On March 26, 1962, at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, a significant UFO sighting was reported. The observation involved one witness.

Key Details:

• Location: Ramstein Air Base, Germany.
• Date and Time: March 26, 1962.
• Duration: The observation lasted approximately 5 to 8 seconds.
• Number of Objects: One object was observed.

Description of the Object: The object was initially seen as a small delta-shaped wing resembling a fighter aircraft. As it approached, it was described as less of a delta shape and more of a dart-shaped missile-like appearance, changing shape and showing no visible means of propulsion. The object exhibited fast movement, estimated at approximately Mach 2.

Witness Accounts:

• The pilot reported the object first appearing at the 8 o’clock position and exhibiting bright flashes. As it approached 3 o’clock position, the shape shifted from a delta wing to a dart target appearance.
• The object traveled from the three to five o’clock positions, with the pilot noting the shape change and a significant speed.

Conclusion: The Project Blue Book record card indicates that the data was insufficient for a definitive evaluation. The phenomenon was marked as “unidentified” due to the lack of concrete data and the unusual characteristics of the sighting that did not match any known aircraft or meteorological phenomenon.

This summary is based on the official case files from Project Blue Book, available for download below.

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Project Blue Book: Ramstein Air Force Base UFO Encounter, March 26, 1962 (Unidentified) [4 Pages, 0.8MB]

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The post Project Blue Book: Ramstein Air Force Base UFO Encounter, March 26, 1962 (Unidentified) first appeared on The Black Vault.

Burns detailed that as the UFO crossed the road ahead of his vehicle, his car’s engine stalled, and it came to an unnatural stop. The UFO allegedly rested in a meadow for 60 to 90 seconds before taking off again with a sound of rushing air, heading northeast​​.

Burns reported the incident to Professor Ernest Gehman from Eastern Mennonite College. Gehman, alongside Burns, visited the landing site. Using a Geiger counter, Gehman detected significant radioactivity in the area where the UFO purportedly landed. This finding was corroborated by two DuPont research engineers, Harry Cook and Mr. Funk, who joined Gehman at the site and witnessed the high radiation levels recorded by the Geiger counter​​.

On January 12, 1965, Technical Sergeant David Moody and Staff Sergeant Harold Jones from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base arrived to investigate the incident. They were accompanied by Burns, Gehman, and Clair Weaver, a student president of the UFO Investigators group at Eastern Mennonite College​​.

Sergeant Moody used a Model 2586 Beta-Gamma Survey Meter to test the area but reported no significant radiation levels. Gehman noted discrepancies in Moody’s testing methods, such as the quick adjustment of the meter when it started to rise, which led to the conclusion that no radiation was present. Despite the findings and testimonies provided by Burns and Gehman, the Air Force’s final report concluded that there was no evidence to support the occurrence of a UFO landing​​.

Key Points of Contention

Radioactivity Findings: Gehman and his associates recorded high levels of radioactivity at the site shortly after the incident. In contrast, the Air Force investigation, conducted weeks later and under different conditions (such as snowfall), did not confirm these findings​​.

Witness Testimonies: While the Air Force report mentioned no additional witnesses, Gehman and Burns provided consistent accounts supported by Cook and Funk. Gehman also highlighted the lack of consultation with these witnesses by the Air Force investigators​​.

Physical Evidence: The Air Force report noted no physical depressions in the grass or any other indicators of a landing. However, Gehman pointed out that the meadow had been mowed for hay, making it difficult to observe such evidence under the snow-covered conditions during the investigation​​.

Technical Discrepancies: Gehman questioned the suitability of the Air Force’s equipment and methods, particularly the Beta-Gamma Survey Meter’s effectiveness in detecting alpha particles. He also criticized the Air Force’s estimation of the height of power lines the UFO allegedly crossed, which was significantly off the mark​​.

Despite the detailed testimonies and initial findings of high radioactivity, the Air Force’s Project Blue Book ultimately categorized the Harrisonburg sighting as lacking evidence. The final report dismissed the incident as having no substantiated proof of a UFO landing, citing the absence of additional witnesses and physical evidence​​.

Project Blue Book Files

 The Alleged 1964 UFO Landing in Harrisonburg, Virginia [55 Pages, 12.1MB]

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The post Project Blue Book: The Alleged 1964 UFO Landing in Harrisonburg, Virginia first appeared on The Black Vault.

