PROJECT BLUE BOOK

ae | hs

the tower as from the Filter Center. The angles must be regarded as in-
determinate, and as far as altitude is considered it appeared higher from
the tower than from the Filter Center. The altitude is ince*erminate since
we do not know the distance. All observers said the objects could not truly
be distinguished one from the other. One or more objects, then, were visible

from 0542Z until 0850Z, that is, for approximately three hourse

We interrogated not only Sgt. Harry but rs i, \-. cap.

-—_—-—-

Ls geal, and Yrs - a”. While their stories did not agree exactly (and
this would have been suspicious if they had) there me seneral agreement as

to color change, wtions, and the fact that one objects. gotusaly had been there.
One other tehavior of the objects is” worthy of meriton, and it. was

pointed out repestsily. At the tine, 6f the (passing of the C-12h, the object

closest to it «~ > ject ¥ a _ aac yin in a sort of a signaling way.

It was likened ‘© the signalinmof a aE’ sional blinker but not as fast.
Te

It was most prenounced ta eh, but ‘eed said it was taken up by # 3 and then

}

§ 2, an though 0 vave Med pases f Ah to # 2
\\
i ’ ANALYSIS
is

There ssibility that object # 2 might have been Capella,

although if the motion drawn byajeis to be trusted, this is ruled out.

Likewise, in the *rianguliation ‘ron the airport and the fiiter Center. Cde@

ject # 2 appeared to Nhe NE of the Filter Center and due North of the tower.

The tower directions are to be trusted since the window faces directly
eoject # 2 was seen square out of the ri :

——

DOWNGRADED AT © > \? Inveprars.
DECLASSIFIED 2:13 12 YEars

UNCLASSIFIED DOD Dik ur YEARS

P.; | a : Ys
UNCLASSIFIED
The local nature ¢f this phenomenon should be stressed. The

appearance of the first object in the direction to be expected from the

alert from Roller Skate may be regarded as coincidental. It seems improbable

thouch certainly not impossible that these were the same objects observed

near “apid City.

We can conclude that there is no ready explanation for these objects.
To call them aircraft, balloons, or stars becomes somewhat of a desperation

move, though the balloon hypothesis would be the least objectionable. ‘the

objects were otar-)l ike, changed a great deal in color, and were probably
fatrly local. ‘ith reference to the last fonts tt vex were local they
were not large, or at least the Li; oN not very ort because the
lights wpparent!y were not much opsiiter thay ja first magnitude star, and
some observers ‘i'+i that often Si» amauta fainter.

Until further a am is f coming, this incident must be put

Ls
down as one of tha hast/ /pframpres ‘ae nmooturnal meandering lights which have

been reported «lie: cane ‘in the Lite} turee To do otherwise would be to doubt

the first order p—ulLlee iit or 06 ers who stood up very well under con=
siderable qieetiontag. The ‘triangulations also bear out Sgt. Harry's visual

s, even though such estimates must be subjective.
c

ex" imates the dis

t was 2 to 3 miles west of the Filter Center and

Ke stated t rirst

calculations show 2 miles. Cbject # 2, he felt was 6 to 8 miles away and

calculations show acproximately 3 miles.

me :_- . id > hn > - gS 4 - ~ - é : —_—* *4 — ~ : |
Jispite the fact that the incident started in Rapid City and Black Haws,
, ; >. « : oo , " ° +7} M be en me —- — . ‘
: evidence there does not hold together in ne imner oO; 12 mare 2ncee
observers are more excitable and less matter of fact and certainly have less

DOWNGRADED AT,

DECLASSIFIED ‘AFTER 12 ? YEARS

UNCLASSIFIED ae

(i

All that can be said is that if the angles are correct, or even
approximately so, since after all, one person saw the object to the north
and another observer saw it to the east, the phenomenon was a local ona.

The objects were not observed from the 0.P.s around Zismarck though these
had been alerted, and it was not reported in ‘'andan, which is just 5 miles
west of Bismarck. they are reported to have a very active Observation Fost.
In Capte Ruppelt's original report, he stated that aithourch he did not visit
Pismarck, he felt that inasmuch as they had been alerted to watch out for

something; they became excited and "saw lichts." T ¢annot accept this in-
’

terpretation in the least since the observers interrd:ated were in my opinion

°oo--——
/

2 definite cut above the average person. The operation ef the Filter Center

ln r \
seemed to be very etticient and it wag gppareat that they fad recruited very
sf i
good people for the work. Sgt. ater in particular spoears thorou hly-re-

XX f/f
liable and acci rate sand is very mudy ton 4; ® ball.” f would personally tend

+.

to discount the rapid up ons daWmgot tog and the erratic motions because it
‘Sal ‘ SS
is well known 'iat 4 ooipt of Licht Watchew eonsistantly will appear to do

very strange tri ous. ‘a for the ol ges of position, especially since the

* ‘\
objects were ssaleiten Yah hours, and the changes of color, appear

~~.

to be substantiated. However, even the color changes may be entirely sub-

) filters down the Bismarck evidence, one comes to

/
objects were observed there which were not stars or

a
aircraft and if they were balloons they were extremeiy strange ones whose

presence was totally unexplaiksd. Tt is most unfortunate that pictures were

2 ‘eo ‘Temes ~»* »* -a= Pan 41 rr 2 rf tnat
Jbl = io & i» aS

-
> ad ’ ‘* he el *

" +. P bh . ; — .
. 422n On. n23s83 9955 2ch3a, ina Lv > ; weit > 7-4

future communications from ATIC should stress emphatically that pictures

DOWNGRADED AT 3 YEAR INTFRT

t AFTER 12
UNCLASSIFIED corey ye ree

— nae .

>
~~.

UNCLASSIF!ED

Three kinds of evicence are present in the South Dakota sightings:
visual from the grount, from GOC; radar evidence; and visual from the air.
All visual sightings at tapid City and Flack Fawk were quite low on the
horizone This itself makes matters suspect. The initial incident which
started the whole.train of events was the sichting by “liss a
at avout 0305Z, of an object which appeared in tha south=eastg moved rapidly
to the SSE. changing @eolor from red to green as it a 502 Yt then hovered

there for awhile, she said, and then went back quite'quickiy and disappeared

back of the hills. gwhen asked to estimate the time ho rould have taken to
ZA oe

> eee

cross the finevers ot her outestretched hand, - she @s ima bed about 5 seconds.

a.

This is quite in contradiction to a Aapecinal statements > She was observing
it from the front sters of a neig a sa i and accordingly, Fige 9 and
10 are shots ti: from the exact ‘pe ti “i, the observation. ‘irs. qin
@ifiegmerho saw the onject EN “ee at sari "it's nothing but the
red tower light." (Thay (* an Tl . a red inate etion licht barely
visible from thet) soren\ ) This asfablishes at any rate the redness of the

colore The changing. to breve ait be subjective althouch both were emphatic |
‘al > :
that it did/ fais. Poth omen were asked independently to draw the vath of

~~,

more or less agree, as seen in Fig. 9 and 10. ‘Since

this was the incident, it is interesting to speculate whether ‘his
was an aircraft. Wiss @6MM. ,. althouch an excitable and rmther cocky incivid-
ual, and in some respects overbearing, is nevertheless rated 2s one of the best

servers cornected with the Filter Venter, She is reput-u to w Planes in
iefail and has on occasion identified the aircraft as *co tyre anc moor »

=) ae . : o an — a Ya Oe a a
would only dimly be heard in the aistance. To the direct stion as to

