PROJECT BLUE BOOK

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USAF Historical Archives
ASI(ASHAF-A)

Maxwell AFB, Ala 36112

UNCLASSIFIED

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7°3445 —- 3 73
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Dr, Robinson observed that in the case of this flight, an irregularly
shaped yellow light appeared in the rear, The formation ineluded dark
diffuse areas, and the are itself quivered or pulsated in the direction of
its travel.

Each object had an angular magnitude that would be the equivalent of
12 inches across at a distance of 30 or 40 feet, and in violent egitation.

This was the first sighting that Mr. Heineman, who hed been skeptical
about the whole thing, made, The sighting was so low and so spectacular
that he was really jolted, and apparently showed it, for the grow jokingly
dubbed it "Heineman's Norror", The flight had the appearance of a group
of 12 te 15 pale objects in the shape of « cundrant of a circle, producing
@ pale-yellow blinking light and moving noiselessly,

The professors claim 12 "official sightings," This is their ow tern,
as they would not recognise any sighting that was not witnessed by at least
two of their group, They do not completely accept the photographs taken
by Carl Hart, and state that, had they felt it possible, they would have
made every effort to take photographs themselves, but that the objects
moved too fast, They have also taken into consideration the serial activity
that was taking place over the SW United States at that time -- the much
publicized "Green Fireballs", They attempted to tie up the two, but could
find no association between the fireballs and the flying objects that they
had seen,

((How green are the fireballs?))

((The reported green fireballs that flashed across the skies of SW
United States in great numbers during 1945, '49, and '50 are still a matter

of great conjecture, They were thought by some scientists to be meteors.
Dr, J. Kaplan of the Scientific Advisory Board is one such scientist, but
he qualified his beliefs "The daytime 'firebell' incidents sre completely
baffling, No meteor would persist for as long as thirty mimites, (EDITOR'S
NOTEs The daytime incident of 27 March 1949 lasted more then half an hour,
This duration igs much longer than any recorded genuine meteoric incident, )
The characteristics of the nocturnal green fireballs, of relatively the
same height and having no sound, are ones which are difficult te observe
without very careful instrumentation as to their (height).))

((Dr. Lincoln La Pas, director of the Institute of Meteorites, Univer-
sity of New Mexico, Albuquerque, made a comprehensive study of the fireballs
and felt that they were not meteors, Dr. la Pag stated: "Most of the reports
of ‘green fireballs' atate that they appear to move in horizontal paths,
throughout its entire extent, to the plane of the horizon, Such persistent
horigontality stands in the sharpest contrast to the downwardly concave
paths traversed by genuine meteorites, when these penetrate deeply into the
atmosphere of the earth, ))

(("In the case of gemmine meteorite falls, with luminous paths terminat-
ing even at heights considerably greater than those at which the real peths
of the green fireballs are situated, the observed luminous phenomena are
always accompanied by extraordinarily violent noises, le noises whatever
have been observed in connection with any ons of the horigontally-moving
green fireballs, ))

(("The enoralous greenish luminous phenomena show a curious aseociation
with well-known meteor showers, although none of these annual meteor showers
normally produce extremely bright green firebalis, The relationship cited

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might indicate an attermt to render the green fireballs less conspicuous
by causing them to appear only when there is a background of considerable
natural meteoric activity,"))

Now "Blue Book"

The study of unidentified aerial objects by the USAF was first
assigned the name of Project Sign; this wae later changed to Project Grudge;
recently the name Project Blue Book hes been assigned to it, In order to
support Project Blue Book, severel conferences have been held wit!) members
of a research organization, The highly qualified members of this organiza-
tion were given access to the USAF files on the project, After a study of
the information available, they decided that there are ensvet reports that
cannot be explained to warrant a detailed investigation, Several other
engineers and ecientists have been contacted and their opinionge are much
the same,

Still they fly

And so the unidentified aerial objects remain in the realm of the unm
identified, There remain practically armed camps of opinion: those who
say it is all silly witchehuntings those who keep an open minds and those
whe will fight to the death to defend the validity of "those things that
fly." The answer, if there is one, will eventually materialize, and the
USAF will not be caught napping, Until that time, it places itself in the
“open mind" category,

BOX
Flying pie-pan

UAO hoaxes have been almost non-existent in recent years, but Air

Force files still contain records of some of the early hoaxes, A typical

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* ®

incident took place in Shreveport, Louisiana, in July 1947, The papers
played the story big, and it was a two-dey sensation, Mr, H~---, of
Shreveport, decided that he would stop by a used-car lot on his way home
from work and try to find a bargain car, As he stood looking over the
prospects, he heard a loud whirring and, looking up, saw a bright, silvery
@ise, which appeared to him to be spitting fire and smoke, It dropped,
with a erash, in the street, He rushed over, retrieved the object, then
contacted Barksdale AFB,

The thing was crudely made and so obviously a hoax thet Barksdale
personnel were able to thank Mr, H~--—-- and assure him that it wes the work
of a practical joker. The next day a very red-faced gentleman admitted
that he was the maker of the saucer, He was employed by an electrical
firm whose building was next door to the used-car lot, The saucer-meker
had planned the episode as a joke te be played on his boss, He had
launched the thing from the roof of the building and, true to plan, it
had actually landed near his employer's car, The pay-off wes thet his boss
peid no attention to it, but Mr, H-— did and the joke backfired.

IS THERE A SIMPLE, NATURAL EXPLANATION?

Astronomical, meteorological, and light phenomena, or simply failure
of observers to recognize familiar objects in the air for what they really
are, may explain mony reported UAO sightings.

