Washington National Airport Radar-Visual Incidents
- Date of account
- 19–20 July and 26–27 July 1952
- Location
- Washington, D.C., including Washington National Airport and Andrews Air Force Base
- Source
- model_recalled_reference
- Record updated
- 2026-10-10
Record summary
Controllers, pilots and military personnel reported radar returns and lights around Washington National Airport and Andrews Air Force Base during two July 1952 episodes. Fighter aircraft were scrambled, and the incidents prompted Air Force briefings and substantial press coverage. Project Blue Book and later commentators considered temperature inversions, radar propagation, aircraft and other conventional possibilities, while some witnesses maintained that visual observations did not fit those explanations. The case remains a defined, heavily documented historical wave rather than one sighting.
Investigate related details with Anomaly Graph’s account-based search, or read how matching and provenance work.