WW2 Japanese Incendiary Balloon Bombs in the U.S.

Many such balloon bombs reached American shores in WW2: far more than the North American people were ever made to realize during the 1944-1945 time or later. One killed several on a picnic in Oregon, one hit a power line in Washington, one down in Utah, one in Kansas, and one apparently blew up in the high plains country of Delta, Colorado and was found by a rancher in 1946.

There were others sent aloft between Nov. 1944 and April 1945 but the government had solicited the cooperation of the media (newspapers and radio) to keep a lid on it the Japanese stopped the flights and most considered the idea just another failure in the contest to build better more destructive weapons. Locations where they were found to have landed include: Japan released the first of these bomb-bearing balloons on November 3, 1944. They were found (according to Wikipedia) in Alaska, Alberta, Arizona, British Columbia, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Mexico, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, and Yukon Territory.

The Japanese Fusen-bakudan (Balloon bomb) was launched to use the Pacific Jet Stream from Nov. 1944 to April 1945 before the program was halted. Project Blue Book case # 330 concerned the finding of debris near Montrose, Colorado. Newspapers quoted that Noah L. Chubb had found it in the area of X Delta, Colorado) and turned it over to Air Force Intelligence and believed, in an April 7, 1949 newspaper article that the object might have been responsible for the 'flying discs' reports in the area during 1947. Examination of the arc shaped objects of a wheel shaped material, 4 ft. in diameter, with aluminum construction on the rim, 1-2 inches, with tube like wicks every two inches of brass construction dated its discovery at 4 April 1946 and a positive identification of the object as a ballast ring from a Japanese incendiary bomb.

While the need for secrecy during the conflict is understandable, the secrecy and lack of inclusion of the success of these objects, had tremendous impact on the history of the conflict, the manner in which the U.S. protected itself and left he American people with a false sense of protection that might have contributed to a greater willingness to wage war or assert authority over others due to a false sense of superiority. The question can be asked: what would have been the reactions of citizens in learning, after the fact, that they were not as safe as they had supposed? Would that have tempered war like rhetoric? Would that have made peace a greater imperative in situations of global or continental tensions?

The Allies, especially the American forces, had greater numbers and greater firepower but in this instance it was an ancient science of flight coupled with ingenuity that almost - almost - could have made a reality the rhetoric Japan spread at the time of American cities and forests ablaze and people trembling in fear.

What lessons might this provide for how an extraterrestial group might approach the human race? Big thoughts about big issues....

Further reading:

http://www.burnpit.us/2016/11/japanese-begin-release-incendiary-balloons-spread-terror-america

https://www.utahhumanities.org/stories/items/show/240

 https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/japanese-balloon-bombs-fu-go

Hidden Patterns in UFO Sightings?

That is a question raised many times over the course of modern UFO research.  Since the numbers most often used are also the most questionable (the Air Force Project Blue Book data) the issue is truly confused.

Yet, those records do reveal some odd possibilities.

Project Blue Book only lists 75 cases for 1947 (despite newspapers revealing dozens and more that did not make it into the official record). Ten years later, however, there is a peak in data, showing 953 cases for 1957. The apparent cycle breaks down because by 1967 (which should have revealed another spike) the number is only 658; the spike was 1966 with 888. The coincidence of the apparent decade cycle suddenly vanishing makes one wonder - is the 658 an accurate number?  Faced with the coming closure of the project there may have been a concentrated effort to minimize the reported sightings, and especially the number of unidentifiable.

Proving this pattern valid would require data for 1977, 1987, 1997, 2007, etc.

There is also evidence for a possible seven year cycle and all such cycles are flexible due to the over two hundred "undated" digital records, the missing records, and the cases that are recorded (but missing from PBB) in newspapers, NICAP, and APRO files.

Aliens

The familiar 'gray' can be seen in iconography from many cultures and eras. Earliest descriptions of the modern era include this being or a variation of it with greater regularity than any other.

Drawing of beings seen in the early 1960's by a Kansas resident.

The following "Dance of Death" mural may date to the mid-1400's and there are several mysteries surrounding it and others like it found elsewhere. The symbolism is odd and the meaning may have been obscured by the intrusion of later artists inserting known figures into the "march".  The familiar symbol of the thin, bald, featureless figure is apparent and said to symbolize death but the style appears unique.

Experimental Craft - DM-1 Glider

DM-1 Glider - Langley test of Aug. 1, 1946... Oddly, there are some reports of an object, disc or delta shape, with a fin projecting up from center or toward rear almost as tall as the object was long. So, there may have been wider range testing of this or another version that was recorded as a "UFO" in Project Blue Book pages.  It is accepted that some objects were mis-identifications, some were weather balloons (with or without any secret tst projects associated), some were mis-identifications of meteors, planets, and stars, and some were simple aircraft ( or not so simple early test projects such as U2 and others). These explanations do not, however, fulfill all the accounts of witnesses in numerous cases of craft performing as of yet unattainable speeds, maneuvers, and utilizing non regulation lighting for movement in air space. This craft was roughly 20 feet by 20 feet.  This craft led to other designs: Convair delta fighters such as XP-92, XF-92A, XFY, F2Y, F-102 and F-106 (Wikipedia).

Mitglieder der Akaflieg München - Akaflieg München e.V.

See the Project Blue Book file from 1 April 1952 on the subject of experimental craft (https://archive.org/details/1952-04-12428012-BLANK/mode/2up)

The Objects: 1947

In the Schulgen Memo of 1947 specific characteristics of the  unidentified objects were being reported and these elements were compiled into one collection document. This is an official document of Brigadier General George Schulgen of the USAF, Chief Air Intelligence Requirements Division and the elements that are noted are those that were of most concern to officials at the time.