It ig midnight, A luminous body, seemingly as bright as the sun,
streaks across the sky, It emits sparks and puffs of smoke, and trails
vhat appears to be a long, fiery exhaust, The object then disappears
with a series of flashes, and, shortly after, a fearful roar and earth
shaking explosions are heard, Only one mn witnesses this event, Never
having observed anything so awesome in the skies before, he is convinced
that he must have ssen en interplanetary space ship,

Perhaps he has, it will never be possible to say with absolute cer-
tainty that he cannot have seen an extra-terrostial yehicle, There are no
other witnesses to the incident and, therefore, by <he rules of evidence,
no one competent to controvert conclusively his conviction that he has
seen space travelers in transit, A a however, if he were mores
familiar with astronomical phenomena, he would identify his UAO as a more
conventionel visitor from space -— a meteorite, What he has seen and
heard tallies very closely with the frequently observed and startling
phenomena of light and sound that often accompany the fall of meteorites,
Over 100 million meteors fall daily |

One hundred million or more msteors come racing into the earth's
atmosphere daily at speeds of 100,000 miles per how, to meet their doom
under the force and tremendous frictional resistence encountered at such

13

velocities, Those which partly survive the friction of the earth's
etmosphere and fall to the ground, frequently with the startling light and
sound effects reported by our observer, are called meteorites, Unusually
brilliant meteors ere called firebalis, These often leave luminous trains
that may persist as long as an hour after the fireball itself has disappeared,
Daylight meteors frequently do not appear luminous, but do leave a trail,

and often no noise is heard, Sometimes meteors explode in mid-air, These
are called bolides,

Of the meteors which fall daily, about 25 million are visible to the
naked eye, most of them appearing as the femillar "shooting stars" that
occasionsily dart across the sky at night, Yet very few of these are ever
found, for it is probable that most meteors are a body no lerver than a
pinhead, One no larger than a golf ball may appear as bricht as the full
moon, Small wonder, then that meteors and their derivatives suggest them
selves as likely explanations of many UAO sightings,

Another astronomical phenomenon which may provide an answer to some
of these sightings is the recurrent brilliance of our nearest planet, the
familiar morning and evening star -- the planet Vemis, It outshines all
celestial bodies except the sun and the moon, and, near the times of its
greatest brilliancy, it is plainly visible to the maked eye even at midday,
when attention is directed to it. It outshines Sirius, the brightest star,
by fifteen times, Vemus, when as bright as this, and shining through
interstices in the clouds, could easily give the effect of a fleming object
with a tail — a description featured in many JAO reports, So could Mercury,
or the red planet Mars,

Seientifie analysis of all UAO reports received to date indicates
that almost 40% may be attributed te failure of the observer, for one
reagon or enother, to identify such astronomical phenomena, Additional
astronomical and other phenomena of the skies which may be included in
this category, although, at most, they explain only an occasional sighting
ares 1) godiacal light (the glow along the zodiac of sunlight reflected
by meteoric material); 2) zodiacal light's counterglow, known as gegenseheings
3) the ghostly beams and curtains of light of the purera borcolis and surora
gustrojis, seldom seen in our latitudes, but which are common enough near
the magnetic poles; 4) illusory effects of clouds and light in connection
with such familiar celestial bodies as the sum and the moons and 5) ball
lightening,
Nothine systerious about many UAOs

Another 35% of UAO sightings may be attributed to misinterpretation of
objects no more mysterious than weather belloons, aircraft, and even common-
place things like birds and wind-borne bits of paper, Ali normal, intelli-
gent people from time to time mistake some more or less familiar object for
another object, These errors arise chiefly from inability to estimate size,
speed, and distance, It is not possible to estimate accurately such
characteristics of small bright objects against the sky unless the object
is first identified, This is doubly true et night. Small objects may
occasionally be borne to great heights by strong winds, It would be im
possible to estimate the distance, size, and speed of such objects, and it
would be easy to fail to recognize thom,

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'}

The best guesses as to the non-astronomical objects which elicit
many UAO reports include reflections of the sun from distant aircraft,
running lighte on aircraft, searchlights on clouds, flares, and the pre-
viously mentioned wind—horne objects, Best guess of all in this category,
however, is balloons — weather, research, and even old-fashioned carnival
balloons.

More than 10% of UAO reports may reasonably be put down to balloons
which are released on routine synoptic ascents by the Alr Weather Service,
the Navy Aerologiceal Service, or the United States Weather Dureau, In
adéition, U. S, Army units and other public and private institutions, such
as universities, make weather balloon observations,

Pibals are released for observation of winds aloft at almost every
airport in the United States that has regular military and airline traffic,
They rise at about 600 feet per mimte, and because of their comparatively
smal]. size, just 30 inches in diameter, they are difficult to see abovs
feet. Therefore, they probably account for only a few UAO sightings,

RAOES look like dises at &5,000 feet

More likely stimuli to UAO reports sre instrument—carrying belloons —
rawinsonde and radiosonde (RAOBS), RAOSS are six feet in diameter at release,
but they inflate to twenty to twenty-five feet before they burst at altitudes
ranging up to 90,000 feet. If weather conditions are ideal, they can be seen
with the naked eye at altitudes up to 55,000 feet, At this altitude, they
can definitely take on the appearance of flying discs, Ali the sites in the
United States where scheduled instrument balloon releases are made are shown

on the map on page

16

RAOKS carry lights at night, a fact which may account for some
instances when pilots attempted to chase UAOs during hours of darkness,
Such conditions could have produced a loss of orientation on the part of
the observer, Movement is always relative, If the only outside point of
reference iz a point of light, and both the object and the observer are
moving, it is practically impossible for the observer to separate the two
motions, It is difficult enough to fly a good pursuit curve on another
eirereft in broad daylight, for example, let alone to close on a solitary,
moving light at night.

Another type of belloon figuring in the UAO picture is the kind used
in connection with Project Skyhook, These weird plastic bags, which ascend
to heights of over 100,000fcet, are shown in the photo at right, They are
flown from mobile launching sites, sometimes singly and sometimes in clusters,
Ballasted to float at fixed altitudes, they carry reacio transmitters so that
they may be tracked by means of very—high-frequency Girection-finding equip-
ment for the duration of their flight over the United States, or until
either their ballast or their batteries are expended, However, these, as
well as the less spectacular balloons, may be lost and wind up in the UAO
files,

It has been suggented that some VAOs, especially those where the object
wes described as cigar=-shaped, might actually be guided missiles, This
eppears to be an unlikely explanation, These missiles are launched at only
three locations throughout the United Statess 1) Point Mugu, north of
Los Angeles, Celif.; 2) White Sends, Aris.; and 3) Patrick AFB, Cocoa, Fla.