The Lonnie Zamora incident was an alleged UFO close encounter. It occurred on Friday, April 24, 1964, at about 5:50 p.m., on the outskirts of Socorro, New Mexico. Several primary witnesses emerged to report their version of the event, which included the craft’s approach, conspicuous flame, and alleged physical evidence left behind immediately afterward. Lonnie Zamora, a Socorro police officer who was on duty at the time, claimed to have come closest to the object and provided the most prolonged and comprehensive account. Some physical trace evidence left behind—burned vegetation and soil, ground landing impressions, and metal scrapings on a broken rock in one of the impressions—was subsequently observed and analyzed by investigators for the military, law enforcement, and civilian UFO groups. The event and its body of evidence is sometimes deemed one of the best documented and most perplexing UFO reports.

It was immediately investigated by the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, and FBI, and received considerable coverage in the mass media. It was one of the cases that helped persuade astronomer J. Allen Hynek, one of the primary investigators for the Air Force, that some UFO reports represented an intriguing mystery. After extensive investigation, the Air Force’s Project Blue Book was unable to come up with a conventional explanation and listed the case as an “unknown”.

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FBI Files

FBI Files on the Socorro UFO Landing, April 24, 1964 [31 Pages, 3MB]

USAF / Project Blue Book Files

USAF Files on the Socorro UFO Landing, April 24, 1964 [168 Pages, 50MB]

USAF Official Photographs on the Socorro UFO Landing, April 24, 1964 [168 Pages, 4MB]

The post Official Files on the Socorro UFO Landing, April 24, 1964 first appeared on The Black Vault.

Background: In the early 1950s, a surge of UFO reports flooded into the U.S. Air Force’s Project Blue Book, which was responsible for investigating these sightings. These reports garnered significant public and media attention, leading to concerns within the U.S. government. Some officials were worried that potential enemies could exploit the UFO phenomenon, either by using the public’s fascination with UFOs as a psychological weapon or by saturating communication channels with false reports during a real attack. This led the CIA to convene a panel of experts to examine the UFO issue.

The Robertson Panel: Convened in January 1953, the panel was chaired by Dr. H.P. Robertson, a physicist from the California Institute of Technology, hence the name “Robertson Panel”. The group included various other scientists, including experts in astrophysics, radar, and atmospheric optics.

The panel’s primary task was to review the UFO reports collected by Project Blue Book and assess the potential threat these reports might pose to national security.

Key Findings and Conclusions of the Robertson Panel:

1. No Direct Threat: After examining the evidence, the Robertson Panel concluded that UFOs did not appear to pose any direct threat to national security.
2. Explanation for Sightings: The panel believed that most UFO sightings could be easily explained as misidentifications of natural phenomena, man-made objects, or other ordinary occurrences. They were of the opinion that if these explanations were promoted and publicized, the number of unexplained sightings would significantly decrease.
3. Potential Indirect Threat: The panel did, however, express concerns about the indirect effects of UFO reports. Specifically, they were concerned that the Soviets might try to exploit the public’s interest in UFOs for propaganda purposes or that a deluge of UFO reports might overwhelm military communication channels in the event of a real threat.
4. Recommendations: The Robertson Panel made several recommendations:
   • Public Education: The U.S. government should engage in a public education campaign to demystify and debunk UFOs. This would reduce the hysteria and public concern around the phenomenon.
   • Monitoring: The panel suggested monitoring civilian UFO groups since they might be prone to manipulation by foreign powers.
   • Limit Reporting: They recommended that the Air Force reduce the priority of Project Blue Book and make efforts to strip UFOs of their mysterious aura. This also included a recommendation to reclassify some UFO reports to reduce public access.
5. Limitation of Examination: It’s worth noting that the panel spent only a very limited amount of time examining the evidence (about 12 hours over several days), and they did not conduct field investigations or speak directly with many of the primary witnesses.

Aftermath and Criticism: The recommendations of the Robertson Panel were adopted by the CIA and other governmental agencies. As a result, Project Blue Book adopted a more skeptical approach to UFO reports, and efforts were made to debunk sightings publicly.

Over the years, the Robertson Panel has been a source of controversy among UFO researchers and enthusiasts. Critics argue that the panel’s approach was dismissive and that their conclusions were preordained. They believe that the panel was more interested in dismissing the UFO phenomenon rather than seriously investigating it.

Regardless of one’s stance on the matter, the Robertson Panel played a significant role in shaping the U.S. government’s public stance on UFOs for many years.

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2013 CIA Release: The Robertson Panel Report, January 14 – 18, 1953 [28 Pages, 1.8MB]

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Archived Releases

2001 CIA Release: The Robertson Panel Report, January 14 – 18, 1953 [28 Pages, 1.8MB]

The post The Robertson Panel, The Scientific Advisory Panel on Unidentified Flying Objects Convened by the CIA first appeared on The Black Vault.