The Craft :

• Had flat relatively flat bottoms
• This surface was extremely light reflective
• No sound (except in a vary instance of a small roar as the object underwent super performance)
• Extreme levels of maneuverability
• Hovering or apparent hovering capability
• Oval or disc shaped plan form (structure)
• Dome shape on the top
• No exhaust ( a few rare times a blue one reported (like a diesel engine exhaust and it persisted for about an hour. Other rare cases reported a brownish color - possibly related to a special catalyst or chemical agent for enhanced speed)
• High speed disappearance or disintegration
• Sudden appearance (as if descended from extreme altitude)
• Size of a C-54 or Constellation type aircraft
• Evasive, maneuvered actions

In this memo dated  28 October 1947, revealed some clues that authorities were exploring the possibility of German craft begun by the Horton's and others in Germany might have some

First jet - Horton Ho229

connection. The planet where several Horton Flying Wings were built was, at the time of the memo, in Russian hands ( http://project1947.com/fig/schulgen.htm).  With the Russians actively engaged in espionage and the development of an atomic weapon of their own, nerves and suspicions were in play. It will be recalled that in many newspapers at the time of Roswell, the big story was the leak that secret files had been stolen some months before from a New Mexico facility. The timing is interesting given both the Roswell event and the seriously interesting events of three sightings at and around Muroc Base in California on July 8 (the day the Roswell story broke and was front page).

Wikipedia: "The Ho 229 had potential, but was too late to see service. The Horten brothers also worked on the Horten H.XVIII, an intercontinental bomber that was part of the Amerikabomber project. Among other advanced Horten designs of the 1940s was the supersonic delta-wing H.X, designed as a hybrid turbojet/rocket fighter with a top speed of Mach 1.4, but tested only in glider form (as the Horten H.XIII)."

Mention of the two untrained but gifted designers is clear, less certain is why Schulgen included a search "particularly, for the sister."  Was she too a designer of merit? 
Read more at this page (http://www.ufopages.com/Control/Reference/AF_R01.htm?Sign-01a,Default-01a).

In other, later (1952), reports there will be mention of speculative plans for glider craft and other alternative designs that bear exploration to uncover if they were part of what kept Project Blue Book operating to protect top secret craft development by1) Military (the three main branches kept united through division of tasks and research related to the Missile and Space Program, 2) CIA/Covert Agencies, and 3) the Government. Those designs included the Lippisch delta wing designs (SF5U and XP5U-1, the Horton H-VIII ( a 60  passenger craft with a 50 wing span) and a glider, DM-1, from Lippisch delta wing collection with a wing span of 19.7 feet and wighed only 1000 pounds. There are some later, uttlerly silent craft sightings that, given the years sighted might better reflect development of a larger glider aircraft.  The fact the CIA and Northrup both destroyed a fast collection of project records and test results from the early years is highly suggestive.

They Doth Protest Too Much

From my "Smoking Gun" files come these intriguing quotes from 1952 and report concerning Project Blue Book. In a file with the name 'Ruppelt' penciled on it, and some handwritten notes, assumedly by Ruppelt, the topic was a report hurriedly submitted summer of 1952 about needed revisions to the project's methodology and the not too subtle suggestion that, since no proof of threat had been found, the project had achieved its Project Sign, Grudge and Blue Book objective and should be dismantled. Dates within the report indicate the process began prior to the notorious Washington D.C. Capitol sightings and other strange lights in and around the area. Lights eventually laid at the feet of radar angels and temperature inversions officially. Oddly, the decision was made to not close the work of Project Blue Book due to what would be known as the '1952 Flap.

"...only as a last resort do we use the report of an untrained non-technical person's visual observation of a complicated aerial object, especially if the information is volunteered."
 

"ATIC proposes that the receipt and analysis of such reports by the USAF be discontinued in the future..."

"Basically, any moving light is either the result of (1) air expenditure of energy, e.g., an aircraft, a missile, meteor, ionized clouds, etc. or (2) the reflection of light from another source, e.g., the sun, moon, etc. In the past, objects reflecting lights from another source have been identified and eliminated from consideration only by tedious and expensive investigation and analysis by ATIC and other Defense Depart. agencies."

Note that final line of the last quote. The AF could only fulfill its tasked mission through 'tedious and expensive investigation and analysis'.  The proudly vaunted 'two pronged' purpose of the project according to several documents and regulations was to determine if they represented a threat and to discover if there was any technology to be mined from the craft or the phenomena.

A report alleged to be from those early years and found at  http://www.roswellfiles.com/FOIA/AFIntellRpt.htm, contains this phrase :

"5. In addition to the collection, analysis and investigation activities directed by the project personnel at Hq, Air Material Command, Air Intelligence Memorandum dated 6 August 1948, (sic really 27 July, 1948"

This appears to indicate that those were the very activities the project(s) were tasked to undertake.

Thanks, but No Thanks: Interrogation and Intimidation of Early Witnesses

Part of it was the lingering influences of a global war, part of it was an intelligence community fighting to get a toehold in a new post-war environment and part was the paranoia and diligence of a military whose innocence had been rubbed raw by a long war of multiple fronts and a present threat as a super-power was using everything its its arsenal to compete and conquer the west. 

All of it combined in the new mystery of the "flying saucers" and sent things into hyperactive levels - including the process of getting information from those who had witnessed the events.

They had one model: the alleged criminal and the police. So people who saw things were never labeled as "witnesses" but only as "observers" or 'Sources."  Seldom were they "interviewed" or "questioned", especially in the 1947 to 1955 time frame, but they were "interrerogated."