' DOWNGRADED AT 2 YDAR INTERVALS
DECLASSIFIED A TER 12 YEARS
DOD DIR 5200.0

—
~~ «© = ee ea te

LINCLASSIFIED pogre
ee ee ae 9

eR, ,
UNCLASSI. +

She alerted the Vilter Center, and they immediately notified the

ADC radar at Ellsworth 1fS. The base is located about 10 mites directly

east of Black Hawk and Black Hawk is about 7 miles MV of Rapia City. Three

posts therefore formed a triangle and it is most unfortunate that 2t any
given time objective observers were not present to cive directions. lo such

observations exist,and the distances of these objects, if present at all,

are inceterrinate.
‘4

Liss a: next states that she saw an obje¢t airectly overhead

Po
which moved very rapidly to the northe Shs was the only one who saw this, |
| A te ~ :

however, anl it {5 ;ossible, in my opinion, that "hy Mehcht have been a |
“a |

mateore ‘She s' f course, no}; rs R\geteors V |
|

At about ‘iat time she CCS ar. vy and went over to the Aldren |

Kho the object had cisappeared

farm, about 3,/)\ uti? aysye She we << sy,
NR had seen. As she was talking |

to pay a neighbo: ly
to Mrse Aldren it was v7 Passer S28 the second, or really the third |

object. It's position if inateated) Fige ll. Note the closeness to the |

\\
horizon. “his abjeat ai. nat wand was starlike, and in my opinion could |

i ~
Pa
neen the star Capellae It remained in approximately the same |

very well
position, olé@r two hours. The Aldren boys and the elder Aldrens |
were inside) no attention to the talk of the women outside who |

said they saw some strange object. aaa told me that he felt the women |
}

Finally, he came out and became convinced that some

‘ne acproximate vosictior |

were just seeing things.
Fiz. ll pointing to > acors
}

‘ont wag oresent.. te is snown in size il f=
bs ”~ i~ - |
iece in which to |

-
the obj artainiy there are a lot of open spa
I 5: 1-2 objec v3 e |
}
}
z tne , ~~ gion 7 3 mJ t rm ? |
> |

tics appeared on the ssope. Lt. Stockham was up on CAP at

:
|

Cl

He stated that woth was excitable, and that the radar sunsisht in his plene
which had locked cn was probably malfunctioninge He gave the appearance to me
of one who is trying to back out of an unpleasant situation. He did not wish
to commit himself on anything, and gave the impression that the less he heard
of it in the future the better. This may be because he felt he batAenitien
himaelf adequately in pursuing the so-called objecte At the time of the
pursuit, however, it must be stated that he had had only 12 hours of night

flying experience. fie substantiated the point that 6n moonless nights, it

is impossible to hive a horigon aloft and that any light that is seen generaliy
;
} }

appsars to be in sotion. TPs, had sémt—three radio men from the radar
\
room to take a visual look. The genergk-opinion as to theycompetancy of these
Geren. \

man varlese ‘There sana to be eno evidente that they are not particularly

reliable, and alihou,h they state statements that they had seen

objects moving around, Pitan. aia © evaluate the correctness of these

~~.

statementse All ‘\ree sen since Rave been honorably discharged from the
| f \ |

service and could t i located ej jquestioning »
\ NALYSIS

or peteiattes
As $673 the Rapid City sightings are concerned, we have a train of

denied by the o r, and that the 2nd object was a star, which is equally

denied by the observers, it appears odd that of all the nichts for the radar

a.)

show strange oliops it would be on that niczhte The testimony of the pilots

iad best be omitted, since it can be taken positivly or negatively with equal
pase. The alerting of the Bismarck Center at that critical time and their

3 : . - - 3° im
wutals of improbability if the entire incicents were unrelated and the product

“ia : ‘ al DOWNGRADED AT 3 YEAR ITC
of aistaken identilication. DECLASSIFIED AFTER 12 YEA®.
DOD DIR 5200.10

a 10.
UNCLASSIFIED :

been up for some time, and ‘ir i , the radar operator, asked him to
have a look around. for quite a whileqgggMbcia not sec it Quam vas
not present at Aapid City, but arrangements were made to interview him by
phone from Great Falls, Montana.) He stated essentially what he nad in his
original report: that he finally did notice the object which was bright and
star-like, that he observed it for only 20 to 39 seconds, and that it had
gone away from him extremely rapidly.

Fic. 13 is the radar scope diagram drawm by ee: . Unrortunately
the radar camera did not work. ——> who was qui : xed in hospital because
of a broken arn, stated emphatically that the blips had definitely been
“painted”, and that each suecessive blip jeodennbed on the chart actually was
a succesgive one. nat is, each swing -6f-the antenna npatabed the next blipe

ee \

He stated that he had the Feith ang, Sie UFO on the scope at the same tine.

/

StocBnan that cine down because of Agt fuel,and \ieedhamhad been sent up.
W47
eee ....-. he had Neecham “ind. the tnknown on the scope until the object was

"al 9 i \
out beyond 35 mi es heading north. ° The ratar, it is generally conceeded, was

not malfunctionin§ , but s0me people at the post indicated that reflections, or

"angmalous propa<esion" wabycot-chitnom.
Pa ial .

Therg 4s an iahonpesing personality conflict in both: and gai.
fj

Sennett is ratea as oxeftable , but pretty sure about what he seese tie stated,

when asked Dry tiseahea Had not continued pursuing the object, that Needham had
ccna

become so excited that he was almost unintellicible on the radio and that

ISSNnede °
Needham was interviewed for am hour and a hai’, and of all the people
interrogated he was the most difficult to pin down. "
5S > -
5 L rl :
LUSTASLS Speed, sna in tne next Preata ne Irelt that he had s2en a star.
‘ DOWNGRADED PO ee

DECLASSIFIED AFTER 33 5.

i

OPERATIONS REPORT - 3 + 7 August 1953

Several reports on unidentified serial objects were received this week
including ceveral calls fron the Dayton area. Two interrogations were completed
and both rroved catisfactary toward solving the identity of the objects. One of
the objects was explained 2s a weather balloon launched at Suir Crove and the
other was determined to be astronomical.

The ATIC Duty Officer called A/lC Putek on the operation imuediate secret
message at approximately 1539 ars SST 6 Aug 53. ‘The message contained 2 detailed
report on an unidentified serial object observed by several personnel cn duty at
the Rapid City Pilter Center a faw miles nortinest or Rapid City, S. D., at 2005
MST, 5 Aug 53. The messane seemed important enough to take immediate action.
Capt =. J. Ruppelt, advisor to Project Slus Book, was advised to come out to
the Center to review the sessase, He called the 740th AC2W Squadron at Bllaworth
AFB, Rapid City, S. D., aud talked to W/O Bennett who was the nicht controller.
W/O Bennett stated that Se was on duty the night of the Inci@ent and vas verry
familiar with the sightinz. Capt Ruprelt was sent out to interrogate the observers.

This is one of the Sert reports ever received on this vroject.

A/C Max C, Puteh
ATIAE-5

INP? Prrsre
._* oe 4 os wt ey

J tee | ‘ . — oo <
L/ * re ib tye ; a’; *2°FD 7°? "4 2a

“vane oSe Sate Le sahieiaaait
MI DIR 5200.10

Ta CMT NIE Mi tg a -

- ay
FINAL concLustons UNCLASSIFIED

In the absence cf what might be called truly scientific data, and in
the absence of photozraphs or other tangible evidence, the facts as stated
by about a score of observers separated by 220 miles, are open to 2 widely

opposed interpretations.
One is, that an aircraft was originally sishtei, second, that the

object observed at the zenith was a meteor, third, that the object in the
north-east was a.star, fourth, that quite coincidently the radar showed re-
flection blips, tifth, that the pilots were chasing stars, sixth, that an

experiment of some sort was going on in Bismarck, evi ignee for which is entirely

P i a
unobtainadle from ltoeal sources, and that the experiment, was instizated at

precisely the time that the other set we etrange coincide bs 220 miles away
oi
4 \

caused the Rismairek Center to be votted. hy

This,ii s4y, is an exotanadiQny vy which appears to strain the

concept of coinciaence to 9 Ate Ertcqne\ fi en were the “ismarck incident alone

it would be wortny of atyentiion, pet\ Fitting as it does into the pattern of the

total happenings °° that | night, it i | rather phenomenal.

