Haneda AFB radar-visual case
- Date
- 5 Aug 1952
- Place
- Haneda Air Force Base (now Tokyo International Airport) and Tokyo Bay, Japan
- Record
- Curated case
- Assessment
- Contested
- Evidence strength
What was reported
From about 11:45 pm US Air Force control-tower operators at Haneda watched a dark round shape with a bright light pass over Tokyo Bay, hover and manoeuvre for 50 to 60 minutes. Ground radar tracked a target, and an F-94 from Johnson Air Base (1Lt Wesley Holder, radar observer 1Lt Aaron Jones) obtained an airborne radar lock for about 90 seconds but never saw the object; the radar target at one point split into three. Project Blue Book carried the case as unidentified. The Condon study later attributed the visual sighting to the star Capella and the radar tracks to anomalous propagation.
What officials concluded
Unresolved
Project Blue Book: unidentified
Strongest ordinary reading
Capella seen through atmospheric distortion plus anomalous radar propagation (Condon study); the radar lock is not fully accounted for
Evidence profile
- Yes: Visual
- No: Infrared
- Yes: Radar
- No: Video
- No: Photo
- No: Film
- No: Audio
- No: Night vision
- No: Other sensor
- No: Civilian
- Yes: Military aircrew
- Yes: 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
Outside sources
- Patrick Gross: Haneda 1952 (Blue Book, Ruppelt, Condon documents)ufology.patrickgross.org
On the map
35.55° N, 139.78° E, plotted at the site
Show on the map