Document Archvie

ATIC, The 1950s, and National Security Policy – by Bruce Ashcroft, NAIC Historian [17 Pages, 10.2MB]

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The post ATIC, The 1950s, and National Security Policy – by Bruce Ashcroft, NAIC Historian first appeared on The Black Vault.

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 Project Blue Book: Artesia, New Mexico — 16 January 1952 [15 Pages, 2.3MB]

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The post Project Blue Book: Artesia, New Mexico — 16 January 1952 first appeared on The Black Vault.

The case was documented heavily within the Project Blue Book files. That case file is below, along with the extensive array of photographs at the crash site.

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Project Blue Book: The Thomas Mantell Case — 7 January 1948 [92 Pages, 15MB]

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The post Project Blue Book: The Thomas Mantell Case — 7 January 1948 first appeared on The Black Vault.

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Project Blue Book – UFO over York, Pennsylvania – 13 October 1952 [34 Pages, 4.5MB]

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The post Project Blue Book – UFO over York, Pennsylvania – 13 October 1952 first appeared on The Black Vault.

The RB-47H, tail number 53-4299, was operated by the 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing from Forbes AFB. The crew was composed of six trained Air Force personnel who were on a training mission from Forbes AFB in Kansas, across the Gulf of Mexico. They were testing electronic countermeasures (ECM) equipment, designed to detect, identify, and locate enemy radar sources.

Around 4:00 AM, while flying over Mississippi, the crew detected an unidentified radar return. The navigator, Captain John J. Provenzano, and the electronic warfare officers (EWOs), detected a signal that was similar to ground-based radar but appeared to be airborne and moving.

Over the next hour and a half, the crew detected the object on multiple occasions, on various equipment, suggesting it was not a malfunction. They visually observed a bright light moving in ways that matched the radar data, confirming an unidentified aircraft’s presence.

The RB-47H then followed the object across Texas and Oklahoma before losing contact near Oklahoma City. The crew made several attempts to shake the object, including changes in speed and altitude, but they were unsuccessful. The UFO seemed to demonstrate extraordinary maneuverability and speed, outpacing the RB-47H with ease.

Some have argued that the object was a commercial airliner, while others remain unconvinced of that theory.

The entire case file is below.

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Project Blue Book: The RB-47 UFO Incident — July 17, 1957 [56 Pages, 11MB]

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The post Project Blue Book: The RB-47 UFO Incident — July 17, 1957 first appeared on The Black Vault.

A report of a UFO was received from Mr. Dale F. Spaur, Badge #15, Portage County Sheriff’s Office, Ravenna, Ohio., 17 Apr 66. Sighting between 0300 and 0600 hours. “First sighted in Ravenna, Ohio along Routes 224 – 44, followed object to Conway, Pa., for about 80 miles. Object seemed to be taking off from ground, oblong shaped, with antenna projecting from it. There were no colored lights only a very bright silvery radiance. Object flying about 500 feet over vehicle. It would slow down in speed and then go very fast. The glow from object was so bright it blinded driver of vehicle. Object was flying due east. This has witnessed by people along the route between Ravenna, Ohio and Conway, Pa. There were three (3) men from sheriff’s office and two (2) patrol cars that followed object along this route.”

The case file is below, complete with numerous documents and supporting records. There are also many newspaper articles that were archived.

Document Archive

Project Blue Book: Ravenna, Mantua, Ohio — April 17, 1966 [90 Pages, 20.2MB]

The post Project Blue Book: Ravenna, Mantua, Ohio — April 17, 1966 first appeared on The Black Vault.

In this particular Project Blue Book case, witnesses describe multiple UFOs seen at Presque Isle State Park, Pennsylvania, on July 31, 1966.

They also report indentations and even a “monster” sighting.

Project Blue Book investigators determined the lights were “unidentified” but felt the indentations were unrelated and the “monster” was a probable animal.

You decide. Here are the case files.

Document Archive

Project Blue Book Case File: Presque Isle State Park, Pennsylvania — July 31, 1966 [120 Pages, 47MB]

Project Blue Book Case File: Presque Isle State Park, Pennsylvania — July 31, 1966 — Additional Photos [15 Pages, 2.5MB]

The post Project Blue Book: Presque Isle State Park, Pennsylvania — July 31, 1966 first appeared on The Black Vault.

Project Sign was an official U.S. government study of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) undertaken by the United States Air Force (USAF) and active for most of 1948. It was the precursor to Project Grudge.

Project Grudge was a short-lived project by the U.S. Air Force (USAF) to investigate unidentified flying objects (UFOs). Grudge succeeded Project Sign in February, 1949, and was then followed by Project Blue Book. The project formally ended in December 1949, but continued in a minimal capacity until late 1951.

