New York State Peak Wave 1952

On July 28, 1952 — the peak night of the historic 1952 wave, concurrent with the dramatic Washington DC overflights — New York State experienced a simultaneous mass sighting event spanning from Long Island to the Great Lakes. Griffiss Air Force Base near Rome, New York, tracked multiple unidentified contacts on USAF radar. Rome Air Traffic Control Center confirmed the contacts in civilian airspace. New York State Police received over 400 calls from the public. The simultaneous occurrence in New York and Washington — on the same night — demonstrated the nationwide scope of the 1952 wave. The FBI's Albany and Syracuse field offices coordinated what became one of the Bureau's most extensive regional UAP investigations, interviewing hundreds of witnesses and compiling a state-wide pattern analysis. The investigation was personally reviewed by Director Hoover, who had maintained active interest in UAP since 1947. The New York State investigation contributed to the evidence base that prompted the CIA to establish the Robertson Panel later that year.