Lights over the capital
The Washington UFO flap was a series of repeated sightings of unidentified lights over Washington, D.C., in July 1952. From late on July 19 into July 20, the radar of the control tower at Washington National Airport picked up several unidentified objects flying near the White House and the Capitol. Around the same time, there were reports of bright lights seen moving across the sky.
Fighters scrambled
A week later, from July 26 to 27, a similar phenomenon occurred. The U.S. Air Force scrambled fighters, but the lights reportedly vanished when the fighters approached and reappeared when they moved away. The commotion over the capital was widely reported in newspapers, and President Truman is said to have taken an interest.
The Air Force press conference
On July 29, the Air Force held what was said to be its largest press conference since World War II, explaining the radar returns as caused by a “temperature inversion.” When a layer of warm air forms aloft, radar waves and light can be bent, making buildings, car lights and the like on the ground appear to be in the air. Many people were not satisfied with this explanation, and the incident became a symbol of the 1950s UFO boom.
The era of the UFO boom
The term “flying saucer” spread from the 1947 Kenneth Arnold sighting. Today the U.S. government calls UFOs UAP (unidentified anomalous phenomena) and is investigating them anew.