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i

Firing is conducted out to see and over controlled test ranges, Since
all unauthorized persons are shooed out of the area, there would be no one
likely to turn in a UAO report,

After eliminating UAO sightings attributable to the astronomical and
the non-astronomical phenomena considered in this article, together with

the hoaxes, discussed on page » Plus those reports lacking suffie-

ient evidence for investigation -- after all this, approximately 15% of
UAO sightings remain bona fide TJAOs, Theat is, the evidence suggests no
ready explanation,

Trick of temperature - inversion and refraction?

One possible explanation has been advanced by the Hervard astrophysic-
ist, Dr. Donald H, Menzel, (See Look, June 17, 1952, pp. 35=39.) As sum
marized by Time, June 9, 1952, pp. 54~56, the kernel of Dr, Mengel's
hypothesis follows:

"Normally, the atmosphere grows cooler as altitude increzses, but
under gome conditions it may contain layers of warm sir with cold air below
them, These are calied ‘inversions.' They occur in all climates but are
commonest in deserts, where both the ground and the sir get very hot in day-
time. As soon as the sun sets, the ground cools off, radiating ite warmth
into the sky, The air for a few feet up grows cool by contact with the
cool earth, but the air a little higher stays warm . . The warm air
overhead turns downward the light from bright objects, such as street lights
or auto headlamps,"

Temperature inversion and refraction, as propounded by Dr, Menzel, is
familiar to most of us as motorists when we see the mirage which looks like
shining water in the road ahead, Other inversions occur when a warm layer
of air hangs several thousand feet 1m, A pilot flying just above this

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Many times in recent months, the question has been asked: “why fhas
the USAF renewed its interest in unidentified aerial objects?" The pro-
ject was dropped as a special priority project in 199, but it has cone
tinued since then as a normal intelligence function. UA! intelligence
has nothing to sell except facts, and to sais down the facts in this matter
is like pinning down Kilroy.

It is quite understandable why a great many people take a dim view
of the study of"flying saucers". The whole subject is so fantastic that
anyone studying the pattern of the reports received by the USAF soon finds
himself in an atmosphere of “Alice in Wonderland" fantasy. And yet, facts
do exist: reports are coming in with increasing frequency, and the persons
who see these objects are sincere and in most cases mature and competent
people. The sighters are, generally speaking, convinced beyond the shadow
of a doubt that what they have seen is real. tlowever, they are sometimes

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sensitive about discussing the matter, for fear of being thought to be off =

their rocker. This regrettable attitude on the part of the public has been oe
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engendered largely by the fanciful, and occasionally sarcastic, coverage hS

layer, especially if its power to divert light is increased by dust, may
see below him the displaced image of the sun, the moon, or even a brightly
lighted cloud, The image may be distorted by waves in the inversion, and
a whole formation of objects may then appear to be in rapid motion,

Reflection and refraction theories as natural explanation of UAO
reports are questioned by authorities like Dr, Ronald Ives, the Cornell
geophysicist, who is ean outstanding authority on mirages, Dr. Ives points
out that the reflectivity of temperature disparities in the air is so
slight that it reduces the intensity of the light source to a negligible
degree -~ far less bright than the brilliantly luminous objects that have
been so frequently seen,

Most UAOs can be explained with some degree of certitude, Dr. Menzel

or someone else may have the answer to all, some, or none of the unexplained
15%.

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* *
OTHERS MIGHT BE SPACE SHIPS

CRAFT FROM OUT YONDER COULD BE DISCS, SPHERES, OR BIC Ve2s WITH WINGS

It 4s just possible that some of the unidentified objects may be space
ships from another planet, The idea of space trave) is no longer the fan-
tastic subject 1t was in the years before World War Ti, In the USAF's
study of unidentified objects, space ships have been given serious consid
eration,

Although we do not know what a space ship from another planet will
look like, we do know approximately what e space ship built on Berth will
look like,

Willy Ley, the rodket expert, says the ship will look like a large
rocket —- like a V-2, but taller, Its height will be 10 to 12 times its
largest dianeter, It will have short wings, placed far back, The wings
will be either sharply swept back, or will have a delta configuration,
Such a ship will have an atomic power plant. Thrust for take-off will be
provided by a chemical booster, to avoid making the take-off area radio=
active, and the atomic power will be used shortly afterward,

However, a transport from another planet micht have the shape of a
sphere, or a disc, For travel through the Earth's atmosphere, the sphere
would not be noarly as efficient as a thin dise, The sphere could have
tremendous strength, but its aerodynamic characteristics would not match
those of the disc, In the vacuum of outer space, however, the shape of
& space ship would not affect its space at all.

If the unidentified objects are space ships from outside the Earth's
orbit, the strange behavior of some of them (hovering, flying in jerky

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——_——_—— a

em

bursts of speed, changing direction at high speed, spinning, and acceler~
ating suddenly to high speeds) can be explained only by 1) a source of power
unknown to Earthlings; 2) mterials possessing greater strength and ¢reater
ability to resist heat than any now known on Barth; 3) physically superior
beings oe robots capeble of withstanding enormous G forces --or; 4) a new,
radical means of overcoming or screening gravity.