All of these word choices served, intentionally or subconsciously, to cast those who saw something and those who investigated the event on opposing sides of a conflict. The tension was inherent in the FBI influenced preinvestigations of those who reported something to weed out undesirables or pranksters in the early days or when related to super secret government projects. They focused on making sure the reputation of the witness and their character was above reproach. They preceded along the same lines as they did when reviewing backgrounds for government employment or security clearances.

In 1949 the following were used in investigations into reported sightings of unusual things in the skies.  Presented with this form, even if familiar with such phrasing due to work work or military service, they reflect a daunting commitment. Many people today would simply shove the paperwork back across the desk and say,"Thanks but no thanks!"  Those brave individuals who stepped up, signed these forms and made these statements should be applauded for their bravery. It is clear that to do so carried with it a lot more than a simple, 'I saw this object..."  It meant you had to be willing to be "interrogated". to sign specific forms, witnessed often by the very people who were asking the questions and then have your life viewed  under a microscope during a period of Cold War jitters, social/political anxiety, and widespread paranoia.

STATEMENT (1949)
"I,________________________, residing at ____________,___________,______________ have been duly advised of my rights under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America that I need not make any statement; that my silence in this respect will not raise any inference of guilt against me, that I make make a sworn statement or unsworn statement; and that any statement I care to make may be used against me in any proceeding, civil or criminal, which may arise from the facts  hereafter stated, do proceed to state as follows:".....

Witnesses to proceedings also had to sign a statement:
"Date:_________________
We hereby certify that we were present at_______________,___________________,__________, when ______________made the above statement and that he was fully advised of his rights as set forth above, that no promise of immunity or reward was made to him, that no force or durees was used or threatened, and that the above statement was freely and voluntarily made. We further certify that the said ______________________signed the above in our presence.

WITNESSED:
________________________________     __________________________________

________________________________     __________________________________"




Later, as investigative techniques, as well as interrogation tactics change, the polygraph will be used or recommended.  The Air Force will contract psychologists  who will provide them with checklists and indicators to use to identify people that can been ruled out as qualified witnesses, personalities that might be discounted as unreliable due to instability or "over active imaginations", or mental conditions that might be caused by long drives, high stress, nervous anxiety. In many of the reports in Project Blue Book profession, education, age and gender were often used, unofficially, to slant how a report was received or accepted.

Kingman, Kansas: A Minister and a UFO

Location: US 54, 9 miles west of Kingman, Kingman County, Kansas, USA

On either June 29 or 30, 1950, Rev. Ross Vermillion, of Cheney, Kansas, where he pastored the Cheney Christian Church, had an encounter with what was termed then a "flying saucer."

Vermillon (or Vermillion) was a minister and B-17 pilot veteran of WW2 (which had ended just five years prior). He had logged over 30,000 air miles. He and his wife were on US 54, nine miles west of Kingman, Kansas when they saw a huge red light in the sky. It came close and was only about 50 feet above them and the couple watched the object appear to whirl over them.

He stated it was approximately 250 feet in diameter and about 10 feet thick and he thought there was a small canapy on the top in the center about 2 feet high.

Another motorist, Dwayne Mulinex , his wife and three daughters, of Meade, Kansas, also stopped to observe the object. It hovered over two tractors  in a field there. The men scanned for indications they were seeing a helicopter but could see no indications of known helicopter design.

Vermillon, who along with Mulinex had stopped near the bridge over the Ninneskah River, suddenly turned his car around and drove under the object, intent on getting a closer, better look at the odd aerial object. When he did this, the object shot off into the sky at a "terrific speed".  Vermillon would state: "I've never seen such acceleration in my life. I've seen B-29's at Wichita and F-80 jets tested on the coast, but they can't hold a candle to the acceleration of that saucer."  He rejected the notion the object had been radio controlled, he told  the newspaper, "I think the pilot saw us..."

See a newspaper clipping at this sight.

The Project Blue Book file (as seen online) contains several pages that may have more information but the pages are hard to read (they appear to be photocopies of carbon copies) but there are interesting things to learn from this file.

Sketch of Object

The file contains references to two other cases at about that same time. One is an intriguing 'bouncing meteor' seen at Ft. Collins, Colorado by motorists passing through. At first the driver had believed the object slanting down toward the ground was nothing but a 'shooting star' , a term for a meteor, but was open jawed when the object bounced back and angle back into the sky in a movement that mirrored its descent but in the opposite direction. It then disappeared into the sky.

This, or another case, was reported in Santa Ana, California. There was a later request made for records and permission to release information on the case the Vermillon 29 June 1950 case.  A response to this was from one Wallace W. Elwood, 1st Lt. Ass. Adjutant, USAF, 17 May 1955 and in that letter he said: "As a matter of fact, the details of individual sightings reported during the 1947-1950 period are no longer available, since this data have been thoroughly analyzed."  A clear statement that the missing cases often commented on by frustrated researchers were - does that mean they were destroyed or simply made "unavailable" - once they had been analyzed? Why? Not all such cases analyzed were removed from PBB.  The question has to be why were some removed and others left in place?

The sketch in the file is poor quality but does reflect details and a striking similarity to other sightings being reported in places around the globe at the time and later. The striking pattern of lights, the revolving "whirling" aspect, and dimensions.