/

The other- tntgrprotarion 4%

re ao “=<
term very brvadly defin 3 were@ active in the area.

of course, that unknown aircraft, with the

reve of oling ing data at a time like this is articularly ceplorable.
If, for ins asiee had been available at Bismarck to make the trip of a

——

few miles to see what the lights were, it would have settlet a lot. However, as
has been pointed out, perhaps the lights hovered in the Hicmarck area because *-e7

2ce not pursued, where as in the Hapid Clty area Uhey showed extremely rapid

—_—_--s

motion on the radar because of pursuit. Further, the sround observers

;
>»

+t . y . —— | “ — ’ + : oe. -« ~ * ~*
utter conviction, that when the jets were up, the li 23 wen “ae

——_ ~ “~=-% - . “+=. _
raw seen ee we a ee

DOWNGRADED AT 3 YEAR INTERVALS:

DECLASSIFIED AFT™R 12 YEARS.
DOP, pan 5200.10

NCLASSIFIED
OPERATIONS REPORT - 10-14% August 1953

The IZM statistical analysis being prepared by Project Stork was expected
to be completed this week but Project Blue Book was inirmed that the study
would not be completed before the last of August. This analytical study is
expected to be of much help to this project in solving future unidentified
aerial object mysteries, Outatanding trends cr patterns are exvected to show
up in thie analysis.

Project Blue Book was informed thia week tnat Project Stork bes bevun
the orocess of obtaining suitable diffraction cratings for tne Yideon cameras
that are presently cut ta the fleld. It is estimated thet this efrort will
cost syprozimately $3,000 and thst the orids should be evatilable within 90
days. When the suitable «rlds are available to ATIC, toe cameras will be
recalled, grids mounted, ond redistributed into the field. Steps are being
made to speed up the operations and experimentation and manufacture of these
grids.

Capt 3. J. Ruppeit ieparted Deytom on 10 August 1953 for Rapid City,

South Dakota, to investigate an unidentified serial object which occurred

in the Rapid City area at 2205 MST on 5 August 1953. Capt Ruppelt interro-
gated the observers, radar and visual, thoroughly and wes unable to come up with
@ definite conclusion. The story of the observers has made it difficult for

Project Blue Book to establish the identity of the object as being 3 mewn
phencmens. Capt Ruppelt has recommended that further study of this incident

}
2@ made Vy ATIC and Project Slue Book contract «s*tronomer.

Project Slue 3ook as received ten reports of umicgentified serial objects

none or whisk are of too much importance. During *he last “wo acaths, the

mcer cof revorts recetred have remained re!atirely, “22 . ae.
DOWNGRADED az 3 hae dow) iad
“ * ° : a na ab Coll & ) ) ert:
rvay;7"? + = SIFIEL ~ > 9D hype LES Aa i iy » 12 : ier .
saidiatatnaliaal Ay 16 Man Oe 0" DOD DIK 5200.19

a ee .

a | ee Lpost =

UN CQ
5 August 1953 NCLASSIFIED Rapid City, South Dakota 0
Description °

Since this sighting was a combined air-visual, ground-visual, air-
radar, and ground-radar report, it was decided that Project Blue Book
would send an investigator to the scene. The controller on duty at
the time of the incident was interviewed. His account of the incident
was almost identical to that given in the initial TWX. He was on duty
at 2005 MST when a COC post observer called in an unidentified flying
object sighted northeast of her post at Blackhawk, South Dakota. (Note:
Sunset 1920 MST - Twilight 33 minutes.) She reported throush the Rapid
City Filter Center. She reported that the object was stationary, then
moved south toward Rapid City. When the controller got the report that
the object or light was headed toward Rapid City, he sent 3 airmen from
the radar site to look for it visually. They reported a light moving
from renerally north to south at a hign rate of speed. At this time
the controller observed 2? blips going south on the scope. He could not
get a distinct track because of ground clutter in the aren. In a few
minutes the GOC post in Hinckhawk called in that the Light was back in
nearly its original position. An airborne F-&4 was vectored into the
area and after a search mode visual contact. The P-dh was vectored C
into the blip that wes remaining stationary at about 15 miles northeast
of Blackhawk. The c uteoller eaid that he believed the F-b4 pllot saw
the target that was «1 the scope. Shortly after the visual sighting by °
the pilot, the targ:! sturted to move on a heading of about 320 degrees
magnetic. Four good tlips were obtained. Photos of this track were

taken but the camera wulfunctioned and the photos were no good. The .
last blip occurred «* 70 miles and at that point the aircraft was re-

turned to the base.  “')2 (00 observer reported seeing the aircraft and

the object, and boti + +e moving. The object seemed to be out-distancing

the F-S4. As soon as tic F-84% landed, another F-84 took off for CAP.
Just about that time, tie Blackhawk GOC post called the third time stat-
ing that the object was back again. Nothing was on the scope (there
was possibly a target in the ground tases, so the F-04 was vectored
in on the visual report. The pilot soon got a visual and started an
intercept. About that ‘time, the controller picked up both en unknown
target and the F-84. Both were on a heading of about 360 degrees
magnetic. The blip seemed to stay about 5-10 miles ahead of the F-&4.
The chase continued until the aircraft was about SO miles out, then the
intercept was broken off. The target continued off the scope. At this P
time the Bismarck Filter Center was slerted to look for unidentified
flying objects. When the pilot got back over the base, he sav another

’ . ~~ ; ‘. ’ 7 os °
ly «' Ls Wie not picKtec Up Wie se 4 se pe, >

a return on the neighnt finder equipment in t
light, it was S000 feet, At 0023 MST, Bismarc

- is ‘in .* _
4} genera. 127°SC é whi OS tae
1.
ie

: 7 . -~- % jy ~~. ~~ :
He faa vw Chui abi repor US «

ry, y . ~ : > ear, “* . . ~ ye . — : oe >
The pilot who was on the first CAP was interviewed next. He stated
te be % — : wm tet : + » 2.26 ~ >} ~ ey RP Bo» esha ae abt
that: he had been making passes at a 8-355 north of Rapid City when GCL
. ' > 7. | | »! ** —- ~ . ~~ -” : ~~ | 72 & os » 4 7 Le oe on o°
Vita. Gu At} - sald tne y ; a 4 tar A t 72> 4 =P" oe bys u ~ . aS S ee ‘be ‘a + or J

-, = oe

UNCLASSIFiz

'Sé Sy
; cu

bo cma DOWNGRADED AT 3 YEAR INTERVALS:

ECLASSIFIED AFTER 12 YEARS.
atin . DOD DIR 5200.10

—— eel

}

ae

Dear Capt. Harding ;

We have besn so busy with the Black Hawk, Se Dakota case that

I've only just now gotten down to looking over the large batch of accum-
ulated reportse I must say that compared with Black Hawk, none of these
approaches that incident in interest. There are a few interesting sicsht-
ings, but on none of these is information sufficient to make a folloy-up

Of the interesting ones, the very similar sizhtings of 2k July and
1 August at Key West would warrent followeup if they were more recent.
with present information [ have no suggested explanation.

