Tag: Air Force

Project Sign Posted on

1948: Project Sign

THINK ABOUTIT PROJECT/GROUP SUMMARY Project/Group Name: Project Sign Mission: the first project to officially investigate UFOs under MAJESTIC TWELVE Date Started: 1948 Ended: 1948 Who or Whom Started It: Army Air Force Part of what Government Agency: Army Air Force Location: Special Features/Characteristics: Source: Summary/Description: Full Report Loy Lawhon Summary: There is reliable testimony that in August 1948, the Technical Intelligence Division at Wright-Patterson and Project Sign, decided to make a formal Estimate of the Situation. The Estimate was a top-secret document that contained unexplained sightings by pilots, scientists, and other reliable witnesses. The report concluded that UFOs were of extraterrestrial origin. The Army Air Force was, in one form or another, involved in investigating UFOs beginning with the 8th Army’s investigation of foo […] Read More

The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects Posted on

The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects: Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11, THE BIG FLAP: In early June 1952, Project Blue Book was operating according to the operational plan that had been set up in January 1952. It had taken six months to put the plan into effect, and to a person who has never been indoctrinated into the ways of the military, this may seem like a long time. But consult your nearest government worker and you’ll find that it was about par for the red tape course. We had learned early in the project that about 60 per cent of the reported UFO’s were actually balloons, airplanes, or astronomical bodies viewed under unusual conditions, so our operational plan was set up to quickly weed out this type of report. This would give […] Read More

The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects Posted on

The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects: Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12, THE WASHINGTON MERRY GO ROUND: No flying saucer report in the history of the UFO ever won more world acclaim than the Washington National Sightings. When radars at the Washington National Airport and at Andrews AFB, both close to the nation’s capital, picked up UFO’s, the sightings beat the Democratic National Convention out of headline space. They created such a furor that I had inquiries from the office of the President of the United States and from the press in London, Ottawa, and Mexico City. A junior sized riot was only narrowly averted in the lobby of the Roger Smith Hotel in Washington when I refused to tell U.S. newspaper reporters what I knew about the sightings. Besides being the most highly […] Read More

The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects Posted on

The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects: Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10, PROJECT BLUE BOOK AND THE BIG BUILD UP: Just twenty minutes after midnight on January 22, 1952, nineteen and a half hours after the Navy lieutenant commander had chased the UFO near Mitchel AFB, another incident involving an airplane and something unknown was developing in Alaska. In contrast with the unusually balmy weather in New York, the temperature in Alaska that night, according to the detailed account of the incident we received at ATIC, was a miserable 47 degrees below zero. The action was unfolding at one of our northern-most radar outposts in Alaska. This outpost was similar to those you may have seen in pictures, a collection of low, sprawling buildings grouped around the observatory like domes that house the antennae […] Read More

The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects Posted on

The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects: Chapter 6

The presses roll – the Air Force shrugs: The Grudge Report was supposedly not for general distribution. A few copies were sent to the Air Force Press Desk in the Pentagon and reporters and writers could come in and read it. But a good many copies did get into circulation. The Air Force Press Room wasn’t the best place to sit and study a 600 page report, and a quick glance at the report showed that it required some study – if no more than to find out what the authors were trying to prove – so several dozen copies got into circulation. I know that these “liberated” copies of the Grudge Report had been thoroughly studied because nearly every writer who came to […] Read More

The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects Posted on

The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects: Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3, THE CLASSICS: With the Soviets practically eliminated as a UFO source, the idea of interplanetary spaceships was becoming more popular. During 1948 the people in ATIC were openly discussing the possibility of interplanetary visitors without others tapping their heads and looking smug. During 1948 the novelty of UFO’s had worn off for the Press and every John and Jane Doe who saw one didn’t make the front pages as in 1947. Editors were becoming hardened, only a few of the best reports got any space. Only the “Classics” rated headlines. “The Classics” were three historic reports that were the highlights of 1948. They are called “The Classics,” a name given them by the Project Blue Book staff, because: (1) they are classic […] Read More

The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects Posted on

The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects: Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2: THE ERA OF CONFUSION BEGINS: On September 23, 1947, the chief of the Air Technical Intelligence Center, one of the Air Force’s most highly specialized intelligence units, sent a letter to the Commanding General of the then Army Air Forces. The letter was in answer to the Commanding General’s verbal request to make a preliminary study of the reports of unidentified flying objects. The letter said that after a preliminary study of UFO reports, ATIC concluded that, to quote from the letter, “the reported phenomena were real.” The letter strongly urged that a permanent Project be established at ATIC to investigate and analyze future UFO reports. It requested a priority for the Project, a registered code name, and an over-all security classification. […] Read More