The Mystery of the Meteor That Made A "Z" In The Sky

Speeding across the skies covering some 800 miles of area - from Key West to St. Simon's Island, Georgia - a large, very bright and oddly careening object blazed a trail.  At first it was labeled a meteor, another massive display of nature's variety and beauty.  On nearby McDill Field, however, some pilots and trained observers in the 307s Bomber Group were noting a lot of other things about the odd aerial show put on that night of June 5 at 19:45 hours some 20 miles northwest of Tampa.

Odd things like, since when did meteors make sharp turns so that their white trail or vapor trail would look like a "2" or a "Z"?  After that odd object disappeared, that trail was left in the sky for some 30 minutes.

The quality of the eyewitnesses - all ten of them at the Air Field -  was top level. They observed the object making that sharply defined zig-zag movement for some 8 minutes, they noted the high rate of speed (what one thought might be above the speed of sound.

The Norton, Kansas meteorite of 1948 was caught on film giving a "corkscrew" look to its trail through the skies. It is ragged and broad. So, a meteor leaving a less than straight course trail is not totally unknown. A search of various pictorial databases failed to reveal anyone having caught a sharp "Z" making meteor but it might be out there - somewhere.

For comparison, the Tampa Morning Tribune in 1949 printed a photograph of the sharp 'zig-zag' of the object seen by hundreds of people on June 5, 1949. Notice the sharp turns. On this page from the Project Blue Book file someone has dutifully noted : "Meteors don't make sharp turns!" The trail, remember, was reported to hang around for some 30 minutes.

All told the file leaves more questions than it provides answers.  The time of the photograph would speak much to the theory of the meteor (was it taken shortly after it zipped by while the shape was still clear? Was this what it looked like after 30 minutes?).  Wind currents can reshape many vaporous shapes  into odd forms depending on wind direction, speeds, etc.  As this link shows, trails can vary but the length it is visible is usually short.

Still, the evidence for labeling it a meteor is sparse and questionable. What else might it have been? A crashed experimental craft? A run-away missile that flew over heavily populated areas of the country? Since some Blue Book cases do involve such episodes it is not beyond the realm of possibility despite the pressing need to ask some one, okay,  "who's asinine idea was it to test a missile over populated areas?" I, however, digress.

One thing is sure ---- this was not a weather balloon.

MADNESS OVER MUROC

Flying Sgt. signing out at Muroc

In 1947, Muroc Army Air Field was just carving out a niche as the place for experimental aircraft to test limits and aeronautic boundaries. It hosted a long line of experimental aircraft. About April of 1947 the X-1 #1 was making its transition from glider tests to powered tests and moved to Muroc. April through May, the craft was flown to Mach 0.82 and underwent gravity stress tests. June saw versions #1 and # 2 making numerous flights (#1 made 19 and #2 made 18). In October the Northrup YB-49 would make its first flight from there on 21 October 1947, and join the famous Lockhead P-80 Shooting Star and the XP-84 Thunder Jet as significant test flights. The most famous would be the October 14 event of Chuck Yeager climbing into the cockpit of the Bell X-1 with two broken ribs to break the sound barrier.

Northup YB-49 "Flying Wing"

Since 1946, the strange and unusual planes had been flying over the desert base. The best of the best in test pilots would make it home over the next thirty years and it all began in the post war years. The men who worked there, served there, and those who lived around it understood that a lot of strange things, secret projects, impossible ideas in flight would be normal.  Yet, on July 8, 1947 two clusters of sightings - on in the morning and one in the afternoon - would test all those individuals understood about "strange" and leave them wondering just what they had seen.

It was listed in Project Sign as "Incident # 2 ( with 2a,2b,2c)  Dr. Hynek (it is assumed) made the notation that there was "no astronomical explanation...objects slow speed and apparent size suggest aircraft under unusual light conditions, but the tactics argue against this interpretation."

A letter had been sent out from "Hq ADC" dated 7 July "File D333 5 AD" and the subject was "Investigation of Flying Disc" concerning an investigation initiated at the request of Air Defense Command.  The synopsis : "8 July 1947, approximately 1000 hrs. two incidents occurred in the vicinity of Muroc Flight Test Base."  It closed with the notation," no further investigation of these incidents is being considered by this headquarters." (File #1208-1; 13 August 1947).

"Incident # 1" - At approximately 0930 hours, 4 witnesses saw 2 silver disc or spherical like objects against a bright blue sky. They estimated the altitude at about 8000 feet and their speed at 300-400 mph.  They had the object in view for 1/2 hour. The object flew a straight line course. One of the witnesses, had ironically joked prior to the sighting, since flying saucers/discs were in the news (Roswell's story had broken just the day before), that "Someone will have to show me on of those discs before I will believe it..." and so AMC's final opinion was that the case was a mis representation of the nature of real stimuli, probably research balloons...

Incident #2 - Major Richard R. Shoop, of the Technical Engineering Division, at approximately noon was said to have described  1 object, seen at a distance of 5-8 miles, for 8 minutes, flying a fairly high altitude, slow speed, this object moved from an intermediate altitude in an oscillating fashion, almost to the surface of the ground and then began to climb again. The size of the object was that of a pursuit plane, its shape "unconventional shape'. It appeared metallic - it reflected the sunlight. It was a "thin metallic object" in the summary remarks.  The unfortunate thing about these reports it there is no evidence that these were the remarks of the witness. The room for editorial corrections to make descriptions, speeds, approximate time,  etc. conform to a approved narrative are limitless.

Incident #2A, 8 July, 1947, approx. Noon. The Witness was the Commanding Officer, Col. Gilkay to investigating officer Captain Black. What he observed from the groun, 1 object, and the Col. informed Black that he saw what he supposed was a piece of paper and therefore unimportant and nothing to comment on.

