Project 10073 Record Card: Sighting of Unidentified Flying Object, 4 December 1952

On 4 December 1952, at approximately 0842 hours, radar operators at the 727th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, located at Congaree Air Force Base, South Carolina, detected an unidentified object on an AN/MPS-5 radar set. The sighting was strictly electronic, with no visual confirmation. The object was tracked for approximately five minutes, during which it traveled at an estimated speed of 6,000 miles per hour. The target was initially sighted 100 miles east of the radar site and appeared to circle the base at a radius of approximately 100 miles, moving from an azimuth of 034 degrees to 112 degrees. The radar operators, including S/Sgt Donald E. Thomas, A/1c Walter Hopf, A/2c Arthur A. Walier, A/1c Clarence W. Ives, and A/1c Arden D. Patefield, were all graduates of radar operator school with two to five years of experience and were considered reliable. The weather conditions at the time consisted of low stratus clouds with no precipitation and winds from the northeast at 5 miles per hour. Following the incident, the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) evaluated the report. While similar past sightings had been attributed to radar interference from other stations, the ATIC concluded that there was insufficient information regarding local weather, temperature, and moisture levels at various altitudes to definitively categorize the event. Consequently, the incident was officially classified as 'Unknown' until further data could be gathered. The documentation includes notarized statements from the involved radar operators and a grid map for reference, all of which were processed under Project 10073.