INTRODUCTION Accounts of phenomena popularly referred to as “flying saucers,” more dignifiedly labeled “unidentified flying objects” or UFOs, continue to persist in the world news. The reports of these strange phenomena of the skies have been attracting public attention for thirteen years and there is apparently no let-up in sight. Although within a given region on earth long lulls between sightings have been noted, during such local lulls, other parts of the world have witnessed extra concentrations of sightings. In spite of the persistent reports of their repeated occurrences, there appears to be more popular confusion of thought in regard to these phenomena and less understanding of what they are today than when they were first observed and noted in the news. Actually it […] Read More
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FOREWORD The undersigned was requested to write a brief foreword. He has consented to do this for several reasons. He considers it his duty to aid in any reasonable way in the study of a subject for which his own long experience entitles him to express an opinion. Also that the subject of UFOs is one which should be studied scientifically, which it has not been due to suppression of pertinent data and also to subjecting reports of trained and reputable people to ridicule. Further to the certainty that, to date, we do not know what some of these phenomena are and what causes them. Also that it is even possible that they might eventually have serious effects upon our planet and its inhabitants, […] Read More
Front Pages Table of Contents Foreword Introduction Part I. The UFO Mystery Chapter 1: The Challenge Chapter 2: Report to Congress Chapter 3: Recent Sightings in The Pacific Chapter 4: The Swedish “Ghost Rockets” Part II. A Scientist Looks At UFOs Chapter 1: Scientist Finds Some Saucer Reports Still To Be Satisfactorily Explained Chapter 2: Saucers and Science Chapter 3: An Open Letter To Scientists Chapter 4: The Phenomena Of Angel Hair Chapter 5: UFO Fleets Over Washington D. C. Chapter 6: A New Dimension in UFO Phenomena Chapter 7: Scientific Aspects of UFO Research Chapter 8: NICAP and The UFO Challenge Chapter 9: An Evaluation Of Aime Michel’s Straight Line Mystery Chapter 10: The New UFO Policy Of The U. S. Air Force Part III A Philosopher Looks At […] Read More
Chapter XX AFTER one year’s investigation of the flying saucers and Air Force operations, I have come to the following conclusions: 1. The Air Force was puzzled and badly worried when the disks first were sighted in 1947. 2. The Air Force began to suspect the truth soon after Mantell’s death–perhaps even before. 3. Project “Saucer” was set up to investigate and at the same time conceal from the public the truth about the saucers. 4. During the spring of 1949 this policy, which had been strictly maintained by Forrestal, underwent an abrupt change. On top-level orders, it was decided to let the facts gradually leak out, in order to prepare the American people. 5. This was the reason for the April 27, 1949, […] Read More
Chapter XIX For two weeks after my return to Washington, General Sory Smith held off a final answer about my trip to Wright Field. Meantime, Ken Purdy had called him backing my request to see the Project files. It was obvious to me that Wright Field was determined not to open the files. But the General was trying to avoid making it official. “Why can’t you accept my word there’s nothing to the saucers?” he asked me one day. “You’re impeaching my personal veracity.” But finally he saw there was no other way out. He told me I had been officially refused permission to see the Wright Field files. Some time later, Ken Purdy phoned General Smith. “General, if the Air Force wants to […] Read More
Chapter XVIII That night I went through the Project “Saucer” summary of cases. It was a strange experience. The first report I checked was the Mantell case. Nothing that Boggs had said had changed my firm opinion. I knew the answer was not Venus, and I was certain Boggs knew it, too. The Godman Field incident was listed as Case 33. The report also touches on the Lockbourne Air Base sighting. As already described, the same mysterious object, or a similar one, was seen moving at five hundred miles an hour over Lockbourne Field. It was also sighted at other points in Ohio. The very first sentence in Case 33 showed a determined attempt to explain away the object that Mantell chased: “Detailed attention […] Read More
Chapter XVII For a moment after Boggs’s last answer, I had an impulse to end the interview. I had a feeling I was facing a sphinx–a quiet, courteous sphinx in an Air Force uniform. I was sure now why Major Jerry Boggs had been chosen for his job, the all-important connecting link with the project at Wright Field. No one would ever catch this man off guard, no matter what secret was given him to conceal. And it was more than the result of Air Force Intelligence training. His manner, his voice carried conviction. He would have convinced anyone who had not carefully analyzed the Godman Field tragedy. I made one more attempt. “Do the Godman Field witnesses–Colonel Hix and the rest–believe the Venus […] Read More