Project Blue Book was one of a series of systematic studies of Unidentified flying objects (UFOs) conducted by the United States Air Force (U.S.A.F.). Started in 1952, it was the second revival of such a study. A termination order was given for the study in December 1969, and all activity under its auspices ceased in January 1970.

Below you will find documents relating to these projects.

Air Force History’s Referencing UFOs in the Blue Book Era

History of the Directorate of Intelligence June 1 – December 31 1952 [13 Pages, 3MB]

History of the 5th Air Force, Daily Intel Summary, October 1952 [7 Pages, 1.7MB]

History of the 5th Air Force, Daily Intel Summary, August 1952 [7 Pages, 1.5MB]

Lessons Learned, Headquarters, 52d Combat Aviation Battalion, 22 September 1969 [54 Pages, 3MB] – It is unclear if this document is part of the Blue Book system. It does confirm, however, that towards the end of the Blue Book era, military installations were still seeing UFOs – some they were later able to identify – while others they were not.

The Condon Committee Report

The report contains the results of a scientific inquiry into the phenomena of Unidentified Flying Objects.

To download, click on the following link:

The Full Condon Committee Report on UFOs, 1968

Project Sign

Unidentified Aerial Objects Project “Sign” [55 Pages, 19.8MB] – This is the best copy available, which was obtained by the DTIC.

Project Grudge

Project Grudge Documents, Air Force Declassification Office [29 Pages, 3MB] – This release was declassified by the Air Force Declassification Office. Although now gone (broken link, as of 3/3/21) on their website, The Black Vault has them archived here.

Project Blue Book

 Project Blue Book Status Report Number 8, 31 December 1952 [17 Pages, 0.8MB] – This item can be found on microfilm roll number 85 of microfilm publication T1206. Project ‘Bluebook.’, 1947-1969.

 Appendix I to Project Blue Book Status Report Number 8 [1 Page, 0.8MB]

 Project Blue Book [43 Pages]

 Project Blue Book FBI File [13 Pages] – This small file relates to an Air Force program for the investigation of Unidentified Flying Objects. The Secretary of the Air Force discontinued this program in 1969.

 Project Blue Book Records, Air Force Missile Development Center, 1947-1970 [42 Pages, 5.18MB] – These documents were obtained from the Air Force Historical Research Agency (AFHRA).

 Review of the University of Colorado Report on Unidentified Flying Objects by a Panel of the National Academy of Sciences – The ad hoc committee concurs with the findings of the report of the University of Colorado entitled ‘Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects,’ Dr. Edward U. Condon, Scientific Director. Panel agrees that a study of UFOs in general is not a promising way to expand scientific understanding of the phenomena, and adds: ‘On the basis of present knowledge the least likely explanation of UFOs is the hypothesis of extraterrestrial visitations by intelligent beings.’

The post Project Sign, Project Grudge, and Project Blue Book – Air Force UFO Research Programs (1947-1969) first appeared on The Black Vault.

The following documents were taken from a longer oral history transcript from General John William Vogt Jr. conduct in 1978.

At the time it was received by The Black Vault, it had never been released to the public before.

Inside, General Vogt recalled his time in intelligence, and how he was assigned to investigate UFOs. He called himself the “first UFO officer in the Air Force.”

During the course of his interview, he recalled a UFO sighting while flying a C-45 Beechcraft. It was a purple light which flew with his aircraft, and was visible for about an hour.

Note from The Black Vault: I tried to find the corresponding file in the Project Blue Book collection. However, with no real details in the oral history transcript, it’s difficult to match it up to anything.

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General John William Vogt Jr. And His UFO Sighting [3 Pages, 0.5MB]

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The post General John William Vogt Jr. And His UFO Sighting first appeared on The Black Vault.

This file is from the Project Blue Book collection within the National Archives. It is a case where the witness describes an object falling like a green flame from the sky. It was shaped roughly like a cone, about 1ft high. Upon landing, it started a fire in the backyard shed of the property, and the local police were called out.

After analysis by the U.S. Air Force – they determined it was furnace slag.

The case files, along with photographs, are all below.

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Project Blue Book: Hartford, Connecticut — September 4, 1960 – CASE FILES [73 Pages, 10MB]

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Project Blue Book: Hartford, Connecticut — September 4, 1960 – PHOTOGRAPHS [38 Pages, 3.51MB]

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The post Project Blue Book: Hartford, Connecticut — September 4, 1960 first appeared on The Black Vault.

Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14 was a massive statistical analysis undertaken by the U.S. Air Force and the Battelle Memorial Institute to study UFO sightings. This report is significant as it represents the largest such study ever undertaken, with a total of 3,200 cases analyzed by the time the report was completed in 1954. The goal was to make the UFO study more scientific, and the approach involved devising a standardized reporting form and analyzing the existing sighting reports based on about 30 report characteristics​​.

