Air Intelligence Information Report — Sighting of Unconventional Aircraft, Miami, Florida, 18 July 1952

This Air Intelligence Information Report, dated 19 July 1952, details a sighting of an unconventional aerial object by a Post Office employee in Miami, Florida, on 18 July 1952. The witness, a former FAA employee described as reliable, reported observing a spherical, opaque, silvery object at approximately 1100 hours. The object appeared to be 50 to 200 feet in diameter and moved smoothly from west to east across the southern sky in an arc of 75 degrees. The witness noted that the object made no sound and had no visible exhaust, estimating its speed to be over 1,000 mph. The observation lasted for approximately ten seconds. The witness also alerted his eleven-year-old stepdaughter to the object, which he initially thought was below the clouds before it passed into or behind a large cloud and did not reappear. Major John H. Sharpe of the 435th Troop Carrier Wing, who conducted the interview, evaluated the report. He noted that while a weather balloon had been released from Miami International Airport at 1045 hours, the balloon theory was problematic. Specifically, the winds at the time were blowing from the east/east-southeast at 25 mph, which would have carried a balloon in a direction opposite to the object's path. Furthermore, the speed of the object was considered too great for a weather balloon to achieve. The report concludes that the object remains unidentified.