What happened during the UFO sightings over Washington, D.C., in July 1952?

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Declassified U.S. military video of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) — unidentified flying object Learn about an unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) sighting from this video (known as the Gimbal video) captured by fighter pilots associated with the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group. The video shows instrument detections of unknown aerial objects, which the pilots were unable to identify, off the East Coast of the United States, 2014–15.

In July 1952, a series of provocative radar and visual sightings of unidentified flying objects occurred near the National Airport in Washington, D.C.1

While these events were officially attributed to temperature inversions—a meteorological phenomenon where air layers of different temperatures can cause radar reflections—the explanation did not convince everyone at the time. The high volume of reports during this period, combined with public concern, prompted the Central Intelligence Agency to establish the Robertson Panel in 1953 to investigate the broader phenomenon of UFOs.12