The 26 July terrin AFB Texas also holds possible interest from the
stanipoint of mansivers and the fact they were observed from the Control
Tower and by clviltuos of Oemnison, Texas.

It is too 's! there is not more information on Creola, Ala. ‘Thess
cases cover four s*jira'* dayse There 4s possibly pay dirt in these.

Finally, ‘i: jidl Slimane sighting is definitely puzzling and wll
probably have to rerain on the books as unexplained.

As for the ilning 30 or so, there is so little information con-
cerning those which ‘© ot have obvious explanations that. there is no per-
centage whatever in © uldering then seriously.

Thus, out cf ‘he total number there are independent sets which,
if staff and time were available, would be interesting to pursues Personally,
I vote for sticking with the Black Hawk case until we have squeezed it dry.
i feel certain that if this case can be explained, others would follow suit.

—

Concerning the Black Hawk case, we are proceeding slowly out surely

with the investigation. Solid obiscts are certainly indicated by the eviaence.

Since the observations covered several hours and si ;htings were both visual

ami radar, it is important, in my estimation, that we continue *o pursue this

since failure to identify pinpoints a sossible real weakness in our defense
set-up. I hepe to have a rrelininary report on this case for yon scone.

TO: Colonel George L. Wertenbaker ATIAE-5/Capt Hardin/ jos/73147
Commander, ATIC 5 January 1954

PROBLEM:

1. To request approval for ATIC officer to travel to Rapid City, South
Dakota, and Dismarck, liorth Dakota, for the purpose of determining the ori-
gin of a reported unidentified flying object.

FACTS AND DISCUSSION;

2. On 5 Aug 53 8 sighting was wade in the vicinity of Rapid City,
South Dakota, by numerous reliable military and civilian observers. Another
sighting vas reported from Blamarck, North Dakota, on the same date and ap-
peared to be the seme object. The object was also tracked by radar.
Investigation followed but without the aid of an astronomer and the case

remains unsolved.

3. Dre. Hynek of Ohio State University, contract astronomer to Project
Blue Book, has had tnia case under stuily end believes that a satisfactory

conclusion may be ceached by a joint on-the-spot investigation.

4. Project Blwe Book believes that this is a significant case and

should be solved for the purpose of its possible scientific value as well
as to diacourage ite use by vriters who may draw their ow conclusions in
Liew of an official «sxlution. It is, therefore, recommended thet Capt

Charles A. Hardin (in company with Dr. Hynek) proceed to Rapid City, South
Dakota, and Bismarck, North Dekota, for spproximstely 5 days TOY.

Lt Col H. C. Johnston, Branch Chief
Col W. L. O*Hern, Division Chief

bai

Col D. F. Justice, Office Chief
ATI Col G. L. Wertenbaker, Commander

HE: North Dakota

Dre J. Ae Hynok

Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio

Dear Sirs

It was been called to my attention by Qa, chief

a fiemarck, North Dakota, that you wished a description
of the sichting of an unknown objecy or objects which were visible to
the unaided eyes on the nifrht of August 5, and the morning of August 6,
1955.

The local eir-raid filter center had sichted two objects on the
evening of Aurctst "th. One appeared due west of the city of Eismarck and
the other in the corthenst,

My first knowledge and sighting of these objects were at aoprox-
imately 12:05 A... Aveust 6th. As near as [ covld tell the one in the west
appeared to be “'reotiy due west; and the other epproximately 50 to 70 de-
erees north and en)' «f dus nerth es estimated at the KFYR transmitter
location, which |: e»proximetely 13 miles east of Rismarck.

As to the description cf these objects all that I can say is that
they appeared mich brighter than most of the stars end at tlmes appeared to
take on a rather ‘:!1 blueish tiat,

They eopearsd to move in the heavens, but st a rather slow rate
and unless a person oraced his head ervainst some stationery object to
eliminate head movement it would be hard to tell that they were movinz.

The cne in the west eventually disappeared below the horizon and
the one in the north-east gradually seemed to blend in with the rest of the
stars until it was no longer visible. The time of the last sighting of both
objects was about 1:50 A.i,.

I hope I have in some measure helped in your research»

ees + tee 4 eee

—— -"

a

OFF ete <

wW3e Only

| — ——_- - ———
4
4

-2- (Atwell to Eynok,
l enuary 1954)

that he was given from the ground station. Obviously the pilot would be
serious at the time, partioularly since he was told that there was a ground

and a radar observation of the object. On reconsideration I believe he is
willing to admit that he was chasing a large star. Considering the reliability
of Xx tne military witnesses at the radar site, the excitement of lr. oo.
end the relatively poor description of subsequent sightings in the Rapid City
area, I fesl that the incident can be discounted from consideration entirely.
The sightings in the Bismarck area cannot be jucced by ma but the power of
sug7estion must be considered ih these, particularly sincs a correlated story
of siehtings was passed from Rapid City to the North Dakota Filter Center. I
can imacine the derres of credulity that ccul< oe lent to the story in the minds
of Filter Center personnel when I realize that the statements in the officiel
report from Rapid City were sufficient incentive for you and the people of ATIC
to conduct an extensive investigation. Zssentielly the same information, poss-
ibly embellished, was relayed to North Dakota that same nicht and, to uss your
words, the people t' ere “could not consider the incident in the cool licht of

morning."

My interorstation of the incident relegates me to the ranks of
skeptics and certainly doas not permit sctentific conclusions as such. I do
wonder if perhaps ssny of the twenty percent cf unresolved cases micht not
respond to a psyol\«trio rather then a scientific approach. The persentage
of unsolved cases «!, iis be reduced at least somewhat.

I have taken the liberty of inclosing on articlé which labels me as a
Gevotee of Mr. Pearson amongst others. I passed it along in case ycu missed it,
particularly since ‘!:4 tone was moderate. The erticle was in this evenings paper

and it was most tine!y to mee

Trusting tiat you had apleasent end rapid trip home and that I may be

of service to you asain, I am,

Yours truly,

/s/ Allen L. Atwell
Major, USAF

wa sa. RS

See a

¢40Ti AIRCHAFT CONTROL AND WARNING SQUADRON P
Slisworth Air Force Base Y .
South Dakota

19 January 1954

Dre Je Ac rynek
Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio

Dear Doctor:

After your departure I checked possibility that Lt. lleedham was
a man who tended to become excited or confused in emerzenciss. [ discussed
the possibility with several of his associates and particularly with his
operetions officer, Vajor Fairbrotner. Contrary to Ur. qq statenent,
I found that Lt. Needham is a very reliable, cool individual with an excellent

combat resord. n the other hand, I also checked a little on \r. QQ
reliability. Some of thea pilots of alroraft that he has controlled have termed
SES ate fhis happened before the incident in question and he has sppare
entlycealmed town «onawhat since then as he rrew more socustomed to his jobe I
also have had @ resort from my adjutant that Yr. a has been known to ex-

accerate stories. iiuse exarzerations were particularly noticed in “r. Ps
recounting of past besepall recorise [t just so happened that the adjutant has
been a student o! boesgsball records for some years and he immediately detected the
inacouracy of t+ stories, He told no one about them et the time and did not con-

tradict Mr. ee — tha spot because he wanted to avoid embarrassment for hin.
Aoparently Mr. r Will tell stories to improve his prestize althouzh the facts
may not be accurats. The adjutant and — were both members of the squad-
ron baseball team ‘uring the past summer and the adjutant noted that ‘r, Gaiam
will never admit tnat he mizht have been wrone. He engaged in several serious

arguments with mpires when it was apparent to everyons, ineluding members of both

teams, that he 9% wrorgze

The above story leaves me somewhat embarrassei. There were tnree
members of my organisation who contributed to the authenticity of the incident.
The two Staff ond Gama ,

Althouzh these facts 4o not entirely discredit
their statements I do not fee

EE TENT e By adding ir. quai
it appears the observations of all three can be treated skeptically. These military

observers are of course the only people to whom I can ascribe traits of reliability.
However, it would appear that a part of any future investization could appropriately
contain a reliability investiration of all persons who offer evidence of unusual
Sirhtingse. I say this in spite of the fact that I arree with you that observers

7
"enlad not Se atrtomatical!y subtected to ritiaule.

