Project 10073 Record Card and Air Intelligence Information Report — Salisbury, Maryland, 28 August 1952

This document contains a series of reports and correspondence regarding an Unconventional Flying Object sighting on 28 August 1952, near Salisbury, Maryland. The primary witness, a lawyer whose identity is redacted, reported observing a bright, bluish-green, round object traveling at high speed from north to south. The object was described as having a fuzzy appearance and glowing like a radium watch dial, with no sound or heat signature. The observation lasted between one and three seconds. The witness was located on U.S. Highway 13 at the time of the sighting. The 647th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron in Manassas, Virginia, filed the initial report, which was subsequently processed by the Air Technical Intelligence Center. The investigation included a weather data sheet and a questionnaire completed by the observer, who noted that the sky was overcast at the time. The official evaluation concluded that the object was likely a weather balloon (RA) released from Chincoteague, Virginia, which had drifted into the Salisbury area due to a fault that kept it below the cloud layer. The documentation includes internal military communications, including teletype messages, which were later upgraded to a Secret classification in accordance with Air Force regulations. The file also contains the observer's detailed responses to a questionnaire, where he expressed his personal belief that the object might have been man-made, possibly related to electrical or atomic experimentation. The final assessment by the military authorities, however, points to the weather balloon hypothesis as the most probable explanation for the sighting.