Project 10073 Record Card and Intelligence Report IR-136-52 — Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, 27 August 1952

On 27 August 1952, at approximately 09:15 MST, two unidentified flying objects were observed over Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona. The primary witnesses were T/Sgt Amadeo J. Sandoval and A/1C Robert G. Smith, both of the Headquarters Squadron Section, 803rd Air Base Group. T/Sgt Sandoval, a PIO photographer with 17 years of photographic experience, and A/1C Smith, both considered highly reliable by their superiors, reported seeing two brilliant, blue-white, metallic, round objects. The objects were observed at an altitude that could not be precisely determined, though object 1 appeared higher than object 2. The objects moved in an erratic, pendulous fashion. Object 2, which was estimated to be the size of a B-29 at 10,000 feet, hovered for approximately six to seven minutes before traveling at a slow rate of speed in a southeasterly direction. After three to four minutes, it accelerated rapidly and disappeared in a due east direction with the speed of a meteor. During this acceleration, object 2 emitted a tail or trail of an unknown, less dense substance that vanished as the object's speed increased. The observers noted that the objects were in close proximity to the sun, and T/Sgt Sandoval used polaroid sunglasses to view them, noting that the brilliance of the objects was not diminished by the dark glass. No sound was heard during the observation. T/Sgt Sandoval managed to take a photograph of object 2 just as it began its final acceleration. The report, designated IR-136-52 and approved by Capt. Rudolph H. Pestalozzi, notes that the significance of the event remains unknown and that other people in Tucson also reported witnessing similar objects at the same time.