Project Blue Book Case #1037. On January 16, 1952, an unidentified object was observed near Artesia, New Mexico — a small city in the Pecos Valley approximately 40 miles south of Roswell and its Walker Air Force Base. Walker AFB was a Strategic Air Command installation hosting the 509th Bombardment Wing — the same unit that had dropped the atomic bombs on Japan and that was at the center of the 1947 Roswell incident.
The Roswell-Artesia-Walker AFB corridor was among the most historically significant locations in UFO history. Whether or not the 1947 Roswell incident involved an actual unidentified craft, the area's association with the phenomenon was firmly established by 1952. The continued appearance of unexplained objects near the 509th's home base added to the mystique.
January 1952 was the first month of Project Blue Book's formal existence, and Case #1037 was among the program's early entries. The Pecos Valley's clear, dry atmosphere and flat terrain provided excellent observation conditions, and the area's limited civilian air traffic simplified the investigation.
Artesia's position in New Mexico's nuclear corridor — between the weapons labs of Los Alamos and Sandia to the north and the missile ranges of White Sands and Holloman to the west — placed it within a region that consistently produced the highest concentration of Blue Book unknowns.
The object was not identified. The case was classified "Unknown."