Here we have  an officer in the Technical Engineering Division, at an active experimental aircraft test facility observing something he allegedly deemed of an "unconventional shape" and his commanding officer who saw only a piece of paper on the wind and of no account.

It was clear that something was seen - in two different episodes - on the very same day. The day that General Ramey was in a photo op with the scattered pieces of an alleged 'flying disc' the Army Air Corp was claiming was just a mundane, run-of-the-mill weather balloon.

With due diligence, the military explored for research / weather balloon explanations and the Weather Bureau, the only government agency cleared to actually work with Project Sign, found possible links. The source of these alleged balloons, who sent them, and where they originated are missing from the files of the online Project Blue Book files (1947-07-9669025 [illegible][illegible]).

Given, however, the utter madness that was being reported 4-7 July 1947 from Washington State into Portland, Oregon to New Mexico (and elsewhere) something was going on. Many police and other reliable witnesses stepped forward to recount observations that all matched descriptions of round (or disc) objects, fast moving, often in groups that broke into two different directions, appeared metallic or eggshell to white-brown in color, no sound, large, dipped up and down, oscillating motions, made perfect 90 degree angle turns, had a low humming sound, numbered from 1 to groups of 5 or as many as 20-30.  Again it is assumed Dr. Hynek made these comments: 'There is no astronomical explanation for this incident, nor for numerous others (#6,7,8,9,12,13,14,15,16) which occurred in  or near Portland on the 4th of July 1947. The objects seen have in common a round shape, "terrific speed", abrupt tactics, and quick disappearance. Abrupt tactics certainly suggests that the objects were of a very light weight." Although, the last sentence may be an attempt of the commentator to fit the sightings into a proposed explanation (i.e. weather balloon/research balloon) category, it ignores the potential that the abrupt tactics might instead have been based on aerodynamic principles as yet unknown.

The sightings listed have been identified as : # 12 (Vancouver, Washington) July4 ; # 6(Milwaukee, Oregon); #1, 7,8,9 in Portland. Note documents in the file on Muroc labeled that case as #1 so it is unclear which is correct.

Things Falling From the Sky

Numerous cases can be found of strange and odd substances observed to have fallen to the ground. Charles Fort included many such "sky falls" in his writings: things like frogs, fish and rocks.

With the meteors, space debris, and things falling off planes it can be expected that there would be reports of things falling to earth.

In Pennsylvania came a report of something slamming into a back yard. "Slag" was the answer. In another instance the analysis said natural materials. And others have come back with suggestions someone had picked up the wrong rock or had simply misidentified a run of the mill rock for something dropping from the skies.

Sometimes, oops, samples were lost, destroyed by the testing process or otherwise dropped out of sight.  Depending on how you read one file a 21 pound meteor was either totally destroyed by testing or a part of it was and the rest disappeared.

The World of Flying Saucers (1963)

Dr. Donald H. Menzel, with Lyle G. Boyd, addressed the issue of  "flying saucers" through a book, The World of Flying Saucers: A Scientific Examination of a Major Myth of the Space Age (Doubleday, New York, 1963). All one needs to know about the astronomer's views on the subject are in the title. Menzel came to the topic with a distinct bias (1) they were "Flying Saucers" with the implied "little green men" baggage and (2) the topic was a modern myth as surely as Prometheus or Arthur pulling a sword from a stone.

The chapters are also illustrative of his attitudes:

The Saucer Worlds (UFO Reports and the Air Force; A Scientist's View; The Question of Evidence; Various Types of UFO's ; Descriptions; A "Baedeker's Guide " to Saucerdom)
LO! (Arnold's Nine Disks; The Great Shaver Mystery; Maury Island Fragments; S.F. Adopts the Saucers; Mirage or Wave Clouds?)
Air-Borne UFOS: Balloons to Bubbles (The Mantell tragedy; Skyhook and Pibal UFOs; Kites and Soap bubbles...)
The Spangled Heav'ns: Stars and Planets (Mirage of Sirius; Vensus as Morning Star; UFOs and teh opposition of Mars; Gorman Dogfight...)
Out of the Sky: Meteors and Fireballs (...Meteors, Chiles-Whitted Sightings; Other flaming UFO's)
Living Lights (The Luminous Owls; Sea Gulls as UFOs; The Lubbock Lights; ...The Tremonton Movies)
PANIC (Growth of a Panic; Scoutmaster's UFO; Monster in West Virginia; The Panel of Civilian Scientists)
Phantoms on Radar ("Inversions"; "Ghosts"; "Angels"...)
E-M and G-Fields in UFO-Land (Stormy weather in Texas; The Phenomena of Ball Lightening; E-M and non EM Saucers; ...)
Contact (Contactees;)
Angel, Hair, Pancakes, Etc. (Angel Hair and Spiders...the Wisconsin pancakes...the Moon Bridge; Pieces of Saucers;...)
Special Effects (The Role of Unusual Coincidence; The Problem of Unknown Lights...UFO's from Reflections; Inversions in California....)
Investigators: Air Force and Civilians (NICAP and the Conspiracy Fantasy; the Open Mind and others)
Appendix
Index

Overall, the work is a collection of cherry picked cases that could be set up as straw men and easily knocked down by the blustering breath of "science".  Cases are mis-represented, witness testimony ignored or truncated, and the agenda driven aspects of the work are painfully obvious.

The fact that pages of this volume were photocopied and placed in case files, often serving as a source for an explanation used by the Air Force, causes questions about the purpose of the book. There are numerous hints that Menzel had a relationship with the Project, with the staff, and with other consultants (letters as well as copies of the pages of his book). Hynek indicated in his work on Project Blue Book that he was not the only astronomer utilized by the Air Force.

