Project 10073 Record Card — Sighting of Unidentified Object, Fairchild AFB, 20 January 1952

This document details an Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) sighting that occurred on January 20, 1952, at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington. At approximately 1920 hours, three personnel from the 92nd Bomb Wing—T/Sgt Harry A. Cavagnaro, M/Sgt Aluridus C. Holm, and S/Sgt Robert T. Barnes—were walking near the Headquarters Squadron barracks. T/Sgt Cavagnaro observed a brilliant blue-white, oval-shaped object traveling at a high rate of speed, which he estimated to be three times faster than any jet aircraft he had previously seen. The object was moving silently from North to South, beneath the cloud layer, at an estimated altitude of 500 feet. The witness noted that the object appeared to pulsate, leaving a broken blue trail with intermittent flames at approximately six-foot intervals. The object was visible for only about two seconds before disappearing behind a mess hall. While S/Sgt Barnes did not see the object, M/Sgt Holm confirmed the sighting. The weather conditions at the time included a cloud layer at 3,000 feet and a broken layer at 4,700 feet. The Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) investigated the incident under Project 10073. Official conclusions stated that if the object was indeed beneath the cloud cover, it could not be a conventional aircraft or a meteor, and its identity remained unknown. The report emphasizes the reliability of the witnesses, who were members of the Wing Intelligence Section, and notes that the investigation was hampered by the inability to obtain precise angular measurements of the object's trajectory.