Don Berlinner describes the case as follows:

July 28, 1952; McChord AFB, Washington. 2:15 a.m. Witnesses: T/Sgt. Walstead, S/Sgt. Calkins of the 635th AC&W Squadron. One dull, glowing, blue-green ball,.the size of a dime at arms’ length, flew very fast, straight and level.1

Sparks’ entry is basically a repeat of Berlinner’s and adds little. He does make a suggestion this might be a radar-visual sighting. I believe this is just speculation because the witnesses were part of the 635th AC&W squadron. There is no mention of radar tracking the UFO in the case file.

The Blue Book file3

The case file was hard to locate since it was most illegible. The file simply contains a record card and a teletype report with no follow-up. The teletype highlights were:

• The two witnesses were T/SGT Walstead and S/SGT Calkins.

• Object was described as a “dull, bluish-green,ball of light” with an estimated altitude of 20,000 feet.

• Speed described as “Very Fast”. The only thing the witnesses had seen before that had that speed were “shooting stars”. They reported that the object did not like a shooting star.

• Size estimated at half the size of a 10-cent piece at arm’s length.

• The course was straight.

• The sky was clear.

There is mention of a second sighting in the file but it was unrelated to this sighting and appears to have been a star.

Analysis

This sounds like a fireball meteor. Fireball meteors are different than normal meteors in that they are very bright and usually last longer. Many observers often make the remark that it was not like shooting stars they had seen in the past and, therefore, it was not a meteor. Despite this claim by the witnesses, all of the characteristics are there for a fireball meteor and there is no evidence to suggest that it wasn’t.

Conclusion

There really is no reason to eliminate the fireball meteor explanation for this sighting and I would classify it as probable fireball. It should be removed from the list of Blue Book unknowns.

Quelle: SUNlite 4/2023