The analysts classified the cases into “knowns”, “unknowns”, and a third category of “insufficient information”. They further broke down knowns and unknowns into four categories of quality, from excellent to poor. Notably, for a case to be classified as an “unknown”, all four analysts had to agree, making the criterion quite stringent. Sightings were also analyzed based on six different characteristics—color, number, duration of observation, brightness, shape, and speed. These characteristics were then compared between knowns and unknowns to see if there was a statistically significant difference​.

The main findings of the statistical analysis were as follows:

• About 69% of the cases were judged as known or identified (38% were considered conclusively identified while 31% were still “doubtfully” explained), about 9% had insufficient information, and about 22% were deemed “unknown”.
• In the known category, 86% of the knowns were aircraft, balloons, or had astronomical explanations. Only 1.5% of all cases were judged to be psychological or “crackpot” cases. A “miscellaneous” category comprised 8% of all cases and included possible hoaxes.
• The higher the quality of the case, the more likely it was to be classified as unknown. 35% of the excellent cases were deemed unknowns, as opposed to only 18% of the poorest cases​⁴​.

Despite these findings, the summary section of the Battelle Institute’s final report declared it was “highly improbable that any of the reports of unidentified aerial objects … represent observations of technological developments outside the range of present-day knowledge.” This conclusion was criticized by some researchers, who noted that the conclusions of the analysts were usually at odds with their own statistical results, displayed in 240 charts, tables, graphs, and maps​⁵​.

When the Air Force made Special Report #14 public in October 1955, it claimed that the report scientifically proved that UFOs did not exist. However, critics noted that the report actually proved that the “unknowns” were distinctly different from the “knowns” at a very high statistical significance level. The Air Force also incorrectly claimed that only 3% of the cases studied were unknowns, instead of the actual 22%​​.

The results of the monumental study were echoed by a 1979 French GEPAN report, which stated that about a quarter of over 1,600 closely studied UFO cases defied explanation. When GEPAN’s successor SEPRA closed in 2004, 5,800 cases had been analyzed, and the percentage of inexplicable unknowns had dropped to about 14%​.

Below, you will find a copy of the entire report, as archived by the CIA. This is the cleanest copy that I have seen, and complete.

Document Archive

Project Blue Book Special Report #14 – May 5, 1955 [312 Pages, 25MB]

The post Project Blue Book Special Report #14 – May 5, 1955 first appeared on The Black Vault.

The Condon Commitee

For twenty-two years, from 1947 – 1969, the United States Air Force ran a trifecta of UFO research programs known as Projects Sign, Grudge and Blue Book. The public is most familiar with the latter of the three, undoubtedly due to the success of a History Channel series by the same name. However, lesser known to non-UFO-aficionados, is why those studies ended. That was due to a near fifteen-hundred page report generated by what was known as the Condon Committee, which convened from 1966-1968 at the University of Colorado, to evaluate whether the further study of UFOs was worth it. Spoiler alert: they concluded UFOs were not worth the time. However, something strange has happened to that report over the years. A chunk of it went missing within the main government agency that disseminates it.

The report has always been unclassified, and is now distributed online by the U.S. government primarily through the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC), that is, if you know to look there. The Black Vault added what was believed to be the full report in 2018 after a FOIA request yielded the three volume study, however, seventy pages were mysteriously missing from the “complete” copy.

The missing section, arguably, was the most interesting part. According to the Table of Contents for the report, the missing section dealt with UFO sightings by U.S. astronauts.

The Missing Pages

An attempt to gain access to the missing pages from DTIC failed, as it appeared the original document as scanned by that agency, did not have the pages within it.

It should be noted — online copies of the Condon report do exist, primarily in text form, and the missing pages are in most of them. So, it is not like the absent sections were not within the public domain already. However, the removal by the government in their copy remains a mystery.

To find online copies of the Condon report outside of U.S. government channels, you just needed to look in some obscure places, as it appears only six full copies in text form exist online (source: Google, see screen shot). Those text versions seem to all stem from a copy created by the “National Capital Area Skeptics” more than twenty years ago, after working directly with the University of Colorado to generate it.

Despite the text versions available online, original copies disseminated by DTIC remain incomplete, as of the writing of this article.