Two possibiiitics: Mars and Venus

Space ships could come here from either Mars or Venus, Other planets
in the solar system are considered poor prospects for life to exist, IDe-
cause of the climatic and atmospheric conditions believed to exist on Mars,
4t is thought by astronomers that a race of intelligence beings would be
more likely to be found on that planet than on Venus, Mars hes a rare
atmosphere, nearly devoid of oxygen end water, and its nights are much
colder than our Arctic winters, The atmosphere of Vemis appears to be cloudy,
and apparently consists mainly of carbon dioxide with deep clouds of formald-
ehyde droplets. Venus seems to have little or no water,

Despite these environmental characteristics, it is possible that intelli-
gent beings exist on both planets, Such beings could be types whose body
chemistry, size, appearance, and basic requirements for maintenance of life
are entirely difference from our own,

When Mare is nearest Farth, it is about 35,000,000 miles away, When
Vers is nearest Earth, it is about 26,000,000 miles away, Venus is nearly
as large as Earth; Mars is smaller than Vemus,

Space ships might come from other soler systems

Arguments such as those applied to Mars and Venus need not necessarily
apply to planets orbiting stars other than our sun, saceording to J, EB, Lipp,
of the Rand Corporation,

Many planets outside our solar system may have the environnental
characteristics of Earth, The existence of life on planets which have the
"richt conditions" is not only possible, Lipp firmly believes, but inevitable,
He assumes, for the sake of his argument, that man is "everage", and thus
that half the beings on such planets are ahead of us in knowledge, and have
reached various levels of space travel experience, Conceivably, as Lipp
suggests, among the myriads of other solar systems in space, one or more races
of intelligence beings on planets far removed from our solar system HAVE
discovered methods of travel that we could regard only as fantastic, Yet,
the greater the astronomical distances that would have to be traversed by
space travelers to reach our Earth from outside our solar system, the slighter
the chance that space travelers would ever find thizg planet, The calaxy
we are in has a diameter of about 100,000 light years, anda total mass
of about 200 billion times that of ow sun, Other galexies, at distances
up to billions of light years, have been photographed, numbering several
hundred million and each containing millions of individual stars, A race
of superior intelligence, unless it occurs frequently in outer space, would
not be likely to stumble woon Planet III of Sol, a fifth-macnitude ster in
the outskirts of our local, or Milky Way, galaxy.

CAPTIONS for SOME OTHERS MIGHT BE SPACE SHIPS
BREAKING ELLTPSES, Space ship coming to Earth might execute several ellipses
as shown in order to reduce speed for landing, Drawing is to scule, except
that atmosphere (broken circle) is four times too deep,

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VII PRE-1947 UAO REPORTS

Eerly--meaning pre-1947--repor's are rich and varied, and fall con-
sistently, like modern sightings, inte three categories: luminous balls;
saucer-shaped objects; cigar~shapec objects,

ELITOR'S NOTE: TIME, in a recent article, mentioned the eelebrated
"airship" reported seen in 1996-97 by thousands of people from Oskland,
Calif,, to Chicago, and printed part of a clipping about it from the New
York HERALD of 11 April 1897, READERS DIGEST, in an article in its July
1952 issue, "Flying Saucers Are New in Name Only," mentioned reported UAO
sightings in 1913, 1904, 1897 (the same one mentioned by TIME), 1862, and
1870, These references pave a stmerficial impression that JING and READERS
DIGEST had extensively researched the subject of early UAO sightings, These
eminent magazines, howeyer, for all their reputations for thoroughness and
their larrce research staffs, barely scratched the surface of this rich and
extraordinarily interesting subject,

It is rather widely believed that the now-famous “Arnold Report" of
24, June 1927* was the first UAO report, Actually, reported UAO sightings
go way, way back--well over a century and possibly to Old Testament days,
Alvost all "early sightings," as they have been short-titled by the Air Force,
fall inte the same main categories that the modern sightings fall intos
luminous balls, saucer-shaped objects, or cigar-shaped objects,

The ATR INTELLIGENCE DIGEST recuests its readers to make their own
evaluations of these early reports, Were they - as many modern sightings
have turned out to be - illusions, mistaken identifications, or hoaxes?

* See third paragraph of the article, "JAOs over USA," page P

23

i

Or were they real, and of terrestrial origin? Or real, and of celestial
origin, possibly transplanetery or even transstellar?

There are many hundreds of reported early sightings on record, but,
after careful screening, the DIGEST has selected for presentation only
those discussed and/or reproduced (see accommanying artwork) in this art-
icle,

A large percentage of the early reports were in the form of letters

to such sober and reputable journals as the London Times; Scientific Amer~

Monthly Review of Astronomysetc, This proves, if it proves nothing else,
that the witnesses were deeply moved and excited by what they saw — or

thought they saw. M, Lincoln Schuster wrote in his introduction to the
book, "A Treasury of the World's Great Letters": "When any person has a
soul-shaking experience, he usually can—and frequently dcoes—write a letter
about it."

"Ezekial Saw de Wheel,"

Zechariah saw a "roll"

The AIR INTELLIGENCE DIGEST will not quarrel with readers who dismiss
as far-fetched any interpretation of the BKiblical cuoctations below as refer-
ences to 1) a dise-shaped UAO and 2) a cigar—shaped UAO. These quotations
are presented solely for whatever significance, if any, that DIGEST readers

may read into them,

The wording of the well-known reference in Izekial iss", . « &
whirlwind came out of the north. . . a fire unfolding. . . anda
brightness was about it, out of the midst thereof as the color of amber
« e « it sperkled like the color of burnished brass , . , like burn
ing coals of fire, and like the appearance of lams . . . the appear
ance of the wheele was like unto the color of a beryl (greenish-blue) .

