FT266


On 19 July 1952 – and again on the 26th – an event took place that must have seemed as unthinkable then as it would be considered impossible now: Washington DC was buzzed by several unidentified aircraft. These fast-moving phantoms hopped like fleas across radar screens and evaded all attempts to intercept them with jets; they made fools of jumpy Air Force personnel and generated front-page news all around the world.

The incident illustrated perfectly the threat that UFOs posed to America’s defence establishment, which carried painful memories of the attack on Pearl Harbor and now lived in the shadow of the burgeoning Soviet atomic programme, and would shape the UFO phenomenon – and the attitude of America’s custodians to it – for the next 60 years.