The Hunt For The Records

The Black Vault began its search for the ORIGINAL pages in December of 2019. The most logical place to look, was the University of Colorado where the study took place. However, e-mails and voicemails were un-returned. Fast forward to June of 2020, and a complete copy with the missing pages was discovered within the archive of the National Technical Information Service (NTIS), an agency under the Department of Commerce that started originally after World War II. According to their mission statement, they “provide the support and structure that helps our partners securely store, analyze, sort, and aggregate data in new ways.” They have a large database of technical reports, which for decades remained behind a paywall, but now seems to be open to the public.

Hidden within, is the complete Condon Committee report; a full scan of one of the original report with the missing seventy pages attached. And sure enough, the missing pages prove to be some of the most interesting. Within Chapter 6, three astronaut UFO sightings are referenced as having no explanation.

The complete set of just the missing pages are as follows:

 Missing Pages from the Condon Report [70 Pages, 3MB]

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The Astronaut’s Unexplained Sightings

The Condon Committee report stated that the three sightings by astronauts James McDivitt and Frank Borman, on Gemini missions 4 and 7, were a mystery, and had no adequate explanation.

The report outlined the “cylindrical object with protuberance” that McDivitt saw on Gemini 4. It even stated that there was film footage of the unknown object which was taken by NASA for four days. When NASA released “three or four” pictures, McDivitt stated that they were not of the object he had seen. Then, it appears McDivitt settled that the photos were just skewed by being blown up (magnified) and the object was “probably an unmanned satellite.”

However, the Condon Committee could not pinpoint what satellite it was. NORAD had submitted a list of possibilities, and they settled on the Pegasus B which was 1,200 miles away. The Condon Committee concluded based on the description that it was not a match, and the sighting remained a mystery.

Also profiled in the report was a sighting on Gemini 7. On this mission, there was a sighting of what they referred to as a “bogey.” When Capcom tried to determine if it was the booster, Borman confirmed he also had the booster in sight.

Whatever the “bogey” was; it was unidentified.

The section on UFOs and astronauts concluded with the following:

“The three unexplained sightings which have been gleaned from a great mass of reports are a challenge to the analyst. Especially puzzling is the first one on the list, the daytime sighting of an object showing details such as arms (antennas?) protruding from a body having a noticeable angular extension. If the NORAD listing of objects near the GT-4 spacecraft at the time of the sighting is complete as it presumably is, we shall have to find a rational explanation or, alternatively, keep it on our list of unidentifieds.”

The MetaData

The meta data, or hidden information within certain files, was reviewed for the Condon report files. The Black Vault compared the NTIS version (complete) with the DTIC version (incomplete).

It was revealed that the NTIS version was scanned six years prior to the one stored at DTIC. The software application used was different, so likely, it was two different physical/manual scans, rather than the NTIS version was utilized, and the seventy pages removed.

Regardless of how the missing pages ended up, well, missing; the “why” they disappeared remains a mystery. One, two, even a few pages missing from a near fifteen hundred page document may happen, especially one that is a half of a century old, and likely that would just be human error.

However, to remove a batch of seventy pages, from within the document, is likely intentional. Again, the question is why?

We may never know the real answer. As online copies do exist in a few places, it is not like the pages were completely hidden from the general public. However, UFO documents have a tendency to go missing within U.S. government and military agencies.

It may be that whomever decided that DTIC would be the main dissemination point for the record, thought that no one would notice 70 pages missing in the document. Therefore, for years, it was disseminated as a complete document, minus what they did not want to general public to highlight.

Or, quite possibly, it is all just a coincidence.

###

Document Archive

COMPLETE NTIS Version Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects Conducted by the University of Colorado under Contract NoF44620-67-C-0035 with the United States Air Force, by Dr. Edward U. Condon [1,496 Pages, 67MB]

Incomplete Version – Archived for Reference

INCOMPLETE DTIC Version Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects Conducted by the University of Colorado under Contract NoF44620-67-C-0035 with the United States Air Force, by Dr. Edward U. Condon [1,425 Pages, 98.7MB]

The post Astronaut UFO Sightings Mysteriously Removed from Government UFO Study; Here They Are first appeared on The Black Vault.

This file is from the Project Blue Book collection within the National Archives. It is a case that was never solved by the Project Blue Book team, and is considered an unknown.

The case was evaluated by Dr. J. Allen Hynek, and he was unable to solve the case.

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Project Blue Book: Newton, Georgia — November 23, 1968 [45 Pages, 6.4MB]

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The post Project Blue Book: Newton, Georgia — November 23, 1968 first appeared on The Black Vault.

The following was printed in Wikipedia, and is being used here to give a brief overview of the case. The full official Project Blue Book case file is available below.

