Andrews Air Force Base
The military air base outside Washington whose radar also tracked the unexplained targets of July 1952.
- Location
- Prince George's County, Maryland
- Modern country
- United States
- Opened
- 1942; named for Lt. Gen. Frank M. Andrews
- Since 2009
- Joint Base Andrews
- Known for (here)
- Radar returns in July 1952 sightings
What is Andrews Air Force Base known for?
Andrews Air Force Base lies in Prince George's County, Maryland, about 13 kilometres southeast of Washington, D.C. It opened in 1942 and was named after Lieutenant General Frank M. Andrews, a pioneer of US air power who died in a crash in 1943. In 2009 it merged with a naval facility to become Joint Base Andrews. It is the home base of the presidential aircraft known as Air Force One.
During the Washington, D.C. UFO sightings of July 1952, radar operators at Andrews, as well as at Washington National Airport, reported unidentified targets. Some personnel on the ground also reported seeing lights.
The Air Force attributed the radar returns to temperature inversions and the visual reports to stars and meteors, an explanation that some witnesses and later researchers disputed.
Andrews was the second radar site that tracked the 1952 Washington targets.
Mentioned on these pages
Sources
- Gerald K. Haines, 'CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947–90', Studies in Intelligence (1997)Primary text
- Wikipedia, 'Joint Base Andrews'Reference
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