This is an important historical work due not to its open minded scientific approach but as an example of the close minded bias prevalent in society and the scientific community when faced with something that was unexplained and consistent. The weight of scientific authority in those heady days of the 1940's through the 1960's caused some to later label them a new American religion and the scientist as the new Priestly order. Too often, however, the academy was a close-minded as any panel rejecting Galileo's idea of the planets revolving around the Sun.

Science can be so much more - a field of study that serves to keep human endeavor honest and moving forward as it explores reality and the universe in which we harbor - and should be the goal of the scientist to stay honest, open, and humble enough to realize there is always more to learn.

The CIA and UFO's

A door opens and in slips a man in a trench coat, collar lifted to hide his neck and lower face, hat pulled low. He sidles up, glances around,  and whispers, 'The name is Secret, Top Secret."

Well, that is the image that comes to mind scanning documents in the CIA's online vault of secret papers related to the subject of unexplained flying objects.

In one collection is an intriguing document dated 29 July 1952:

"4. Recent reports reaching CIA indicated that further action was desirable and another briefing by the cognizant A-2 and ATIC personnel was held 25 November. At this time, the reports of incidents convince us that there is something going on that must have immediate attention. The details of some of these incidents have been discussed by AD/SI with DODI. Sightings of unexplained objects at great altitudes and traveling at high speeds in vicinity of U.S. defense installations are of such nature that they are not attributable to natural phenomena or known types of aerial vehicles." 
----- CIA Memorandum 23 July 1952 (stamped 29 July 1952), re "recent sightings of unexplained objects" to Deputy Director/ Intelligence from Assistant Director Scientific Intelligence. Signed "Ralph L. Clark". (https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/collection/ufos-fact-or-fiction)

Note: ATIC was the Air Technology Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. Note the term "there is something going on that must have immediate attention." This memo follows several high profile sightings (visual and radar) over Washington, D.C. Sightings the Air Force explained away as mirages, reflections, and radar "angels" or false readings all caused by "temperature inversions."  Inversions that had been reported earlier that summer and later that fall but without the objects being seen that caused the uproar.

From an undated (estimated to be 1952) Walter D. Smith memo on the subject of Unidentified Flying Objects (Flying Saucers), Introductory paragraph addressed the fact the Air Force had, since 1947, been the single investigative group related to the sightings:

"2. It is my view that this situation has possible implications for national security that transcend the interests of a single service."  (memo to National Security Council ER-3-2808)

Note: Several times in the 1950's the Air Force clearly wished to shed the UFO projects from its area of responsibility but strangely they kept having the ball tossed back into their lap. The late 1950's and the early 1960's will see the Air Force facing congressional hearings, attacks by UFO groups, and authors such as Keyhoe who would accuse them of hiding things and making light of reports. In 1952 was the CIA sponsored Robertson Panel and the attitudes expressed here may have been part of that activity.  Yet, it must be noted that something was considered of high national security value in this subject.

National Security Council Directors "Draft" on the subject
of unidentified flying saucers:

"Pursuant to provisions of Section 102 of the National Security Act of 1947...
1. The Director of Central Intelligence should formulate and carry out a program of intelligence and research activities as required to solve the problem of instant positive identification of unidentified flying objects."
And then...
"3....coordinate with the military services and the research and development board of the Department of Defense, and the covert [?] agencies as appropriate."

Note: It is unclear if this draft was adopted but it does present a new view of who the major players were in the entire span of Blue Book investigations.  When later researchers accused  the Air Force of sending the "good sightings" somewhere else they may have been correct. With projects like Project Stork, closely tied to the R&D aspects of the DOD, and the CIA brokering a deal to make the Air Force only one piece on a giant chess board...some theories may need revision.

Early Contactee and a 1957 Sighting

In summer of 1952 a California man was working on a construction project near Norman Mesa, Nevada along Highway 91.  In the cool of the night he was searching a nearby hill, said to have been the site of ancient ocean and where sea shells could sometimes be found, when he fell asleep. He woke to the sound of mumbling outside his truck and the presence of 8-10 small men (4 foot 8 inches to 5 feet tall) who had come from an object that was saucer shaped, looked as if made from burnished stanless steel (300 feet diameter; 3 foot rim with beveled edge).  The date was July 26 or 27, 1952.

After meeting the occupants, their lovely female captain, and learning about their planet, Clarion, a new "Contactee" , Truman Bethurum (1898-1969), was born.  The story was recounted to various newspapers, in lectures and through the first of several books, Aboard a Flying Saucer (1954).   For more about Truman Bethurum

As fascinating as "contactee" stories can be, I feel that they represent something outside of UFO research. Such individuals have always been in human society and only the form of their visions/encounters changes with time ( going from angels, demons, flying dragons, saints, deities or flying saucers and "Space Brothers"). They are a phenomena but of a different source and expression than most UFO sightings or abduction encounters. So, why this mention?

In the Project Blue Book files for a sighting by a Lt. Long , a trained military pilot, in November of 1957 a copy of a photo of Truman Bethurum and pages from his work, Aboard  A Flying Saucer (1954) and instructions they were to be considered "permanent records" in the Nov.23, 1957 sighting account of an incident 35 miles west of Las Vegas.  A notation claimed the events had occurred in almost the exact same locations and the tone is rich with an unspoken, "Ah-Ha!" or "Gotcha!"

Is that accurate? Did the earlier event influence the sighting reported in 1957? Was there hoaxing involved in the report as the notations and other aspects of the file charge?  Was it all really just "psychological" due to an extreme case of road hypnosis - as the record claims and the case is designated?