» e¢ as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel",

Less familiar is a passage in Zechariah: "Then 1 turned, and lifted
up mine eyes, and looked, and belield a flying roll, ., . the length
thereof (was) twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof (was) ten cubits,"
"Roll," in Biblical terminology, usually meant the parchment rolls then
used for books, In some translations, the phrase "flying book" is sub-
stituted for "flying roll" in the foregoing passage, Converting cubits
into feet, Zechariah's "flying roll" measured 30 by 15 feet,

12 January 1838

Extensive controversies raged among astronomers during the 17008
about mmerous smell objects observed near Venus, Were they optical
iliusions? Satellites of Verus? A planet between Vemms and Mercury?
These telescopically observed objects probably have no connection with
UAOs, although some commentators, notably Charles Fort, have tried to
establish such a connection, We are possibly on firmer ground in quoting
a brief reference in the 1877 I

" . « e & report that at Cherburg, France, on
12 January 1638, was seen o luminous body, seemingly two-thirds the size
of the moon, It seemed to rotate on an axis, Central to it there seemed

24

te be a dark cavity", The similarity of this earliest dated UAO report
to many modern sightings is immediately apparent,
Neture: 1880, 1893

The magazine Nature, subtitled A \
reported an unusually interesting sighting in its 20 May 1880 issue, ‘The
Stem on "remarkable phenomenon observed at Kattenau, near Trakehnen (Ger

many)" deseribed “an enormous number of luminous bodies" which "rose from
the horizon and passed in a horizontal direction from east to west. They
moved through space like a string of beads, and shone with a remarkably
brilliant light." Some were estimated to the "the size of a walnut,”
others resembling "sparks from a chimney," and, in connection with these
estimates of size, it is important to bear in mind that apparent size and
real size are two very different things, especially as applied to celestial
phenomena,

In the 25 May 1893 issne of Nature appeared the much~quoted sighting
report of the "unknown lights of Japan", This stated that "the globes
altered in their formation, ,. . and. . .« took the form of a crescent
er diamond, or hung festoon-fashion in a curved line",

See, and compare, the material on the modern "Lubbock Lights" sight~
ings, on page _____séOf:«the article, "UJAOs over USA,"

London Times

On page ss are reproduced some of the more interesting letters
and news items about UAOs that eppeared in the great Times of London from
1848 to 1869, 4n 1870 letter to the Times is our cover picture this month,

25

Why UAO reports, in all their varied, strange, and sometimes wildly
extravagant forms should have poured in on the ultra~conservative Times
("the Thunderer") is a mystery as challonging as that of the UAOs then~
selves, ‘The sorious treatment the Times gave these reports, however, is
gratifying to look back on, since, in the 1800s, they must have been even
more ineredible--seeming than they are in today's ave of supersonic flight,
radar contact with the moon, and atomic fission,

Here are some selected quotations from Times UAO reports:

"There they shone with a bright flickering light until about 10 o'clock,
when they moved, making a slight curve westward, The speed with which they
migrated was prodigious." (1448).

",. ¢« » & most extraordinary appearance in the sky this evening,
which has quite frightened the superstitious here, At 7:20 a brilliant
red light appeared to the sough by east, about half-way betweon the zenith
and horizon, . . its shape was oblong. . . in about 15 mimites it
rose to the zenith," (1859),

"This (to me) extraordinary object . . . floated steadily away,
northyvest by north, . ,. threw no rays in any direction, . . and
was in my sight, from first to last, about three mimites," (1867),

"A falling eter would never have remained so long visible in the
telescopic field," (1870),

The so-called "Auroral Beam of November 17th, 1862," was the subject
of a 20-page article in Th

amazing phenomenon was none other than the Astronomer Royal, It was des-
eribed by various observers as "spindle-shaped," "a cigar-ship," "torpedo-
like," "weaver's shuttle," and, more specifically, "a bar of yellowish
light, with a 'dark something!’ before the bar and a dark streak where it
passed", The compiler and collater of the observations, Mr, J, Rand Capron,
wrote: "A primary question is whether the ‘beam! was really and truly a
part of the auroral display, or a 'meteor,' 'meteoroid,' ‘cometary body,'
or something allied to any of these, in contra-distinction to an ‘auroral
beam'", The Observatory -— Monthly Review of Astronomy, cormenting on the
Capron article, spoke of the phenomenon as “unususl and striking, not to
say awe-inspiring," but the Observatory editor, Dr. BE. W, Maunder, Fellow
of the Royal Academy of Science, held that it was an auroral, rather than
a meteoric, manifestation, In other words, nobody, not even the best
scientists of the day, could figure it out.

"That airship"

Unquestionably, the most famous and most beffling American UAO was the
"airship" which, first reported over Oskland, Calif,, on November, 1896,
finally appeared, according to thousands of observers, including many re-
putable scientists, over Chicago, The Oakland Tribume of 23 November 1596
led off its goggle-eyed storys "That a huge airship has been hovering over
Oakland for the last few nights hes, in the minds of many, been conclusively
proven", The dispatch said furthers: "The ship resembled a huge bird in its
outlines and seemed to rise and fell in its course," In its 11 April 1897
issue the New York Herald in a dispatch headlined "TAT AIRSHIP NOW AT
CHICAGO", wrote: "For weeks, reports have been coming in from various points

27

\

that has been given the subject in the public press. Il'antastic or not, it

*

is desirable that USAF personnel report aerial objects that they can not
identify. Such reports are considered important and are always given serious
consideration.

"But why", you ask again, "is the Air Force interested in a subject so
ethereal?" The ether is the natural habitat of the Air lorce, which is
charged with the control of the air in the defense of the United States.
Hence it becomes imperative that, until such time as all sightings can be
explained, alertness is maintained. Of the more than 1200 reports now on
file at the Air Technical Intelligence Venter, 154 aneat be satisfactorily
explained or identified. This does not mean that gy of the objects reported
can be unquestionably identified. Some can be. Others can be identified
well enough to be put in the "very probably identified" category. Others
are disregarded, due to the nebulous nature of the information received.

The unexplained 15% have been examined, the sources and contents of the re-
ports have been evaluated and, to date, no explanation has been found for

theme It may be that as more experience is gained, solutions will be found.

In addition to the ATIC malysts already charged with evaluating these reports,
negotiations are being completed to obtain the services of consultants in

the fields of physics, nuclear physics, astronomy, and psychology to assist

in the analysis of the reports.