In my own mind I have new totally discounte? the entire tncident as an
reumstances. A licht was observed
afroma licht aircraft.

; en - ~~. = -- nis
2

voor. "T. gg® teen ia-

-

unfortunate series of seamingly coincident

a's
-@ eround observer which could very well

>
+ : - 1 «cod Ms
vtine was reverted to ‘ir. Qaim as a flying sz

,
_

terorated a terest on tha scene as the obiect in question and sant an intersestor
ed 3 . P > ~oee a” 4 ~=-ny > *5e8 2 . “4° "a r\> 7 he : : ~~
- as , : 2 » 2 > . ~ -
Ktew ’ 4 7 & : sa - ola . . ~
is AJL BS a LL Ee 3 2 - 3 2 wi ca -

_——o- —

ee ee

—— —_— a > ee Ee «ce oe
—

“Few

——

“
|
3
«
S

3
,

i ee

a
.

-2- (Atwell to Hynsk,
1 anuary 1954)

that he was given from the cround station. Obviously the pilot would be
serious at the time, partioularly since he was told that there was a ground

and a radar observation of the object. On reconsideration I believe he is
willing to admit that he was chasing a lerge star. Considering the reliability
of xXx the military witnesses at the radar site, the excitement of ee eee’
end the relatively poor description of subsequent sichtings in the Rapid City
area, I fesl that the incident can be discounted from consideration entirely.
Tne sightings in the Bismarck area cannot be judced by ms but the power of
sugeestion must be considered in these, particularly since a correlated story
of sichtings was passed from Rapid City to the North Dakota Filter Center. I
can imazine the derres of credulity that ccul¢ be lent to the story in the minds
of Filter Center personnel when I realize that the statements in the officiel
report from Rapid City were sufficient incentive for you and the people of ATIC
to conduct an extensive investigation. Issentielly the same information, voss-
ibly embellished, was relayed to North Dakota that same nicht and, to use your
words, the people t'ora “could not consider the incident in the cool licht of

morning."

My interpretation of the incident relerates me to the ranks of
skeptics and certein!y doas not permit sckentific conclusions as suche I do
wonder if perhaps ssny of the twenty percent cf unresolved cases mizht not
respond to @ psyol:i.trio rather then a scientific approach. The persentage
of unsolved cases «', ii be reduced at least somewhat.

I have tsken the liberty of inclosing on articl® which labels me as a

devotee of Mr. Pearren amongst others. I passed it alone itn case you missed it,
particularly since ‘le tone was moderate. The erticle wus in this evenings paper

and it was most tine!y to mee

Trusting tiat you had apleasant and rapid trip home and that I may be

of service to you acain, I am,

Yours truly,

/s/ Allen L. Atwell
va jor, USAF

-

UNCLASSIFIED

2 February 1954

Major Allen Le Atwell
Commander, 740th AC&W Squadron

slisworth Air Force Sase
Rapid Jity, South Dakota

“ear Na jor;

Thank you "or your letter of 19 January. fou have been of
considerable service to usa ia tracking tals down further, and especially
in civing us the sichly important character sidelichts. [ think the
“baseball” example {4 cartioulerly tellinge I thersfore {vel as you do,
that the incident renorts from Rapid City sorang from, in «<eneral, unre-
liable observers. vs" the two lieutenants, under questioning, were not
sure of what they san, out at least they were sonest snourh to admit this,

I agree with ,our statement concerninz reliability checks, and
hasten to assure you that one cf the reasons we cane out In person was to
size up the observers. Speaking for myself, altnoush I think the Ceotain
would concur, we are ready to »rite off tne Ranid Citye-flask awk incident
as “information from questionable sources.” In short, we can't trust tne
evidence, and when ‘nis \appens in any scientific oresedurs the thing to do
ls throw the whole “hiaz out the wincow,

I would like to ask, just for »ossible future refersaces with a
rood man at radar sontrols, what are the possibilities of “unknown blips"
over a lomg period? That is, out of 565 days, would vou say thet unknowns

appear on the scope several tines each day? Once every few days? A few
times a year? I am assuming blips not due to malfunction but to schos, etc,

Whet I now have to say will surprise you: The observers at Pis-
varek I would class as entirely reliable. It is therefore impossible for
us to write off the Jismarck incident in a like -anner. Indeed, I wish we
coulde It is impossible, sowever, to say that the objeots seen in Bismarck
‘rs “ne result of snerestion from Ravid City, because at ‘east oo reonle
adependently (and 15 miles apart) recerted che o0/set8 without oorrioue
nowledze of the onone call from Ranid City. The obfeets oersisted for ore
“saa two hours, and the various chservers arrse4d, witnia reason, on tneir

~TAasszSe

UNCLASSIFIED

Despite, thersfors, the coincidence vetween Rapid City and
Bismarck, in view of the disperity in quality of observers in the two
olaces, I think we shall probably proceed by discounting the Ravid City
{neident altogether and voncsntrate on the Bismarck incident.

I note that you newer did cet around to telling me specifically
wether Needham was the pilot who became unnervec wnen the jot crashed.

Thanks avain for your very real help in this. I hope the next
time we meet will be under less unusual circumstances.

Sincersly,
Srteinal Sig pect oy
J. ALLEN WYNER

J, Allen iynek

Cony se ATIC

jan/je

:

ri
CJ

IF)

u)

UNCLAS

’ \ Se e
‘
HARYARD COLLEGE OBSERVATORY
~ AMBRIDGE 38, MASSACHUSETTS
July 13, 1961
Maj. William T. Coleman
SAFOI-3
Room 4C-922
The Pentagon
Washington 25, D. G.
Dear Bill;

On my return from the western swing I find a sizable arnount
of accumulated flying saucer material, I want to thank you and Major
Friend, and Colonel Evans for all of the helpful material, including the
suggestions for improving our chapters, Many thanks to all of you,

On ty vestern trip I ran into a daytime sighting that was a
honey. [was dr: ing on Highway 54 from El Paso, Texas to Alamogordo,
New Mexico, an! «+4 in the outskirts of the latter city, having just
turned west whe. » . oad meets the one coming from Las Cruces
and the Holloma: ' Force Base. The time was 4:00 p.m, The sun
was shining, alt «” (he sky was heavily clouded toward the west, It
had clearly been r»ining in the mountains and heavy dust storms had
forced me to stop 'wo or three times along the highway. I was suddenly
startled to see a -vaved formation of flying saucers heading eastward
directly toward i bey appeared to have a reddish glow and were
moving very ra; + | nad the impression that they were nearly at
cloud level, They - >;)ro0ached me rapidly and suddenly seemed to drop
in on me, I then ;-:\ized that they were merely a grouping of tumble-
weeds carried aloft in the heavy wind, They were, perhaps, some
hundred feet over .«ad, The weird glow was caused by the illumination
of the setting sun. “eep this in mind for similar reports,

