From the Archives #2: Washington, D.C., July 20, 1952
From the Archives #2: Washington, D.C., July 20, 1952
A veteran airline pilot witnesses an extraordinary series of aerial sightings after taking off from Washington D.C. International Airport during the historic UAP flap of July 1952.
By Dustin Slaughter (@DustinSlaughter)
The UAP Register aims to connect present-day reporting with historical cases (whenever feasible), as we believe that one of the most compelling reasons to take these phenomena seriously is their consistent presence throughout history. ‘From the Archives’ takes this a step further by delving into captivating UAP/UFO cases sourced from collections of U.S. government documents, including those mandated for release to the U.S. National Archives under the UAP Disclosure Act.
On the morning of July 20, 1952, Captain Casey Pierman, a pilot with 24 years of flight experience, including 17 years as a civilian pilot, noticed an unusual bluish light in the sky and to the left of his aircraft while preparing for departure at Washington D.C. International Airport. Briefly noting it, he was focused on going through his pre-flight checklist at the time and “did not attach any significance to this light until later events demanded attention to it.”
Little did he realize that what he was about to witness after take-off would be part of a series of noteworthy Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) sightings that weekend, and in the days following, over America's capital. The series of events would later be regarded as one of the most significant UAP flaps in U.S. history.
After Capitol Airlines Flight 807’s takeoff en route to Detroit, Michigan, Capt. Pierman received notice from Washington National Airport’s Air Traffic Control (ATCC) that “their radar scope indicated two or three objects on the screen traveling at high speeds.” They directed Pierman to steer a course to intercept the objects.
“Asking a civilian airliner crew to change course to pursue or intercept a UFO was very unusual,” UAP researcher and aircraft historian Graeme Rendall told the Register. “The same would happen in April 1956 but it was officially denied in that incident (the Flight 775 case). The airliner crew was on hand and better placed to see what was going on than interceptor crews based much further away. Maybe not the safest policy in hindsight, but the decision would have been made in the heat of the moment.”
After a course correction to intercept the objects, ATCC notified Pierman that the objects were suddenly closing in and were five miles “dead ahead.” Three to five seconds later, Pierman was notified that the objects were four miles out and continuing straight toward his aircraft.
One to three seconds later, ATCC indicated that the mysterious objects were at his 10 o’clock position. Pierman responded that he spotted a “DC-10-type aircraft” at that position passing his plane in the opposite direction. But that changed just a few minutes later.
Pierman’s co-pilot, Charles Wheaton, suddenly witnessed “one (1) bluish-white object in color in a 25-degree dive from northeast to southwest at a tremendous rate of speed.”
At this point, Pierman’s aircraft was flying at 6,000 feet altitude. Pierman and Wheaton saw Charles Town, West Virginia directly below when they spotted another “brilliant bluish-white light flash past from high over” to their left. This object, also traveling at an incredible rate of speed, leveled off as it disappeared “and appeared to be outside the Earth’s atmosphere.”
A moment later, Pierman and Wheaton again spotted a “brilliant bluish-white light” reappear where the last object had disappeared. It “flashed past from right to left at approximately 60 degrees above the horizon.”
Pierman later indicated that he may have seen as many as seven (7) of these objects, but wasn’t entirely confident due to the rapidly changing situation in which he and his co-pilot found themselves.
Pierman, described by Air Force investigators as “reliable and conscientious”, indicated that “during all his years as a pilot he has never seen anything that would compare with the objects mentioned in this report.”
Pierman was also “so thoroughly convinced that the objects he observed were traveling at such tremendous speeds that he would not attempt to estimate their speeds.” According to a report from The Ithaca Times, Pierman described the objects to reporters as “flying stars without tails.”
You can read the full report here.
Learn more about the historic Washington, D.C. UAP flap of 1952 by reading Rendall’s comprehensive account of this and other events in his exceptional Flying Saucer Fever: Airborne UFO Encounters, 1950-1952.
Have you uncovered an historical government UAP case that you believe warrants highlighting? Contact DustinSlaughter@proton.me.