The truth is that objects are flying over the United States which have
not been identified. Strange things in the air have been reported for cen-
turies, but this does not preclude the fact that the object reported yester-
day or 2000 years ago may have been a mirage, while tomorrow's object may be

anew weapon. These objects may be natural phenomena, balloons, high-flying

between here and California regarding an airship. . , men of unquestioned
veracity declare the woving object was an airship, . . some declare thoy
saw two cigar-shaped objects and sreat wings . . . Chicago and her suburbs

are intensely interested, and the subject is almost the sole topic of con

versation,"
Monthly Weather Review: 1904, 1907
The U.S, Weather Bureau's Monthly Weather Reviey, in its issues of,

respectively, March 1904 and July 1907, printed two of the most mystifying
early- sighting reports on record, They were headed "Remarkable Meteors"
and "A Possible Case of Salil Lightning",

The author of the 1904 report was 't. Prank H, Schofield, |.3,N.,
who stated that he saw "three somewliet remarkable meteors" at 35° 5st
North—128° 36" West, which "appeared near the horizon and below the clouds,
travelling in a group from northwest by north (true) directly toward the
ship . .« e As they approached the ship, they appeared to soar, . .t
(EDITOR'S NOTEs To call meteors which soar "somewhat remarkable" was the
understatement of the century.)

The 1907 report was by William hb, Alexander, official weather fore-
castor of Burlington, Vt., who wrote about an "explosion so sudden, so
unexpected, and so terrific that it stertled practically the entire city of
Burlington," He quoted Bishop John 5S, Michaud who, at the time of the
incident, was standing in conversation with ex-—Goverror Woodbury of Vermont
at the corner of Church and College Streets, [Bishop Michaud, after deserib-
ing the "most unusus] and terrific explosion," saids "I observed a torpedo~
shaped body some 30° feet away, stationary in appearance and suspended in

the air about 50 feet above the tops of the buildings, Although stationary

28

when first noticed, this object soon began to move, rather slowly . . e"
Mongolia: 1927

In the book "Altai-Himalaya," by Nicholas Roerich, painter, traveller,
and mystic, the author wrote that, in Mongolia in 1927, his party saw
“something big and shiny reflecting the sun, like a huge oval moving at
great speed, Crossing our camp, it changed ite direction from south to
southwest. We even had time to take out field glasses and saw quite dis-
tinctly en oval form",
interesting . .« «

HQ USAF evaluates with only one word these early sightings which it
has carefully searched out, sifted, and presented here for your inspection,
They are, undeniably, interesting. No other evaluation is, in fact, poss-
ible, from knowledge now available, Perhaps only the UAO future - -if and
when it finally brings us comprehension of this great, challenging mystery
in our skies --will enalle us to correlate the UJAO present with the UAO
past,

CASE HISTORY OF A UAO

Investigators at ATIC first check to see if a UAO is 1) an aircraft,
2) an astronomical body, 3) a balloon; after this routine, each sighting
requires a separate and unique course of action,

In mid-July, as this is written, Air Technical Intellicence Center at
Wright-Patterson Air Force Pase is being swamped with "AO sightings, Reports
are coming in et the rete of double that of a year ago, In the two weeks

preceding this writing, ATIC's Aerial Phenomena Branch has received (0 such

29

reports, The reports include such interesting ones as that from two Pan
American Airways pilots who reported seeing "eight-glowing red-orange discs"
flying 1,000 miles an hour over Norfolk, Va,

There is no doubt that VAO publicity - now increasingly widespread
in the public press - hes resulted in many of these reports, Project
Grudge in 1949 pointed to a correlation between publicity and the number
of UAO reports, Today, the same trend is apparent, It's a snowball effect,
A sighting receives wide publicity; this results in more reports; these
receive publicity; they result in still more reports.
Publicity ean be good

Perhaps some of these reports are, ae Project Grudge hinted, a "mild
form of mass hysteria," sparked by publicity, Yet, the officer in charge
of the Aerial Phenomena Section feels that the current lerce number of
reports can be viewed in another light. He believes that in the past some
qualified observers who have sighted UAOs failed to report them, due to
fear of ridicule, Many of the current reports, he believes, simly
reflect a knowledge that the Air Force 1s genuinely and seriously inter-
ested in anything and everything that goes on in the atmosphere ebove us.
This new attitude has also come about through publicity. He also believes
that intelligence officers should know the investigative procedure at ATIC,
so that they will understand that their reports are given serious considera-
tion. A typical investigation can be simmed up in the story of a typical
sightings

At about eight o'clock on the morning of 3 April 1952, four civilian
Air Force pilot instructors stood at the airport at henson, Ariz,, observ-
ing a cadet cross-country flight. One of the instructors noticed a

30

) "

"“star—like" object motionless in the sky and called it to the attention
of the other instructors, They inmediately took steps to secure data with
the ecuipment at hand, They wheeled o T~6 around to head toward the UAO,
This gave them the magnetic bearing, Sitting in the cocky t, a pilot
sighted over the canopy to get a rough-and-ready estimate of the eleva-
tion,

One instructor then took off ina T+6, He climbed to 12,000 feet,
but the relative size of the object did not change, This indicated that
the object was very high, Then, after 52 minutes, the object suddenly
disarrenred,

When ATIC received the ""LYOERT" report on this sighting, an officer
first checked to see if any other reports correlated with this one,
Occasionally, ATIC receives a mmber of reports on, say, a meteor or fire-
ball and the various reports fit together like a jigsaw puzzle (this
explains why ATIC wishes intelligence officers to snd in all reports),
First-phase investigetion

In this case, there were no other reports, The officer then began
his investigation's first phases to check whether the object could have
been 1) a high flying aircraft, 2) an astronomical body, 3) a balloon,

He found that B-36s had been flying in the area at the time of the sight-~
ing, but he quickly eliminated them as an explana ion, Mathematics showed
him that a B-36, even flying high enough so that it could not be reeognized,
would have flown through such a wide are in 52 minutes that the change in
bearing would have been readily apparent,