The location of sightings were, in fact, no where close to each other.  The similarity was only that they happened on or near roadways heading into Las Vegas.  The file for 1957 is labeled "Between Tenapah and Las Vegas."  The observer, Lt. Long, was returning from an intensive survival training school in  Reno at Stead AFB and had reached to withing 35 miles west outside of Las Vegas when his event occurred.  The 1952 Bethurum event occurred on old HWY 91, a north and south road, near to where Morman Flats sits in the Valley of Fire State Park, some 70 miles northeast of Las Vegas. So the two events occurred in totally different areas.  The ONLY common factor - the factor that was no doubt of chief concern to the military investigators - was BOTH were close to the area that would one day be known as AREA 51. 

To the north of the 1957 sighting and to the west of the 1952 event were the vast acres of the Ellis AFB, Nellis AF Range,  the old Indian Springs Air Field, and a little spot in the nowhere of the desert called "Groom Lake".  These, today, take up most of NYE county, and significant portions of CLARK and LINCOLN counties in Nevada.

The Indian Springs site was an early air field (1941-1947) and was reactivated in 1948 where it was home to research and development and some of the most advanced aircraft and weaponry development and testing. Nellis AFB grew from smaller airfields to become Nellis in 1950.  With the testing and development associated with the so-called Area 51 at Groom Lake it is obvious the two military complexes shared some mission goals and supported the individual work of each other.

One thing that comes through sharply while reading the 1957 report is hectic fear. The investigation team was under active duress from higher ups in Washington D.C. and not politicians. The level of action represented there is the type seen only when subordinates are responding to orders from their superiors. The lead investigator was one Col. Gregory and he tore a strip off those who had investigated the event for not following AFR concerning the steps to be taken in conducting a UFO investigation. They had failed in doing the most obvious first steps of checking to see if any experimental craft had been at work in the area at the time of the sighting, they had failed to acquire the most rudimentary data related to activities that might have been going on at the time that might have been "misidentified" by a witness.

They had a psychologist on their radar as a possible consultant - just in case - and were rabid with frustration when he seemed uninterested to respond to repeated attempts to contact the man at the University of Ohio. What was that extreme situation?  The witness - observer - was no slack jawed yokel - but one of their own. A Military Pilot trained to be highly observant, knowledgeable, and able to use a keen intelligence.

There was the smell of fear in those pages as memos were exchanged with debates on what explanation would best suffice, least negatively impact the military and best fit the facts as they would be presented.

Dr. Allen J. Hynek addresses this case in his work, The Hynek UFO Report. He includes his own files, kept separate from those created or maintained in PBB to address the case.  He notes the obvious intelligence of the Lt., the lack involved in the "road hypnosis" theory and other elements. Indeed, the narrative report of the interview with the main witness in the files presents an impressive young military man with obvious intelligence and sincerity.  He ably addressed every objection with well reasoned replies and could report he himself, as a victim of road hypnosis mind you, had took the time to check out the landing site, rule out this theory and that all at the time of the sighting.


So, what was the underlying cause of the high anxiety that leaks through the pages of that 1957 case, so much that they felt they had to make a permanent part of it, photocopies that mention the 1952 "Space Brothers" episode and falsely infer it had happened in nearly the same location?

Was it some new extreme test craft from Indian Springs or Nellis?

I do not think so and I offer that because one simple fact - this was not the only strange and explainable reports that came in for the year 1957.  Hynek claims the Air Force had a tunnel vision belief that the underlying possibilities of UFO's could simply not be and as such "they were not." In this November case from Nevada we see the tension when the desire to not see the truth is pressured by the truth demanding to be noticed. Something that the Air Force could not accept or world not accept occurred in the desert.

Other secrets from those early experimental craft days are common knowledge or buried in boring records for any archive nerd to locate - yet - no such craft as repeatedly seen by reputable witnesses had ever surfaced.  I wonder why that is the case, but I suspect that the answer has already been presented

Project Stork

Nov.23, 1957 Nevada case that was unique on many, many levels. Dr. J. Allen Hynek profiles it using his own personal and expansive files in his book highlighting the quality of the reserve officer involved in the sighting and contrasting that with the determined effort to label the case (by the AF) as anything other than what it really was - a true unidentified. Indeed, most of the 53 pages of the file are arguments, plans, and means to label the case as either (a) hoax, (b) mis-indentification, (c) road hypnosis or (d) psychological.  The drive by consultation by Dr. Paul H. Fitts illustrated the situation. The doctor sites the lack of detail in the witnesses report as symptomatic of road fatigue/hypnosis. Yet when the report narrative of the man is read there is a great deal of detail. In addition, the witness, brought up and refuted in a logical manner all the most likely explanations the investigators could present.

The problem facing the AF was that this case, they felt, was the first time a military pilot claimed to have "made contact or near contact" with a ....whatever it was.

Odd thing is that in this time frame of November 1957 there were a tremendous amount of things being seen that looked like eggs, discs, round objects with dark rings and rows of lights, emitting hums, and interfering with electrical systems.

1952 Statistics

Sometimes it is a good idea to go back to the beginning. In historical research documents closest to the date of an event are always viewed as having more weight and substance than later ones. Later writings can so often add layers of 'second thought' and 'cover your assets' thinking that the truth can be contaminated for even the best of purposes. As American astronomer and librarian, Maria Mitchel said, "That knowledge which is popular is not scientific."  The scientist has to be willing to jump the fences of popularly accepted rubrics of thought to find the truth - even when those hurdles may represent others within the scientific academy.

