Tag: Mount Rainier

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

Why Don't Pilot's See UFOs? Posted on

1968: Why Don’t Pilot’s See UFOs?

James McDonald, Statement on UFOs to U.S. House Committee on Science and Aeronautics, 1968 Symposium on UFOs This question may come in just that form from persons with essentially no knowledge of UFO history. From others who do know that there have been “a few” pilot-sightings, it comes in some altered form, such as, “Why don’t airline and military pilots see UFOs all the time if they are in our atmosphere?” By way of a partial answer, consider the following cases. (To facilitate internal reference, I shall number sequentially all cases hereafter treated in detail.) Case 1. Boise, Idaho, July 4, 1947: Only about a week after the now-famous Mt. Rainier sighting by private pilot Kenneth Arnold, a United Air Lines DC-3 crew sighted […] Read More

Cultural Background of UFO Abduction Reports Posted on

1990: Cultural Background of UFO Abduction Reports

copyright (c) 1990 by Martin S. Kottmeyer [Reprinted from “Magonia” Magazine, Jan. 1990, by permission of the author] Culture is an admixture of repetition and variation, convention and creativity, signals and noise. It is ever new and forever old as humanity relives old dreams and nightmares or forgets and forges new ones. Part of the delight of history is the recognition that however new a given event appears, traces of the past can generally be discerned. If the UFO phenomenon is an artifact of culture one would reasonably expect that cultural antecedent could be recognized for the major features it presents. Extraterrestrials, however, should be independent of culture and if they are newly arrived their characteristics should represent a discontinuity with the past. Abduction […] Read More

Project Saucer Posted on

1949: Project Saucer

NATIONAL MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT OFFICE OF PUBLIC INFORMATION Washington 25, D. C. MEMORANDUM TO THE PRESS           NO. M 26 – 49 IMMEDIATE RELEASE APRIL 27, 1949 RE 6700 Ext. 3201           The following report is a digest of preliminary studies made by the Air Material Command, Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, on “Flying Saucers.” PROJECT   “SAUCER” On Tuesday, June 24, 1947, a Boise, Idaho businessman named Kenneth Arnold looked from his private plane and spotted a chain of nine saucer-like objects playing tag with the jagged peaks of Washington’s Mt. Ranier at what he described as a “fantastic speed.” Arnold’s report set off a veritable celestial chain reaction.   And within a few days, the fabulous “flying saucers” had spun into the national spotlight.  […] Read More