnetic
- No: Sound
- No: Silent
Why this rating The June 1954 Puget Sound case combines ground radar, airborne interceptor radar and two pilots' visual sighting (multi-sensor, several independent observers), which would otherwise support 'strong', but the Air Defense Command's own tentative conventional-aircraft explanation for the radar presentation caps it at moderate. All other individual reports in the file are single-witness, unaided visual accounts (weak).
As described in the file
- Witnesses
- Dozens of separate civilian callers across 8 years, plus two USAF F-86 interceptor pilots and ground/airborne radar operators for the June 1954 case
- Sensors
- Visual (unaided) for most individual reports, ground early-warning radar and airborne interceptor radar for the June 1954 Puget Sound case
- Shape
- Varies: parachute-like silver object (1953, Sand Point), disc/half-moon shapes that formed into fireballs (1954, Pasco), hull-shaped/bullet-shaped silver object with vapor trail (1958, Union), large silver metal ball with visible engine-like sound (undated, Kennewick)
- Lights and colour
- Varies by report
- Motion
- Varies; the June 1954 radar target was tracked accelerating and turning sharply
- Duration
- Varies, minutes per individual report; the June 1954 radar contact lasted roughly 8-12 minutes
- Altitude or range
- The June 1954 target was tracked at roughly 15 angels (approx. 15,000 feet) at 38-40 miles southwest of Neah Bay
Pentagon files
FBI-UAP-D013, Washington State ‘UFO’ Investigation, 1952-1960
Open the original on war.gov
What the file claims
- Unverified
A self-described supervisor of the CIA's U-2 design program offered his own explanation for a sighting he made through a rifle scope, concluding it was a plastic radar-target balloon.
- Unverified
An unknown radar target near Puget Sound in June 1954 prompted the scramble of two F-86 interceptors, whose pilots and radar operators obtained contact before the Air Defense Command issued a tentative aircraft explanation.
- Unverified
A Kennewick police sergeant reported a 30-foot shining metal ball that stopped abruptly in mid-flight and emitted an engine-like 'chug chug' sound before departing at very high speed.
On the map
47.40° N, 120.50° W, plotted at the centre of the region named in the record
Show on the map