. «

ATIC io staffed with highly-qualified engineers anc scientists, The
Center also has an "on-call" contract with scientists and engineers
representing such fields as miclear physics, metallurgy, psychology, math-
ematics, and chemistry, The investigating officer in this case asked the
consulting astronomer for Project Blue Pook to determine whether an astron-
omical body could have caused the sighting, The astronomer concluded that
no astronomical body which could have been seen in daylight had been in the
portion of the sky where the object has been seen, Vemus, a previous
offender, had been too near the sun to have been seen,

A likely possibility

While the astronomer was checking, the officer began his study of
balloons, a likely possibility for any object that remains stationary
for from five to 60 minutes, He knew that he would be able to check this
possibility with reasonable accuracy, "Piball" balloons that sre not
tracked are seldom reported as UAOs, because of their small size, Large,
instrument-carrying balloons are tracked,

The officer checked his map (see page __.) of U. S. locations
where such balloons are launched. He wired stations near Denson AFB
asking whether they had a balloon in the air at the time, and, if so, the
general path the balloon took, the bearing from the station, and the altit-
ude at which it had burst. His replies were negative, except from Davis-
Monthan AFB, at Tucson, __ nautical miles ._—ss—“iéof's«sBenwon,, The Davis-
Monthan balloon had travelled southeast of Tucson, had reached calm air
at about feet altitude, then had risen vertically until it had
burst at (time,

" .

The officer plotted the location of his balloon during the last part
of dts flight. The bearing of this plot from Benson Airfield was the
seme as the bearing the pilot instructors had reported. The angle of
elevation was within 10 degrees of that estimated by the observers -
close enough when you remember the rough-and-ready method used by the
instructors,

EVALUATION: This UAO was marked down to reflection of the sun from
Rawinsonde balloon flying ____slant miles away from the observers,

Intelligence officers can quickly see, from this story of the UAO
sighting at Henson, the value of requested information (see inside front
cover), In some instances, for example, a belloon-launching station might
lope contact with a balloon, If the reporting officer includes winds
aloft as high as they are recorded, it speeds up the investigation, ‘The
possibility of the UAO being identified as an aircraft is dependent on the
data in the wire from the reporting officer, it is difficult to obtain
data on aircraft flights in the area of the sighting several days after
a report is made, The "fix" on an object at the beginnine and end of its
flight is among the data that the astronomer uses,

A report of an unidentified radar return is handled es a special case,
All such sightings are referred to the electronics branch of ATIC, The
officers at ATIC look forward to receiving radar scope pictures with
reports of radar sightings, A special electronics questionaire is in the
mill,
Some are not so easy

The sighting at Benson was comparatively easy to solve, Others are
not. The now-famous case of the Iubbock Lights* was investigated for weeks

33
* See page in article
"ITAOs over Art

. ’

and was submitted to several scientists and specialists for comments,
The case is still open, the investigation still continuing,

Each UAO that does not yield a tangible result is handled as a spec=
jal case, It requires a separate and unique course of action, The only
SOP is that the investigating officer must dig,

| é é

friendly aircratt}/ or, since they are as yet unidentified, global missiles
or space ships from another plenet.||

It should be stressed that USAF intellicence has no indications that
any foreign nation has a super-weapon capable of flying anywhere in the
vorld at will, nor that craft from outer space are coming near our planet
Zarth, It would be foolish, however, to say that elther is impossible, no|
matter how highly improbeble it may sound, Fifteen years ago, the atomic — | :
bomb was highly improbable,

((The impact of the atom bombs on the entire world is well known, and
it lumediately posed a problem to any nation that held dreams of conmnuest,
It would seem natural for a nation with the apperent plans of the Sevict
Union to use any means possible to negate the leadership stroneth that
possession of the bomb has given the U. 8.))

((It is possible to suppose that UAOs might be a Soviet propaganda
weapon, in which ease, they could be either 1) planted fakes or 2) a clever
use of naturel phenomena designed to create mass hysterie, if thig be true,
it has been as miserable a failure as the balloons woon which the Yanatione
placed so much reliance during World War II,))

((If UAOs are belng used for propaganda, it would be reasonable to dipine
that the USSR would choose first to frighten pro-American nations in Aurope
with the appearance of a radically new weapon, to compensate for the atom
bomb, Yo support this theory, it will be remembered that strange objects
appeared over tho Scandinavian countries in 1946, ‘The objects oheerved haste
were reported to bave umisual range and unusual performance characteristics.

» .

When these incidents subsided, strange objects were reported to be flying
over the U, S, The hypothesis here is that the Soviets could be attempting
to frighten both the European nations and the U. & by a new device that
they hope will be construed to mean that the Soviets are far ahoad of the
rest of the world in technical know-how, ))

The above theory, however, runs into one big stumbling block, If these
objects are weapons or advanced types of aircraft, they ere, of necessity,
man-made, How is it then possible that, in the fom years that the USar
has been studying UAOs, not one has crashed? Man-made devices are not in-
fallible,

To recapitulate, the USAF will maintein an open mind and study all
UAO reports untit enough information has been gathered to explein the un-
saliniadh S0h. Ye wibbeutly veering vnadti, torletig faxiner dN
of evaluating them, and collating them with other reports, a continual
watch is being kept.

UA0s over USA
United States Air Force Headquarters continues to receive an increasing

mumber of reports about weird objects in the sky. These reports - care-
fully checked at the Air Technical Intelligence Center, and when possible,
evaluated = range from balloons to unidentified aerial objects of all con-
ceivable shapes, sizes, speeds, and motions.