On the evening of November 2, 1957, two immigrant farm workers, Pedro Saucedo and Joe Salaz, called the Levelland police department to report a UFO sighting. Saucedo told police officer A.J. Fowler, who was working the night desk at the police station, that they had been driving four miles (6 km) west of Levelland when they saw a blue flash of light near the road. They claimed their truck’s engine died, and a rocket-shaped object rose up and approached the truck. According to Saucedo, “I jumped out of the truck and hit the dirt because I was afraid. I called to Joe but he didn’t get out. The thing passed directly over my truck with a great sound and rush of wind. It sounded like thunder and my truck rocked from the flash…I felt a lot of heat.” As the object moved away the truck’s engine restarted and worked normally. Believing the story to be a joke, Fowler ignored it. An hour later, motorist Jim Wheeler reported a “brilliantly lit, egg-shaped object, about 200 feet long” was sitting in the road, four miles (6 km) east of Levelland, blocking his path. He claimed his vehicle died and as he got out of his car the object took off and its lights went out. As it moved away, Wheeler’s car restarted and worked normally.

At 10:55 pm a married couple driving northeast of Levelland reported that they saw a bright flash of light moving across the sky and their headlights and radio died for three seconds. Five minutes later Jose Alvarez claimed he met a strange object sitting on the road 11 miles (18 km) north of Levelland, and his vehicle’s engine died until the object departed. At 12:05 am (November 3), a Texas Technological College (now Texas Tech University) student named Newell Wright was surprised when, driving 10 miles (16 km) east of Levelland, his “car engine began to sputter, the ammeter on the dash jumped to discharge and then back to normal, and the motor started cutting out like it was out of gas…the car rolled to a stop; then the headlights dimmed and several seconds later went out.” When he got out to check on the problem, he saw a “100-foot-long” egg-shaped object sitting in the road. It took off, and his engine started running again. At 12:15 am Officer Fowler received another call, this time from a farmer named Frank Williams who claimed he had encountered a brightly glowing object sitting in the road, and “as his car approached it, its lights went out and its motor stopped.” The object flew away, and his car’s lights and motor started working again. Other callers were Ronald Martin at 12:45 am and James Long at 1:15 am, and they both reported seeing a brightly lit object sitting in the road in front of them, and they also claimed that their engines and headlights died until the object flew away.

By this time, several Levelland police officers were investigating the reports. Among them was Sheriff Weir Clem, who saw a brilliant red object moving across the sky at 1:30 am. At 1:45 am Levelland’s Fire Chief, Ray Jones, also saw an object and his vehicle’s lights and engine sputtered. The reports apparently ended soon after. During the night of November 2–3, the Levelland police department received a total of 15 UFO-related reports, and Officer Fowler noted that “everybody who called was very excited.”

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Project Blue Book: Levelland UFO case, November 2-3, 1957 [81 Pages, 22.5MB]

The post Project Blue Book: Levelland UFO case, November 2-3, 1957 first appeared on The Black Vault.

This is the write-up in the Condon report about this incident:

At 11:25 a.m. (5 August or 15 August) Witness I, general manager of the Great Falls Electrics, a baseball team, was making an inspection of the baseball stadium (1,3) with his secretary, Witness II. In virtually all early publications (e.g., 3,5) the date for this is consistently given as 15 August 1950. However, Dr. Roy Craig of the Colorado project notes early correspondence between Witness I and Project Blue Book that raises an uncertainty about the date. A letter dated 9 January 1953, from Great Falls AFB (renamed Malstrom AFB later) to Project Blue Book, conveying results of a re-interrogation which had been requested by Blue Book, states:

“(Witness I’s) version of the incident is as follows: ‘On about the 5th or 15th of August, 1950, I, as manager of the Electrics, a local baseball team, walked to the grandstand of the local stadium here in Great Falls, Montana. It was approximately 11:30 a.m. and my purpose was to check the direction of the wind in preparation for the afternoon’s game.'”

A subsequent undated Blue Book review of the case, dated late 1956, carries the case dated “5 or 15 August, 1950”. Dr. Craig determined by checking Great Falls newspaper records that no home game was scheduled for 15 August, and, in fact, the witness’ team played that evening in Twin Falls, Idaho. Mrs. LaVern Kohl, Reference Librarian, Great Falls Public Library, determined, at Dr. Craig’s request, that the baseball team played no home games in Great Falls between 9 and 18 August, 1950. The 15 August sighting date is therefore certainly open to question.