— Mrs. QM and I have been struggling to interpret the

famous Rapid City, South Dakota, case of 12 August, 1953. The report
has 80 many features that are suggestive of the mirage of a star, that
we have strongly ieaned to that interpretation, The bright star,
Capella, which happens to be circumpolar at Rapid City, is indeed
very close to the horizon, just east of north, We do not nave very
good times or estimates of the total duration of the sighting. I
wonder if you have any additional material that you could send us, in
view of the importance that the UFO boys attach to this sighting. In

particular, we should like to know what is the radiug in miles, of th
Puc estens miieinp ‘he weather ea -ig thdicate

—
rnC@car gerean and what was thre

Maj. William ae Colermana July 13, 1961

nies

that a very sizabie temperature inversion was present, and this was
ample to magnify some of the radar and optical effects. The radar,
especially, couid have been deflected back to the ground and the
moving object might have been some secondary reflection from the
plane itself, Is there any additional information about the man who
claimed to have checked the UFO against the triangle of stars, and
deciding that it moved with reference to those stars? Sounds that

it might have been autokinesis, unless this motion was really very

sizable,

— ~ PTB we ey

*- te

-

pe Sur —
mal One further question that we have, A study of thés@iiyme-

Pe indicates that the UFO was merely a meteor, Appar-
ently this was 4 onsidered solution in the early days, We wonder

why tt was abamirvend,

Thank y i for the additional sightings, all of which are useful

and lend fresh: + «i. ‘he book, Also, I think you were going to send
me one from |: ia, where airline pilots reported not only seeing
a saucer but « ..\ roughness of the air which, according to your own
observation, was .uc to forest fire or oil well fire, or something of
the sort,

Again, « ©» our many thanks and best wishes, Iam

Cordially yours, —

DHM: gq

P.S. I'm scheduled to be in Washington on July 26, If time permits,
I may run over to the Pentagon and talk with you some at that time.

”

DHM thane pou. AAA DI

CC: Maj. Friend
Col, Evans

he, ee en yee =
"i “ . | UNCLASSIFIL-o

about 20 minutes west and south of Rapid City but saw nothing. He re-
turned to base and was about to land when he observed a light northwest
of the base. He started out on @ heading of 350 degrees megnetic, the
object was high (30 deg - 45 deg) at 11 o'clock from him. He checked
the possibility of a reflection and determined that this was not the
cause. He continued his course keeping the odject at 1] o'clock for a
better view. After about 30 seconds, it disappeared then reappeared
for another 30 seconds at the end of which it abruptly faded and was
not seen again. The object was silver in color and varied in intensity.
It appeared to “pull away" because it got smaller. The comment as to
size was that it was “brighter than the brightest star I've ever seen".

The pilot who flew the second CAP was interviewed next. He stated
that he took off and started to climb when GCI told him that GOC had a
light. He was north of Ellsworth AFB on a heading of 360 degrees mag-
netic when he saw a light 30-40 degrees to his right and level. He
thought it was a star or planet but as he looked away it appeared to
"jump" 15-20 degrees in elevation. (Note: Due to the speed of the air-
craft and the fact that the pilot was intent on identifying the objcct,
he was not exactly sure of his positions. All positions are subject to
some error.) ‘The Light seemed to be parallelling his course. The first
thing the pilot did was to check for reflectlons in the cockpit (i.e.,

canopy, gunsight head, ete.). He was sure the light was no reflection in
the aircraft. ‘ie light, which the pilot estimated to be considerably
brighter than a gta, changed intensity and changed in color from white

to green. When the object was first sighted, the aircraft was at 15,000
feet. The pilot + iirted to climb and the light appeared to climo faster.
This was because the angle of elevation increased, He climbed to 26,000
feet. All this ‘ime both the radar blip of doth the object and the alr-
craft were being carried and the pilot was talking to the controller on
UHF. As the piicot turned into the light on his initial sighting, he
turned on hig raix* «insight. As he swung onto the target, the warning
light came on. ‘io sange was obtained since the sight starts to messure
at about 4,000 yards. All this might indicate was that something was
beyond 4,000 yards. ‘The light remained on until the chase was broken off.
After thechase, on the way home, the light blinked on ane off several
times indicating a possible malfunction. The sight was not checked by
maintenance on return and had not been checked since.

The F-684 chased the light for about five minutes, or to about 50
miles north of the base, The light appeared to make slow changes in
color and intensity. The pilot stated that the light definitely moved
in relation to the stars. After the intercept was broken off, the air-

craft returned toward base.

About <0 miles out of base he got a visuel on a Simi.er Light that
changed from red to white, He was on a heading of 150 deprees magnetic
at 12-14,000 feet and the light was 10 degrees low to the ri ie
thought it was a car golng around curves in the hills but ch a hi
mind when the red and white lights were of equal intensity. This target

Peet

m the ground clutter of the radar but something at SOOO fee

dd @ . a ok + es | J . “ant

i his

-”
*
> \y
wl.

>
}

% "
hats a » 7 _“_* ft = Pe te ee | 3 7°
. ~ eee * ~~: *

Bee | Oo

al 2535-41159

co. bare DOWNGRADED AT 3 YEAR INTERVALS;
DECLASSIFIED AFTER 12 YEARS.

UNCLASSIFIED DOD DiR 5200.10

O. 7iClAL FILE COPY

AFC IN@4B2/Maj Friend/anc 59216/tyned 27 Apr 60

Re u tion (itr Qe.
quest for UFO Information ( ) 99 APR 1960

SAPOL~3d (iaj Tacker)

l. Tne following ara suggested answers to the questions penned by
‘NQMEEEMMin the actacned letter:

a. it must be assumed that the auch oublicized vasnington racar
si gnt Ling of 1) July 1752, is the une in question, This case was deteare
mined to be tarveta caused by a temperatures inversion.

tb. There is »-o record in tne Air Force files of a sighting ab
Kinross AJB on 27) ‘>oveaper 19 fhe Kinross case, as outilnedc in
several books and »\.ier oubilcationa on Ur'0's, Stables that an eircrart
was carried away (y an unidentified flying ovject. there is nv case
in the Plles waien wen closely parallels these circumstances,

¢. the objee~ » ne file taken at iremonton, Utah on 2 daly 1992,
were determined t) « irda, protably sea gulls.

d. The Air FYorre rile carries no conclusion on the photogrash taken
by ar SRD near amarillo, iexas on 2 Auzust 1255. lot knowing
what radiation vaour ia, it is the Air Yorce ovinion that some svokesa-
man a% the time suer sieled that tiie object was on irradiated vysper trial

and was honestly ©, ‘#llverately nis-quoted.

@. The Air force .a not aware of any release date for the photo-
graph taken by Mr QM}. The original was in the hands of the owner
and he waa free to do vith it as ne pleased,

f. Air Porce experience has been that there is no increase in
radiation due to unicentified flying objects. [t should be understood
that the normal background for any area aay fiuctuate a few hundredths

3 of a millireentgen, this is considered normal and constitutes no danger

whatsoever.

fe The Alr Force is not aware of any statement, official or other
woe, SY a government agency *o “she effact chat JF9's are sjoace saitos.

.

me ihe Air forces nas no specitic mowlecve of inirared ‘racx ing of
vniluentified flying cbiects,

Cad . yy . ,
L. The he Yorce rile contains so racord of a reourt at Jarhber’s
‘Gy resri | chor m oO MUZUSS L?53, in fact, no raport from sawail
» mie © Liz me
we teat Soe eee A. he 0 eS, Sk
7 } ~f- <
<— > | ’ J
we SZ J hi lin ./2 > &

ee ee

— ‘“ (x se) Ug
information Only \No Case) Nether}ands

Sousce? CST
‘

bad

August 6, 198%, sighting Kerkrede, i
‘= therlands: ;

‘uring the «ast days of July and the
first week of Auzust I took a holiday and
visited the Souvnern part of Holland. On
Auguet 6th [ arrived in a small mining town,
Kerkrade, in the south part of the province
of Linburz. Karkrade lies close to the
German border, there is, in fact, a broad
atreet divide longitudinally vy "parbed, wire,
the one-half be lng J Kerkrede and the other
half veins German."