The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects Posted on

The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects: Chapter 17

What Are UFO’s? While the scientists were in Washington, D.C., pondering over the UFO, the UFO’s weren’t just sitting idly by waiting to find out what they were – they were out doing a little “lobbying” for the cause – keeping the interest stirred up. And they were doing a good job, too. It was just a few minutes before midnight on January 28, 1953, when a message flashed into Wright-Patterson for Project Blue Book. It was sent “Operational Immediate,” so it had priority handling; I was reading it by 12:30 A.M.. A pilot had chased a UFO. The report didn’t have many details but it did sound good. It gave the pilot’s name and said that he could be reached at Moody AFB. […] Read More

The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects Posted on

The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects: Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5, THE DARK AGES: The order of February 11, 1949, that changed the name of Project Sign to Project Grudge had not directed any change in the operating policy of the project. It had, in fact, pointed out that the project was to continue to investigate and evaluate reports of sightings of unidentified flying objects. In doing this, standard intelligence procedures would be used. This normally means the unbiased evaluation of intelligence data. But it doesn’t take a great deal of study of the old UFO files to see that standard intelligence procedures were no longer being used by Project Grudge. Everything was being evaluated on the premise that UFO’s couldn’t exist. No matter what you see or hear, don’t believe it. New […] Read More

CIA Posted on

2009: The CIA’s UFO History

After the Cold War ended, the culture of secrecy and the operational style of the CIA began to change. Its director appeared on a radio talk show, and it became possible for citizens to pressure the CIA in ways unheard of during that earlier era. Ufology has been a beneficiary of these changes. In late 1993, inquiries from several UFO researchers led CIA Director R. James Woolsey to order a review of all CIA files on UFOs. This agency-wide search occurred in 1994 and centralized the CIA’s UFO files. Taking advantage of this opportunity, government historian Gerald K. Haines reviewed the documents, conducted interviews, and wrote a study examining the CIA’s interest and involvement in UFO investigation and government UFO policy from 1947 until […] Read More

Project Bluebook Posted on

The Project Bluebook Unknowns, Complete

July 3, 1947; Harborside, Maine. 2:30 p.m.  EDT. Witness: astronomer John Cole of South Brooksville, Me. Watched 10-15 seconds while ten very light objects, with two dark forms to their left, moved like a swarm of bees to the northwest.  A loud roar was heard. July 4, 1947; over Emmet, Idaho. 8:17 p.m.  PDT. Witnesses: United Air Lines Capt. E.J. Smith, First Officer Ralph Stevens, Stewardess Marty Morrow. Watched for 12-15 minutes while four objects with flat bottoms and rough tops moved at varying speeds, with one high and to the right of the others. July 6, 1947; Fairfield-Suisan Air Base, California. Daytime. Witnesses:  Army Air Forces Capt. and Mrs. James Burniston. Watched for 1 minute while one object having no wings or tail rolled from side-to-side three times and then flew away very fast to […] Read More

Project Colorado Posted on

1967: The overlooked UFO wave and the Colorado Project

Presented by RICHARD H. HALL ABSTRACT A major wave of UFO sightings occurred in 1967; even by official Air Force figures it was the 4th largest in terms of sightings reported, yet no one talks about it. The special significance of the 1967 wave is that it occurred during the one full year of investigations by the University of Colorado UFO Project, and everyone deferred to the project is looking for “answers.” The only answer was the Condon Report. This study analyzes the wave and demonstrates that the Colorado Project had ample case material to investigate during its lifetime, yet failed miserably to accomplish “scientific investigation.” At the same time, publicity about the project obscured the sighting wave. INTRODUCTION The “Great UFO Wave of […] Read More

Return of the Angels Posted on

Return of the Angels; UFOs in Israel, Past and Present – Chapter 5 – Israel Awakens To The Invasion

CHAPTER FIVE- Israel Awakens To The Invasion During the spring of 1980,I was a soldier in the anti-aircraft brigade of the Israeli Air Force.My duty was to operate two types of anti-aircraft missile. My unit was on training manoevres in the bleak Sinai Desert and private Adam Reuter was on skywatch.While staring into the western skies with his binoculars,he called me over,saying,”I think I’m looking at a UFO.” He handed me the glasses and I saw a large,well lit, silvery object. Circling it were red objects that occasionally flew into the silver one,seemingly melding with it. One by one members of the unit were called to observe the sight until most had stopped digging their foxholes. Our officers intervened and everyone went back to their mundane […] Read More

Military Posted on

UFO and Military Acronyms

A2 – Air Force Intelligence AAC – Alaskan Air Command AAF – Army Air Force ACOM – Asian Communist – One of NSA’s 4 major Operational Divisions ADC – AeroSpace Defense Command ADLA – Assistant Director for Legal & Legislative AffAirs – NSA) ADPL – Assistant Director for Policy & Liason – (NSA) ADPR – Assistant Director for Plans / Resources – (NSA) ADT – Assistant Director for Training ADVA – Advanced Soviet – One of the 4 major operational divisions of NSA’s production organization: combined with GENS into ‘A Group’ AEC – Atomic Energy Commission AFB – Air Force Base AFESC – Air Force Electronic Security Command AFGWC – Air Force Global Weather Control AFIS – Air Force Intelligence Service AFOC – Air […] Read More