Project Blue Book Case #8811. On May 18, 1964, witnesses in Mount Vernon, Virginia — the Fairfax County community surrounding George Washington's historic estate on the Potomac River — observed a bright object in the sky. Mount Vernon sits just 15 miles south of the Pentagon and directly beneath the approach path for Washington National Airport.
The proximity to the nation's capital placed this sighting within the most restricted and monitored airspace in the country. The Washington Air Defense Identification Zone required identification of every aircraft entering the area. Fort Belvoir, a major Army installation, was immediately adjacent to Mount Vernon.
May 1964 came less than a month after the famous Socorro, New Mexico, close encounter. The case was classified "Unknown."