"I went for a walk along this street
about midaicht. All was quiet. Suddenly ny
attention was drawn to a blue-green light of
moderate intensity, which ran through the
sky in the East. It came down an elegant
swoop, aud then slowed down. At first I
thought ‘+ to be a meteorite, but it left
no trail -* ¢'os as these do. It was a ilght
spot of seacty circular shape, and while it.
descend+ {1 case in my direction. Then I
eaw what ‘+ vas -- a flying saucer. It came ‘|
slowly ©~«+vis ~~ and po near that I could
see it . ‘lewely" °

"IT in + «de a test: if you want to
know how »ig 1 caw it,’ take a dinner plate,

LES Se SO em lS le te te me

ss

hold it s* arms length, then raise the plate
sowewha!: «‘er than scalp level and look at

it. Tle + esactly the relative size of the
' object |
* Then ‘topped and stood still in the air

first at «oat I think was about 1000 feet.
Then it cowe still further down. Nota

sound wa? ieacd while it was in flight, or
when it stood still. I had an opportunity to
study it ‘+ must have been of enormous size,
fer rigger than the wing span of any airliner.

"As I looked up I sav only its underside,
but it started to hover around slowly, also.
changing its position, so that I could see
it edge-on. Once I could look on it, when
it took an inclined position and the moon

shown on [t,”

"[ts form waa a disc, slightly dished in
the center, and in the center (topside) a
cabin with sloping walls, a cone. No doors
or windows were discermible. Its color was
grey. When it came dowo it was giving off a
blue green licht. As soon as it had stoppad,
ad Light vacished. In tae 4ull grey color

Sere Gas ane lage stots: i Stat ax
actly a8 4 grey-enameled pan, somevnat glossy
whem the acon shown on it, but not ‘polished’.

/ for the entire month of august 1953.

__

‘ j- For the most part, information concerning UF) reports is avail-
able to the public, out due to required classification, soue are not.
\ It is the Air Force opinion that the best answer is contained in the
) question itself. These sightings are intelligence reports, and as such,
, in certain instances contains other information apart fram the UFO por
| tion which may require classification.

ke The Air Yorce is open minded on the eubject of space travel, and
aware that space visitors are a possibility. ‘he present Air force posi-
tion is not to deny this possibility, tut rather to state that Lo date
no evidence has bean discovered to substantiate thet 0's ure intem
planetary or interstellar space ships.

al

i. No Lunar exploration, telescopic or space probe, has revealed
| any additional information concerning |/Fu's,

) 2. jit. @aR « sctrves ts as follows:

sero
/
AOI, Me Je

FOR THB COMMAND Mt.

| BF lao :
7 PHILIP 6, SVANS 1 Atche
Colonel, USAF Cy ltr 17 \ar 6O fr qa

Deputy for Sctemere «at Components

iv

mach: firstly,

“Tyo thines «pressed me
of the disc was

when it stood +411 the rim
very clear snd ssarp, but 4s it started

moving this T's vecame hazy, ®° if it hed
gome motion, eitner rotating, pulsating oF
vibrating. + soula not discern whether or
not it rotated, it just became blurred.
Secondly, after looking intently at it for

some minutes I felt a very disagreeable sen-
s; they felt irritated, the

feeling 96 after looking for a long time

“cuddenly I saw & second disc. It had

come down from somewhere without my seeing

it arrive. It stood much farther away. Its
ebape vase alightly aifferent. It, too, bad a
allalt!; dished disc, with a cabin, but thie
cabta ; rotrmued slightly from the underside
as weil a4 from the top. This one stood per-
fectly etlit, without aay movement. The other
kept © verioe around slowly over the German

coun -a © 4t looked for something.
..ty Number 1 leaped away. It shot
away. a several very sharp angles. At

the pame tine, the blue-green me appeared
agnin. After some wild leaps at speed I have
never #0 before, it shot up 23 @ bolt of
lights ©« «nd went off with one vertical
fla») ©» apace. No sound was heard. ‘The
othe: . + ainginea for some seconds, then
capet:-- a ite edge and took one vertical
leap, ~r® fiery blue etreak into space after

lefest orticles, that

aia mention, in the br
seen in three other

the objects were also

| searoy cities.
| TTT,

Taarlon-N, Holland

| Fad

UNCLASSIFIED
came back in, It seeired to be west moving since tho aircraft was kept
on a constant heading ond the angle of azimuth and elevation increased.

The light was first observed for 30 seconds, it faded, renppeared, chen
faded again after 30 seconds.

As the pilot came sround the west side of the air base and up the.
east side, he saw another light and turned into it to take gun camera

photos. (Tne photos were no good).

Discussion

A visit was made to the Weather Bureau station at the Rapid City
Municipal Airport to check weather and balloon launches (Note: The air
base launches no balloons). The observer on duty looked up the balloon
track for the balloon launched at 2000 MST on 5 August 1953 ond it went
south from the Municipal Airport. This puts it out of the area or the
sighting. Data on inversions was not available as it had been forwarded
to Asheville, North Carolina. (Note: The balloon tracks and weather
for 2000 MST on 5 Aunval haa been requested from Asheville. )

No attempt was neie to contact the GOC observers at Blackhawk. They
had been interrogate ty base personnel and were “all excited”. It was
believed that an invS)'i,:1tor talking to them would only further excite
them needlessly. Ai! ‘ie sightings at Bismarck are doubtful. The AC&W
Station called the fio. . hk Filter Center and told them to "Look for
flying saucers", a peri-c' set up to see every star move around,

The upper air rese«rch balloon tracks at Lowry were checked. Two
balloons were lost .° i conlé@ have been in the aren at the time of the

sighting.

A few comments © .¢ sources can be made:

Controller left the impression that he was trying to prove the exis
tence of an unidentified flying object. It is very unfortunate that no
scope photos were avaliable to collaborate his story. He saw targets on
the scope, there is no dcubt abovt it, but whether they acted exactiy as

he stated is unknown.

The two airmen that went outside to observe the ovject that was
being carried on radar and reported by the GOC were not sure of what
they sav, at least this is the impression they left. They were told to
go out and look for a light so they saw one. Their description fits

—

; teor. i yol hu ; “ ° > we Le Th eta
see it return north, only go souta,
Tne first pilot only got a glimpse of a light so he could not add
much.
second pilot zave
> ¥ -
293 -) Lio

Z ss UNCLAS# FIED — vo

_ ' An account of the investigation by Capt. Chas. Hardin, USAF, and
Je Ae Hynek, of the reported visual/radar sightings of Unidentified Objects
at Bismarck, i. Dakoca and Black Hawk, Se Dakota, on 5/5 August 1953.

We arrived in Bismarck at about 19000, 12 January 1954, where Szt.

