Washington Nationals

From TinWiki.org

In the latter half of July, 1952, Washington D.C. was "invaded" by a fleet of unknown objects and radar blips. The incidents, which would come to be known as the Washington Nationals would create a storm of confusion, controversy, and chaos, and, ultimately, shape the future of the Air Force's Project Blue Book.

1 July 19, 1952
2 Blue Book left in the dark
3 July 26, 1952
4 See also
5 Related links
6 Relevant discussion threads

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July 19, 1952

The first of what would be a major UFO flap over the nation's capital began at 11:40 P.M. Edward Nugent, an Air Traffic Controller at Washington National Airport, noticed seven unidentified blips on his radar at about 100 mph in an area southwest of Washington D.C. Since there was no known air traffic in the area, Nugent alerted his supervisor, Harry Barnes, to the blips. The objects moved erratically without formation, and would sometimes move in a burst of speed.

After checking the Radar to make sure it was functioning correctly, they checked with the other tower at the airport to confirm the readings. Not only did the other tower confirm the readings, but the controllers stated they saw a large, orange light in the same spot in the sky where the blips appeared.

When the blips on the radar appeared over the White House, Barnes phoned Andrews AFB to alert them to the situation. Andrews stated the only aircraft that should be in the vicinity was a C-47 which was still an hour away. However, a call was recieved from an airman on the base informing Andrews tower to look outside the window. Bright orange fireballs in the sky could be seen. There would be sightnings all over the city that night of these strange fireball like objects.

Andrews was in the middle of repairing their runways, so interceptor jets were sent from Newcastle AFB in Delaware. When the jets arrived, the UFOs completely vanished from sight and screen. The jets, running low on fuel, had to return back to base. As soon as the jets left the area, the blips and lights returned.

For the rest of the night, hundreds of visual sightings as well as radar returns were present. Almost all of the radar returns corresponded with a visual sighting on the ground. The incidents continued until dawn, where afterwards, they completely vanished.

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Blue Book left in the dark

Captain Edward J. Ruppelt, Project Blue Book's head, did not hear of the event until a few days later, and only through a newspaper article about the incident. This was puzzling, as Blue Book was supposed to be the Air Force's main UFO investigation committee. Ruppelt, who was in Washington on offical business related to Blue Book, called Maj. Dewey Fournet, the Blue Book liason at the Pentagon to find out more about it. Fournet only knew about what was in the papers, but was trying to gather more information. It seemed that Blue Book was purposely left out of the loop as far as investigation went.

President Truman expressed personal interest to Ruppelt about the sightings, and Ruppelt promised he would look into them deeper and find some answer. It was a promise that the Pentagon made sure he would not keep. The Pentagon refused to give him or his colleagues so much as a staff car, or extend Ruppelt's orders to remain in Washington to continue his investigation. He was forced to return to Wright Patterson AFB where Blue Book's headquarters were located. From there, he continued to handle the deluge of reports comming in from all over the country, as America was in the middle of a major UFO wave.

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July 26, 1952

At 8:15 P.M., the flight crew of a National Airlines flight noticed a bunch of glowing objects, akin to the lit end of a cigarette in color and glow flying at about 100 mph above them. They alerted ground control. Both Washington National and Andrews AFB tracked these and several other targets that appeared all over the sky, except in the southwest. The objects were also visually observed by many ground witnesses all over the metropolitan area. Newcastle AFB was alerted after 9 P.M.

During this time, a reporter from Life magazine called Ruppelt in Dayton and informed him about the current situation in Washington. Ruppelt had informed the reporter that the Air Force would probably do nothing about it, and phoned the on duty intelligence officer in the Pentagon to have him contact Maj. Fournet. Fournet and a Navy electronics expert arrived at Washington National control tower at around midnight.

While Fournet was getting ready, both Washington National and Andrews were both observing bizarre behavior from the objects. They would travel at 100 mph, then speed up and streak across the sky at 7000 mph in a matter of seconds. Sightings from the ground, as well as several sightings from planes that were airborne in the area continued to confirm the radar readings. The UFOs also had a habit of completely disappearing and reappearing as well.

The interceptors from deleware arrived at about 10:P.M. As they arrived, one of the pilots pursued a group of four white lights. To his shock and horror, the four lights sped towards his plane and clustered around him. He radioed to the tower, his voice described as stunned and nervous, seeking instructions. Eventually, the four objects flew off on their own.

The interceptors spotted the various lights, and would pursue them. However, as soon as they closed in on them, the objects would speed up and leave, or would completely vanish.

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