An example of how events can be colored by passing of years can be seen in the field memos and reports from the Civil War when compared to the much later after successful careers memoirs or autobiographies by later generations. The dirt is swept out sight, the uncertainty is reshaped into heroic thoughts and deeds and bungling superior officers or less than glories peers are made of sterner, wiser, and more commanding "stuff."

In 1952 a report was put together, probably in preparation for the coming Robertson Panel and the first major study of the Air Force investigations into the unknowns in the skies.

US Astronomer Maria Mitchell, ca1851

The information they reflect is, however, extremely interesting and puts to rest many of the accusations leveled at the people who saw things in the skies and reported them to newspapers or the military. Of course, there is the issue of trustworthiness of the data itself, as has been mentioned earlier in this blog, statistical studies of the work of the Air Force through these projects is based on the labels and explanations the Air Force itself gave to them. That might be like asking the Fox just how many chickens are in the hen house and never counting them for yourself: if the Fox gets hungrywho is going to question the keeper of the inventory on the number of chickens in the hen house?

Let us assume that these early studies are less tainted by later levels of secrecy or manipulation to conform end results to an agenda of National Security, Top Secret Experiments, or Close Encounters of the 1,2, or 3 kinds.

Here is what the report had to say (highest percentages):
Objects were seen (a) through open space 69.5%
                              (b) binoculars 12.6%  

Weather conditions for the sightings:
Clear sky 74.8%   with scattered clouds 16.2%
Winds :
No winds 51.8%   Slight breeze 34.6%
Temperatures: Dry 81.0%    Warm 52.6% and Cool 17.7%

Estimated length of time object was viewed:
1 second to 10 seconds 25.6%
Over 10 minutes 19.1%
11 seconds to 30 seconds 15.5%
30 second to 1 minute 11.9%
2 minutes to 5 minutes 12.5%

Witness Certainty Rating:
Certain of what they saw 49.4%
Fairly 40.8%
Object looked solid?
Yes 78.5%
No response 12.6%
Transparent 4.8%

Did Object change direction?
Yes 39.6%  No 54.5%
---change speed?
yes 27.4% No 64.2%
---change size?
Yes 14.9% No 75.1%
---Color?
Yes 11.9% No 79.3%
---remained motionless?
Yes 18.5% No 69.8%
---object flickered?
Yes 17.7  No 72%

Did Object give off a light?
Yes 72.3%  No 22.3%  Don't Know 3.6%   No Respon 7.8%

Did the object give off a sound?

No 89.9%

What color was the object?
Silver 16.2%
Pink 1.9%
Orange 13.0%
Green 1.9%
Gray 2.5%
Yellow 14.9%
White 24.2%
Green-blue 2.5%
Blue 4.9%
Dark 3.1%
Red 2/5%
Unclassified 4.9%
No Response 7.5%

Number of objects observed?
More than 1 object 30.9%
2 objects 38.5%
3 objects 19.2%
5 objects 17.6%
Of these 30.9% -----
Did the object move behind something?
Yes 26.8%   No 64.9%
Did object move in front of something?
Yes 5.9% No 76.8% and No Response 14.2%

Estimations of object size:
All estimations are based on standard of the time and the stated and assumed tag "held at arm's length."
Pea - 19.2%
Baseball - 12.5%
Basketball - 13.7%
Bike Wheel -7.7%
Dirigble - 6.6%
Large aircraft - 4.2%
Auto 2/5%
[Note later on the use of currency will be popular. A dime held at arm's length is still a standard and it roughly approximates the size of the moon)

How high above the earth was the object estimated to be?
1001-5000 feet - 17.9%
10,000+ - 25.8%
Don't know - 28.2%

How did the object disappear?
Sudennly - 52.8%
Gradually - 40.1 %

Was the sighting the first by the observer?
Yes - 91.6%  No 23.8%

Ball Lightning: A Favored Theory in UFO Investigations

It was a focal point in explanations of the Nov.2, 1957 Levelland, Texas UFO reports and the October 24, 1968 Minot AFB, North Dakota case, as well as some sprinkled here and there in other cases.

Noted debunker, Philip Klass, wrote an early article suggesting plasma ball lighting could explain UFO's and other paranormal claims. He became a favorite correspondent of some at Project Blue Book, Dr. Donald H. Menzel in his book "The World of Flying Saucers" staunchly defends the ball lighting/pinched lightening/ plasma theories, especially as related to Levelland. The Minot file contain a mention of a Mr. Goff at "TDPA" suggesting  (in memo dated 1 Nov. 1968) that "ionized air plasma similar to ball lightning" could account for the "radar blips, loss of transmission, and some of the visual sightings."

It is interesting to note that into the 21st century the topic of ball lightning, although gaining some footholds in science, is still not fully accepted by many scientists. The problem is the phenomena, if real, is so rare it makes investigating it difficult and replicating it ( a foundation of the scientific method) next to impossible.  Some are beginning to create in labs a form of such but the end result often fails to reflect witness accounts of ball lightning seen outside the labs.

Further, what research that has been accomplished seems to dismiss this phenomena as being responsible for all the UFO accounts that have been laid at its feet. (so to speak).  The Maser-Soliton Theory of Ball Lightning appears to suggest strongly that ball lightning is harmless inside airplanes, submarines and even homes, that such lightening ends with an often violent and damaging explosion.  Since such lightening is often alleged to have been responsible for turning off engines, interfering with radios, cutting off EMF transmissions, and never resulting in violent and damaging explosions it would appear to rule this out. Unless some plane crashes, automobile accidents and a submarine sinking have been the result of an unmentioned ball lightning encounter.


Read more here.https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/periodically-i-hear-stori/