Accounts of the incident give essentially the following information:

As was his habit, Witness I looked NNW to the smokestack of the Anaconda Copper Company in order to ascertain the wind direction. Directly in line with the stack, he saw two bright lights stationary in the sky(l) . After a few seconds, he decided they could not be airplanes, directed his secretary’s attention to the objects, and ran to his car which was 50-60 ft. away (1,2,3). Her observations were reported in Blue Book files to be identical to Witness I’s. At his car he took five to eight seconds to load his motion picture camera with Eastman Kodachrome, daylight-type (1). The camera was a Revere turret-type, 16mm. magazine loader, with a F.1.9 telephoto lens with a 3 in. focal length. He set the diaphragm at F.22 and the focus at infinity. Film speed was 16 frames per second (2). From the time of sighting until he began filming, approximately 30 seconds elapsed. At a point near his car, he began “panning” his camera slowly from right to left (2). During this time the lights had moved from a stationary position toward the SW and they continued to the SW until they faded away. The first frames were not made until the object was already in the SW.

According to the initial Air Force report of 6 October 1950, Witness I described two disk-shaped lights having a bright, clean, “aluminum quality”. He thought that the objects were about 50 ft. in diameter, 3 ft. in depth and about 50 yds. apart. In a subsequent written statement quoted in the Blue Book report of 9 January 1953, he described them as being “like two new dimes in the sky” and said they may have made whistling or whooshing noise .

According to the initial report of 6 October 1950, Witness I described a definite spinning motion (2). While in a stationary position “an occasional vibration seemed to momentarily tilt them, after which they would instantly correct their level plane to its seemingly balanced position. The two objects made an abrupt flight in an arc motion at very high speeds”. In late 1952 he estimated the speed as being over 400 mph. The Air Force report of 1950 quotes his first estimate of the speed as about 200 mph.

WItness I thought they were between 5,000 and 10,000 ft. in altitude and at an elevation angle of 30°-35° above the horizon and within 0.75 mi. or 2-2.5 mi. from him. Measurements of the motion picture film (3) indicate that in the first available frames, the lights were at an elevation of about 15° and slowly descending.

These are the official documents about it from the Project Blue Book files. It’s officially considered an unknown. The below file was obtained from the National Archives & Records Administration.

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Project Blue Book: Mariana UFO incident, August 15, 1950 [114 Pages, 15MB]

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The post Project Blue Book: Mariana UFO incident, August 15, 1950 first appeared on The Black Vault.

The Kenneth Arnold UFO sighting occurred on June 24, 1947, when businessman Kenneth Arnold was flying his private plane near Mount Rainier in Washington State. According to his report, he observed nine unusual, high-speed objects flying in a “V” formation.

Arnold described the objects as flat and somewhat disc-like or saucer-shaped, with a bright, reflective surface. He estimated their speed to be over 1,200 miles per hour, far faster than any known aircraft at the time. His description led to the popular term “flying saucers” being coined in relation to UFO sightings.

As for its significance, the Kenneth Arnold sighting is often considered the event that sparked the modern UFO phenomenon. It brought the concept of “flying saucers” into the public consciousness and led to a surge in reported sightings in the years that followed.

You can find the official Project Blue Book files archived below on Arnold’s sighting.

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Project Blue Book Cases: The Kenneth Arnold Sighting, June 24, 1947 [61 Pages, 11MB]

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The post Project Blue Book: The Kenneth Arnold UFO Sighting, Mt. Rainier, Washington, June 24, 1947 first appeared on The Black Vault.

According to the document:

“The subject of unidentified flying objects is a popular phenomenon of the period from 1947, evoking widespread speculation, and producing a literature of great variety and scope. This body of literature and documentation is source material for readers seeking better understanding to this question, which has involved the U.S. Air Force as well as other official groups.

This is believed to be the most comprehensive bibliography published to date on the subject, and includes the extensive UFO collection of the Library of Congress, as well as related material useful in understanding the nature of the question.

The bibliography was produced by the Library’s Division of Science and Technology with support provided by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, a unit of the Office of Aerospace Research, the research agency of the U.S. Air Force.

The bibliographer is Miss Lynn E. Catoe, who also collected the books, journal articles, pamphlets, conference proceedings, tapes, original manuscripts, and other material listed here, a total of more than 1,600 items.

This literature survey was requested by AFOSR to assist a scientific research project at the University of Colorado under the direction of Dr. Edward U. Condon on unidentified flying objects. The research began 1 November 1966, and has been carried out with support provided by AFOSR at the direction of the Secretary of the Air Force under contract F44620-67-C-0035. The preparation of the bibliography was accomplished under AFOSR orders 67-0002 and 68-0003.”

The following document was received from the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) via FOIA Case 2015-52.

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 UFOs and Related Subjects: An Annotated Bibliography, Lynn E. Catoe, Prepared by the Library of Congress, July 1969 [417 Pages, 22MB]

The post UFOs and Related Subjects: An Annotated Bibliography, Lynn E. Catoe, Prepared by the Library of Congress, July 1969 first appeared on The Black Vault.