What did the declassified documents reveal?

COLD OPEN. This is Project One Zero Zero Seven Three Record Card, an Air Intelligence Information Report dated thirteen September, nineteen fifty‑two, filed in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The document records a civilian pilot’s sighting of an unidentified aerial phenomenon and includes a contemporaneous newspaper report. It is notable because it provides a primary‑source account of a high‑speed, maneuvering object observed by an experienced aviator during the early Cold War period. PROVENANCE. The record was released to the public through The Black Vault, the online repository for declassified government documents. The entry is catalogued under the identifier 1952‑09‑6383309‑ALLENTOWN‑PA and is available at archive dot org under the URL https://archive.org/download/1952-09-6383309-ALLENTOWN-PA/1952-09-6383309-ALLENTOWN-PAdjvu.txt. The document was made accessible under a Freedom of Information Act request; the case number is not listed in the archive entry. Declassification was authorized by the Office of the Secretary of Defense. THE DOCUMENT. Project One Zero Zero Seven Three Record Card, Air Intelligence Information Report, thirteen September, nineteen fifty‑two. “Date of Observation: thirteen September, nineteen fifty‑two. Location: Allentown, Pennsylvania. Observer: civilian pilot, inactive Air Force reserve, presently employed by a private firm in New York.” The report continues: “The brevity of observation and the description by the civilian pilot indicate a luminous, football‑shaped object traveling on a change of direction upward, on a collision course with his aircraft. The object pulled up and then hovered, moving in the opposite direction of the plane’s course. Estimated speed was seven hundred miles per hour. Altitude approximately seven hundred meters.” The record includes a letter submitted by the pilot to the Commanding General, Air Force Base, New Fork, dated twenty‑third September, nineteen fifty‑two, reproduced verbatim: “Sir, I have not seen the enclosed clipping; I probably would, since other people saw the same thing. I thought perhaps I should describe what I saw. My first impression was that it was on a collision course, traveling at better than seven hundred miles an hour. It was a physical object; it altered its course astonishingly. I was able to see it for not more than two seconds, then it disappeared. The object went ninety degrees by, and resumed my course for the next seventy‑nine minutes.” The report also reproduces the newspaper article from the Newark Evening News, Newark, New Jersey, dated thirteenth September, nineteen fifty‑two, titled “Flying Saucer Seen in Morristown.” The article reads: “A flaming object, larger than an airplane, was reported hovering over this community last night by six persons, each of whom termed it a ‘flying saucer.’ One of those who saw it, an artist, will put her impression of the object on canvas. Mr. and Mrs. White of Avenue described the object as a ‘flaming red bell with a tail.’…

Why was this case declassified?

This material was released by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) through the U.S. declassification and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process. The originating source document is linked on this page so the citation chain is auditable.

1952 09 6383309 Allentown Pa

◆ BLUF — The short version

COLD OPEN. This is Project One Zero Zero Seven Three Record Card, an Air Intelligence Information Report dated thirteen September, nineteen fifty‑two, filed in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The document records a civilian pilot’s sighting of an unidentified aerial phenomenon and includes a contemporaneous newspaper report.

Agency: Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Date: JUL 18 · 2026
Release: Declassified · U.S. public record (FOIA)
Source document: View the primary source documenthttps://archive.org/details/1952-09-6383309-ALLENTOWN-PA

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Source document: https://archive.org/details/1952-09-6383309-ALLENTOWN-PA

Questions about this case

What was 1952 09 6383309 Allentown Pa about?: COLD OPEN. This is Project One Zero Zero Seven Three Record Card, an Air Intelligence Information Report dated thirteen September, nineteen fifty‑two, filed in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The document records a civilian pilot’s sighting of an unidentified aerial phenomenon and includes a contemporaneous newspaper report.
Why was this case declassified?: This material was released by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) through the U.S. declassification and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process. The originating source document is linked in the case notes above so the citation chain is fully auditable.

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1952 09 6383309 Allentown Pa

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