Wesley Harry of the Pismarck Filter Center met us. Within 20 minutes

we were at the Filter Center and had been offered a cup of coffee. ‘ie first

examined the original logs of the incident, and Sgt. Harry pointed cut that

the Filter Center was first alerted at 0515Z 5 August 1953, that an object
At 0523Z another call

/

was about 70 miles south of Dickinson, Ne fakotae

came in stating that an object was 15 miles north of Mapid City. At 05352

a call came in that an object was just southaP Aiiont’s At 05422, or 23420,
Sat. Harry <i.hted an object from the yom Center rool ry He had gone out
on the roof to look toward the SW tw’ pte if he could see anything of the
reported object. <4 | 47

Res Fis. # le y--ee ca description of the object has been

treated many ‘ines in ns rep. rts “wa so ‘hy asked him primarily about motionse
,"

Fortunately h« »2i power Lined sagt} f andso as soon as the object appeared he

checked his vo: bon on’ \the roof by rking points around his shoes. The
aa ~ sl

motion of the Kiosk was desc as indicated on photos # 1 and 2. He stated

tnat this represents ty ‘mean motion of the object, but that in between it
moved erratically up and/ down as much as one or two times the distance between
the horizontal irae wires. He insisted the motion was abrupt. Apparently
it came in rather rapidly, but when it sot west of the Filter Center it hovered,
moving up and down.

urs. ge spent most of her time watching this object and her evidence

was essentially the same as that of Harry althouch che did not see it as soon.

PF soe AT 3 YRAR IN™
ECLASS

IFIED 2 TER 129 YLARS.

UNELASSIFIED . DOD DIR 5200.10
——E— Ot ee.

a

O

having difficulty. He took a realistic approach and had done some logi-
cal. reasoning. He was worried about the fact that the light moved

relative to the s‘tarea.

By eliminating doubtful sightings, the only thing that can be rea-

sonably assured is that a GOC post observed a light. This could be a

. balloon or star. Radar picked up something in the general area of the
GOC post and vectored an aircraft toward it. The pilot saw a light and
chased it. He got a radar lock on it, but this could have been a mal-
function. The star Capella is possibly visible low on the horizon to
the north and the pilot could have seen this. Pending further study,
this incident is carried as Unsolved.

Conclusion

Unsolved.

UNCLASSIFIED

Object # 2, at the time of the passage*of the C+12h, is indicated

on Fige 3 and 6. WNre WE, states that the object was almost due north
and had an elevation about equal to that of the "guardians of the pole,"
which would place it about 30° up. We. visited the control tower several
times, once at nivht with the sky clear, and had ample chance to check
rositions and comparisons with stars. tae has had much opportunity

to observe stars from the control tower, and it aprears inconceivable to
me that a man with 13 years experience could have migtaken stars for these

objectse Furthennoce, Vr. QR examined the objects with binoculars and

pointed out that thouch they resembled stars air. dofion and their color

changes were such os to rule out this possibility. At any TEN, if one
Pg oie =.

adopts the angie» int altitudes of obdg . F “23 one finds that it was about

re
34 miles from the *\lter Center and about 5 Aifies from the airport at an
altitude of ahowt 10,000', This is athe as a mean of two ficures: 5000

and 15,000 feet, | , sereabes “ell estimated altitudes

a \
higher than Harm. it i

Object # 3 is ind keated on eld. h and 6. Figs 5 shows the relation

or the Piltep- fates to th The bearing of the Filter Center is 321°

as compu from a survefyor's map of the city. As will be noted, from the

Filter Ce a object 7 was a little to the north of east, where as from the

tower it was Dnt the east of north. This places it almost exactly

3 miles from both the filter center and the tower. Ayain, in altitudes there
some discrepancy, cut taking the mean of 3,000' and 3,.00', we get something

of the order of a mile hiche

“- : * J. a . +4 : ° t — > ¢ : 5 : i +h
TE as well as Se stabed that object # 2 was the hichest ir the

farthest away, since, as Fige 4 and 7 show, it had about the same dearing from

SR 2.020 AT 3 YEAR INTERVALS;
UNCLASSIFIED DECLASSIFIED AFTER 12 YEARS

2°

UNCLASSIFIED

She maintained that in the western part of the sky it would remain stationary,
then hop up several ceyurees very quickly <- almost instantaneously — stopy
move to the left and then swerve down in sort of a slanting motion, repeating
these maneuvers many times. By this time everybody at the Filter Center was
very excited and, as they said, shaking, because they had the feeling that
somebody was watching them.

This original western object disappeared sometime between midnicht
and 1:00 am. Just about midnight, however, the Filter “enter people almost
Simultaneously saw other objects to the east. ea is 4 # 2 was sighted at

a

06112 to the north of easte At O7L5Z and U7h??-tore ouner objects toward the

east were sean. tle plots of these Uses a e given on photos 3 and . The
best drawing of the posttions and pone of the o objects comes from Szte Harry
and ig incliuiait is [lee OAe eg i,

ir. Se 12s gatas Yt Tower, 24 air miles away

such that the ‘ilter av ad had a veering > 321° from the tower. He saw all
4 objects also, “ib not oe in same positions. Since there was a

chance here of «tbing a YMx ¢ on t objects, we spent a fair amount of tine

oy

having Sgt. haker and Wr. Wiihe Lm sight the remembered positions of the objects
ff
ter came by at approximately 0800Z. This astad=

the time of the paSsage of the C-12h. Object ¥1 in Fig. 2 is denoted by the
"xX *, SP «ated that the bearing of object &1 was 264° at an altitude of

altitudes de not check, but the bearings place the object about a mile and a
half west of the Filter Venter. Ir one adopts 2 mean value of altitude, the

. ~ . . : 7 oo”
* } ~ . - _ aan. | 7 7 1. oo *~ > - — - . _* ° _~ < _-
~ . >

+ “lia ese , 4 .* +2 ~
KZ Ppaaces i: at mS 201483

tv

~- ried ae : . -~*a5 v* ee - : . —s*
JA 2 _- ~ an wo a Td 293 y a . a. 2 :

many changes of solor would apvear to rule out a star.

MNCLAS DOWNGRADED AT 3 YRA -
w CLASSIFIED DECLASSIFIED AFTER 12 YEARS

DOD DIR 5200.10
a -~_
— MD a eiincton towne. —

Pod UNCLASS! FE

observer that unless all six observers are unable to distinguish a star
from anything else, the stellar explanation* "i211 not, holde Further, the

angular positions appear to rule this out.

2-  Balloonss
If these objects were balloons, they would have to be captive

balloons because of their restricted motion and the fact that they did not
rise. Extensive inyguires were rade as to the possibility of any experiments
going on in that area at the timee The weather bureda was consuited, since

in previous years there had been some cosmic ray expariments by Dr. REMpd

a |
and Dr. 4. [a both cases they had consulted_the Weather bureau for wind

conditions. i) weather bureau er aaa eg at spat time. The
*
cons

* Sean of the Bismarck Junior College yited to see if he might have

Sf )
known of any ei eriments at the ¢ ‘ tig Aaox us to see the head of the

‘
North Dakota S*iie | sataiacee™ com he als of nothinge We asked to check

oa
the hotel register of thé Hest hotbed in
\)}

ms, and found no names that mizht

c experiments. ie likevwise checked the

f
have had any convection with setent

newspapers for *).' period, and a this incident was mentioned, nothing

-

2 newspapers did mention that television towers

else oe it was.

f
were being) etac at roximately this location at the time. Accordingly,
tion was consulted and he stated that at no time

were any expe carried out relative to the construction of the towers.

3» Aircraft:

All observers are reasonably well e:periencec with atreratt, rita

>

of course Mre WA: being the “authority” among the observers. Aircraft mst
jefinitely be ruled oute The oniy hope is that these were balloons, but in the

, .
egsence of any evidence for experiments going on at tre

time, or of these hts

~
~~ = _*- *

" —
ez VY. — ~~ : . : - . 22 --. > " °-
: ;
~~ —— ~ #4 » & => .

coment DOWNGRADED AT 3 V7)? tote . >.

DECLASSIFIED | fi

-

> Din = ew. av

| UNCLASSIFIED i

.

eee