Long Burn

Government report finds that some unidentified aerial objects are red, tear-drop shaped and move at meteor-like speeds

Project Blue Book was one of a series of systematic studies of unidentified aerial objects conducted by the U. S. Air Force. The project started in 1952 and was active until 1970. The goal of the project was to determine if these objects were a threat to national security. Thousands of reports were collected, analysed and filed. Its reports are available on the internet at The Blue Book Archive.

Here are some quotes I have gleaned from Special Report 14:

Study No. 102-EL-55/2-79
Analysis of reports of unidentified aerial objects
Project no. 100735 May 1955
No copyright material is contained in this publication.

Summary: Reports of unidentified aerial objects (popularly termed flying saucers or flying discs) have been received by the U. S. Air Force since mid-1947 from many and diverse sources. Although there was no evidence that the unexplained reports of unidentfied objects constituted a threat to the security of the U.S., the Air Force determined that all reports of unidentified aerial objects should be investigated and evaluated to determine if 'flying saucers' represented technological developments not known to this country.

The reports received by the U. S. Air Force on unidentified aerial objects were reduced to IBM punched-card abstracts of the data by means of logically-developed forms and standardized evaluation procedures.

The unfortunate term 'flying saucer' or 'flying disc', because of its widespread and indiscriminate use, requires definition. Many definitions have been offered, one of the best being that originated by Dr. J. Allen Hynek, Director of the Emerson McMillin Observatory of The Ohio State University, who has taken a scientific interest in the problem of unidentified aerial objects since 1949. Dr. Hynek's definition of the term is 'any aerial phenomenon or sighting that remains unexplained to the viewer at least long enough for him to write a report about it.'

Categories of identification, established upon the basis of previous experience, were as follows: balloon, astronomical, aircraft, light phenomenon, birds, clouds, dust, insufficient information, psychological manifestations, unknown, other.

Psychological manifestations-- Religious fanaticism, a desire for publicity, or an over-active imagination were the most common mental aberrations causing this type of report.

The statistically usable variables presented in this study include the date, time, location, duration, reliability, and method of observation of the sighting, and the physical attributes of number, color, speed, shape, light brightness, and identification of the objects sighted.

According to Figure 2, 20 % of the sightings were categorized as unkown, and another 10 % as insufficient information. Of the 3200 sightings analyzed in this report, this gives roughly a thousand unidentified aerial objects in the period 1947 to 1952. According to Figure 18, of the unknown object sightings, 29 % were white, 17 % metallic, 10 % orange and 8 % red. By comparison, only 23 % of the known object sightings were white. 69 % of the unknown observations involved single objects, while 6 % involved eleven or more objects. With regards to velocity, 12 % of the unkown objects were stationary, 6 % moving at less than 100 mph, 34 % at more than 400 mph, and 4 % at a speed described as 'meteor-like.' In 31 % of the observations the speed was not stated. 45 % of the unknown objects were elliptical, 5 % were 'lenticular, conical or tear drop' shaped and 2 % were comet-shaped. Most of the unidentified flying objects were sighted in July, and fewest in March.

Case I (Serial 0573.00)
Two men employed by a rug-cleaning firm were driving across a bridge at 0955 hours on July 29, 1948, when they saw an object glide across the road a few hundred feew in front of them. It was shiny and metallic in construction, about 6 to 8 feet long and 2 feet wide. It was in a flat glide path at an altitude of about 30 feet and in a moderate turn to the left.

Case IV (Serial 4599.00)
A part-time farmer and a hired hand were curing tobacco at midnight on July 19, 1952, when they looked up and saw two cigar-shaped objects. One hovered while the other moved to the east and came back, at which time both ascended until out of sight.

Case VI (Serial 4822.00)
An instrument technician, while driving from a large city toward an Air Force base on December 22, 1952, saw an object from his car at 1930 hours. He stopped his car to watch it. It suddenly moved up toward the zenith in spurts from right to left at an angle of about 45 degrees....It finally assumed a position to the south of planet Jupiter at a high altitude, at which position it darted back and forth, left and right alternately.

Case IX (Serial 0066.00)
A farmer and his two sons, aged 8 and 10, were at his fishing camp on August 13, 1947. At about 1300 hours, he went to look for the boys, having sent them to the river for some tape from his boat. He noticed an object some 300 feet away, 75 feet above the ground....It was 'hedge hopping', following the contour of the ground, was sky blue, about 20 feet in diameter and 10 feet thick, and had pods on the side from which flames were shooting out. It made a swishing sound. The observer stated that the trees were highly agitated by the craft as it passed over. His two sons also observed the object.

Case XII (Serial 3601.00)
At 0535 on the morning of August 25, 1952, a musician for a radio station was driving to work from his home when he noticed an object hovering about 10 feet above a field near the road along which he was driving. As he came abreast of the object, he stopped his car and got out to watch. Having an artificial leg, he could not leave the road, since the surrounding terrain was rough. However, he was within about 100 yards of it at the point he was standing on the road. The object was not absolutely still, but seemed to rock slightly as it hovered. When he turned off the motor of his car, he could hear a deep throbbing sound coming from the object. As he got out of the car, the object began a vertical ascent with a sound similar to 'a large covey of quail starting to fly at one time.' The object ascended vertically through broken clouds until out of sight. ...shaped like two oval meat platters placed together.

Conclusions
Therefore, on the basis of this evaluation of the information, it is considered to be highly improbable that any of the reports of unidentified aerial objects examined in this study represent observations of technological developments outside the range of present-day scientific knowledge. It is emphasized that there was a complete lack of any valid evidence consisting of physical matter in any case of a reported unidentified aerial object.

posted by Matt_J @ 10:26 AM