The dramatic scope of the subject of unidentified aerial objects has
piqued America's interest for years. In this atomic age there is fascina-
tion in the weird and unknown, since man's inventions themselves approach
the incredible, The public press has nurtured and sustained our interest
in WA0s ((whenever it could find the slightest excuse to ren the atory alive. ))

4

es

Since the USAF has been keeping books, over 1560 AO sightings have
been reported, Many of these reports have come from trained and experienced
U. S&S. Weather Bureau personnel, USAF rated officers, well-~cualified civilian
pilots, technicians associated with various research projects, and, in one
case, a group of professors from a Texas university,

Of these sightings, ehough remain that cannot be explained by any
known cause to justify the USAF in contiming to pursue ite investigations,

On 24 Jure 1947, Kenneth Arnold, a businessman of Boise, Idaho, reported
seeing a chain of nine saucer-like objects whipping in and out of mountain
peaks at 1,200mph, near Mount Rainier in the state of Washington, Mr, Arnold,
who was flying his private aircraft that day, wes so impressed that he con~
tacted the press and the incident was played uw across the country, Because
of the wide publicity this sighting received, many persons consider this
the first UAO sighting, (Nothing could be further fron the truth,*//
vightings

There can be no attempt, in this article, te cover all the sightings
on file at the Air Technical Intelligence Center, Generally speaking, the
configuration of these objects fall into three categories: 1) balls of
fire, 2) disce-shaped, 3) roughly eigar-shaped,

Naturally, the most important thing thet could possibly happen would
be for the USAF to come into nossession of one of these objects, if objects
they be, but next to this in importance is pictorial coverage of the sight
ings. Few pictures are available, with the exception of obvious hoax shots,
for most people do not go about with a camera cocked to catch a breath-tak-
ing flash in the sky,

"See the article "Pre-1947 UAO Reports", beginning on page ‘
5

f
Ae

// One of the best pictures was taken in 1947, On 7 July, William Rhoads
/oe Phoenix, Arizona, saw a dise circling his locality just at sunset, and

/ | took two pictures, These pictures, showing a dise-like object with a round

front and a square tail, have been examined by experts, who state that they
are true photographic images and do not appear to be caused by dirty lenses

-)
On 10 July 1947, Woodruff, a Pan-American Airways mechanic, reported

\\or imperfections in the emilsion, (See page

a circular object flying at a high velocity, paralleling the earth's surface
and leaving a trail which appeared as the "burning-up" (Mr, Woodruff's words)
of a cloud formation, The sighting occurred near liarmon Pield, Newfound~
land, Two other persons also saw the trail, which remained in the sky for
about an hour, and it was photographed by another PAA employee, The result-
ing photographs support Woodruff's observation as far as the long-lasting
vapor trail is concerned, See page é

Death rode on a "saucer" when, on 7 January 1948, a2 National Guard
pilot, Capt Thomes Mantell, was killed while attempting tc chase an unidenti-
fied object up to 30,000 feet. While it is presumed that this phtot suffered
anoxia, resultine in acrash, His last message to the contro] tower was:
"It appears to be a metallic object . . . of tremendous size... directly
ahead and slightly above . . . I am trying to close for a better look .. ."
This sighting was at Godman Air Yorce Fase in Kentucky and was one of the
first to be reported from thet area.
Imbbock lights

Skipping years and many sightings, we arrive at one of the most
puzzling cases to date: amries of sightings over Lubbock, Texas, The high

2 ——————— —

professional standing of the persons who made these observations makes this
case especially worthy of note, The observers were all professors of the
Texas Technical College at Lubbock: W, I, Robinson, Ph, D,, in Geology,

but also well versed in a1] fields of science; A, G, Oberg, Ph. b., profess-
or of Physics; and Prof, ¥. L, Dueker, head of the Petrolewn Engineering
Department,

On the evening of 25 August 1951, these men were sitting in Dr, Robinson's
garden, It was a clear, mid-summer night, and the men were scanning the
skies, counting and discussing meteors as they flashed inte view, when sud-
denly there appeared, in the northeast, a swiftly moving semi-circle of lights,
The savants were astounded by the phenomena and decided they would wateh
earefully for another appearance of this object or objects, and, if it occured,
would attempt to analyze its characteristics,

In about ean hour, their watch was rewarded, This time they were ready,
One man looked while the others acted as timers, The bluish-green lights
were clearly and plainly visible but not brilliant, The individual lights
varied in intensity, and each was somewhat larger in appearance than a star,
ach of the two flights that night consisted of « series of lights in an
acourate V formation which covered about 10° in the sky, The men estimated
that the two flichte were identical in size, shape, velocity, and course,
There wae no sound associated with elther ghostly passage,

During the week following the first sighting, the original group wit-
nessed five flights between the hours of 9 and 12 p.m, By this time the
story had hit the newspapers, and several other people had reported similar

a

sightings, The most startling incident occurred when the Lubbock Morning
Avalanche printed pictures of the flying "What~is~Its", These pictures

were taken by Carl Hart Jr,, an amateur photographer and freshman at Texas
Tech, ((The negatives have been examined by experts of the Photo Laboratory
at Wright Air Development Center and cannot be disproved or declared a hoax, ))

Through the week, the men had discussed their experiences, Several
characteristics seemed to them outstanding, Perhaps the most amazing was
the apparent schedule upon which the objects were operating. The first
appearance each night was so close to 9:20 p.m,, that observers spoke of it,
in railroad parlance, as "old 9:20", The lights never gradually came into
view or gradually disappeared, They were suddenly there -- then, Just as
suddenly, gone.

The group was confident that the angular velocity of the object was
30° a second — this they determined from measurements of several flights,
Stop watches and protractors were used to measure time and angles.

On 1 September 1951, the original group of thwee met again in Dr, Robin-
son's garden and were joined by E. R. Heineman, professor of mathematics,
and Dr, E, Ff, George, professor of Chemical Engineering,

Once again, at about 9820 p.m, a flight came over, It waa similar to
previous flights, but rether mors irregularly grouped, On through the
evening, at fairly regular intervals, four more flights moved across the
sky from North to South, And then at 12317 a.m, the most unusual sighting
was observed, This flight passed directly overhead, flying very low, in the
general direction of North to South, and was seen by everymember of the group.