During two consecutive weekends in July 1952, multiple unidentified radar returns were tracked over restricted airspace in Washington D.C. by controllers at Washington National Airport Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) and Andrews Air Force Base. Objects appeared on radar screens traveling at estimated speeds up to 7,200 mph and maneuvering over the White House, Capitol, and restricted airspace known as ADIZ. Airline pilots flying into National Airport visually confirmed lights matching the radar positions. F-94 interceptors were scrambled on both weekends; the objects disappeared when jets approached and reappeared after they departed. The incident generated major public and press attention and prompted what became the largest Pentagon press conference since World War II. On July 29, 1952, Major General John Samford, Air Force Director of Intelligence, addressed reporters and attributed the radar contacts to temperature inversions - a meteorological condition that can cause radar anomalies. This explanation was disputed by the radar operators who tracked the objects, including ARTCC supervisor Harry Barnes, who stated the returns were sharp and distinct and not consistent with known temperature inversion effects. Project Blue Book Chief Captain Edward J. Ruppelt investigated the incidents and later wrote that the Washington flap was one of the most significant UAP events on record. Multiple radar operators and airline pilots who directly observed or tracked the objects maintained that the temperature inversion explanation did not account for what they witnessed. The case remains officially attributed to temperature inversions but this explanation is contested by primary witnesses and subsequent analysts.