Unidentified Flying Objects Reporting (Short Title: FLYCBRPT) - York, PA Sighting

This document is an Air Intelligence Information Report dated August 8, 1952, concerning an unidentified flying object sighting reported by Robert C. Swengel near Newberrytown, Pennsylvania, on the night of July 28, 1952. The observer, who identified himself as an electronic and ultrasonic consultant with training in high-speed photography and transient phenomena, reported seeing two intensely bright, pinkish-colored objects while driving. He described the objects as having no visible physical outline, appearing about the size of a baseball, and exhibiting constant, intense light approximately eight to ten times brighter than the North Star. The objects were observed for seven minutes, during which they appeared to revolve, oscillate, and blink, while being affected by thermal air currents. The observer stopped his vehicle to watch the objects and noted that his eldest son also witnessed them. The report includes the observer's detailed questionnaire, sketches of the flight path, and his own technical analysis, in which he speculated that the lights might have been a brush discharge or 'St. Elmo's Fire' caused by electrostatic fields from nearby thunderstorms. The Air Intelligence Office at Middletown Air Materiel Area investigated the report, noting that while weather balloons had been released in the area earlier, they could not definitively explain the sighting. The office confirmed that no military or civilian aircraft were officially reported in the vicinity at the time. The document also contains a separate, unrelated CIRVIS report regarding a sighting in Los Angeles, California, on the same date, which was included in the file. The correspondence concludes with a letter from the Air Technical Intelligence Center acknowledging receipt of the report and providing the observer with a questionnaire to standardize the data.