Chapter XVI That morning, at True, we made the final decisions on how to handle the story. Using the evidence of the Mantell case, the Chiles-Whitted report, Gorman’s mystery-light encounter, and other authentic cases, along with the records of early sightings, we would state our main conclusion: that the flying saucers were interplanetary. In going over the mass of reports, Purdy and I both realized that a few sightings did not fit the space-observer pattern. Most of these reports came from the southwest states, where guided-missile experiments were going on. Purdy agreed with Paul Redell that any long-range tests would be made over the sea or unpopulated areas, with every attempt at secrecy. “They might make short-range tests down there in New Mexico and […] Read More
Chapter XV It was early in October 1949 when I finished the reversal of our space-exploration plans. I spent the next two days running down a sighting report from a town in Pennsylvania. Like three or four other tips that had seemed important at first, it turned out to be a dud. When I got back home, I found Ken Purdy had been trying to reach me. I phoned him at True, and he asked me to fly up to New York the next day. “I’ve just heard there’s another magazine working on the saucer story,” he told me. “Who is it?” I said. “I don’t know yet. It may be just a rumor, but we can’t take a chance. We’ve got to get […] Read More
Chapter XIV That evening, after my talk with Redell, the question kept coming back in my mind. What were they like? And what were they doing here? From the long record of sightings, it was possible to get an answer to the second question. Observation of the earth followed a general pattern. According to the reports, Europe, the most populated area, had been more closely observed than the rest of the globe until about 1870. By this time, the United States, beginning to rival Europe in industrial progress, had evidently become of interest to the space-ship crews. From then on, Europe and the Western Hemisphere, chiefly North America, shared the observers’ attention. The few sightings reported at other points around the world indicate an […] Read More
Chapter XIII Before my date with Redell, I went over all the material I had, hoping to find some clue to the space visitors’ planet. It was possible, of course, that there was more than one planet involved. Project “Saucer” had discussed the possibilities in its report of April 27, 1949. I read over this section again: Since flying saucers first hit the headlines almost two years ago, there has been wide speculation that the aerial phenomena might actually be some form of penetration from another planet. Actually, astronomers are largely in agreement that only one member of the solar system beside Earth is capable of supporting life. That is Mars. Even Mars, however, appears to be relatively desolate and inhospitable, so that a […] Read More
Chapter XII WHEN I called Redell’s office I found he had flown to Dallas and would not be back for two days. By the time he returned, I had written a draft of the Gorman case, with my answer to the balloon explanation. When I saw him, the next morning, I asked him to look it over. Redell lighted his pipe and then read the draft, nodding to himself now and then. “I think that’s correct analysis,” he said when he finished. “That was a very curious case. You know, Project ‘Saucer’ even had psychiatrists out there. If Gorman had been the only witness, I think they’d have called it a hallucination. As it was, they took a crack at him and the C.A.A. […] Read More
Chapter XI MY FIRST STEP, in checking on our space plans, was to look up official announcements. I found that on December 29, 1948, Defense Secretary James Forrestal had released this official statement: “The Earth Satellite Vehicle Program, which is being carried out independently by each military service, has been assigned to the Committee on Guided Missiles for coordination. “To provide an integrated program, the Committee has recommended that current efforts be limited to studies and component design. Well-defined areas of such research have been allocated to each of the three military departments.” Appropriation bills had already provided funds for space exploration plans. The Air Force research was indicated by General Curtis E. LeMay, who was then Deputy Chief of Air Staff for Research […] Read More
Chapter X WHEN I reached home, I found a brief letter from Ken Purdy. Dear Don: The Mantell and Eastern cases both look good. I don’t see how they can brush them off. It looks more like the interplanetary answer to me, but we won’t decide on treatment until we’re sure. [I had suggested two or three angles, if this proved the real answer.] Who would be the best authority to check our disk operation theory and give us more details on directional control? I’d like to have it checked by two more engineers. KEN Next day, I dug out my copy of Boal’s interview with D——, the famous aircraft designer. “Certainly the flying saucers are possible,” the designer had told Boal. “Give me […] Read More