at 11:40 p.m. on saturday, july 19, 1952, edward nugent, an air traffic controller at washington national airport (today ronald reagan washington national airport), spotted seven objects on his radar. the objects were located 15 miles (24 km) south-southwest of the city; no known aircraft were in the area and the objects were not following any established flight paths. nugent's superior, harry barnes, a senior air-traffic controller at the airport, watched the objects on nugent's radarscope. he later wrote: