Two Holloman Supervisors and the Silver Object That Climbed Out of Sight

Fred Lee and Lawrence A. Aguilar were long-serving civilian supervisors at Holloman Air Force Base. Lee ran utilities operations and the plant, and Aguilar was the electrical installation and repair foreman. At about 15:40 on 25 August 1952 they were on the base road between the north and west areas when they saw a round, silver object reflecting the sun. It showed no light and no exhaust, and it made no sound. It was heading south. Then it made a full 360-degree turn and headed north. It climbed into a cloud and broke out through the top, made another 360-degree turn and climbed almost straight up until it was out of sight, faster than a jet. They watched for three to five minutes.

What is on the record

Master Sergeant Paul E. Norris of the 6540th Missile Test Wing prepared the report that Blue Book keeps as case 1979. It lists local air traffic. It notes that Land-Air's radar, Laboratory No. 2, was shutting down at the time. It also checks the obvious candidate. A rawinsonde balloon had gone up at 14:00 and burst at about 90,000 feet, so an observer would have seen a parachute and instrument coming down, not a balloon. The record card's conclusion is Unknown.

Berliner lists the sighting among the Blue Book Unknowns at 3:40 p.m. NICAP files it under its Blue Book number, and Eberhart and Johnson catalogue it too. It is a different event from the 1964 Holloman landing case elsewhere in the archive.

Why it sits where it does

L4 · OFFICIAL RECORD: a released government record names who saw it. Lee and Aguilar, both base employees on duty, are the names the report gives. Their account reaches the archive through the Air Force's report and nothing else, and the grade reflects that provenance rather than any finding about the object. What climbed out of sight over Holloman is not resolved here.