1947
U.S. scientists at Bell laboratories invent
the transistor;
First human breaks the sound barrier in
a U.S. rocket plane.
1948
200-inch telescope on Mt. Palomar is dedicated
(then largest in the world). USAF
Project Blue Book is initiated
1951
Project Grudge becomes Project Blue Book
1969
The Condon Report is publicly released;
Project Blue Book shuts down; Walter Andrus leaves APRO to form MUFON
The Eighth Tower (Saturday Review
Press, 1975; Signet/NAL, 1977).).
Knight, Damon. Charles Fort: Prophet of
the Unexplained (Doubleday, 1970).
Parnell, June O. and Sprinkle, R. Leo.
ìPersonality Characteristics of Persons who Claim UFO
Experiences,î
Journal of UFO Studies (1990).
Resta, Stephen P. ìThe Relationship
of Anomie and Externality to Strength of Belief in Unidentified Flying
Objects,î Dissertation: Loyola College Graduate School,
Baltimore,
Md. (1975).
Roberts, Anthony, and Gilbertson, Geoff.
The Dark Gods (Rider/Hutchinson, 1980).
Rodeghier, Mark, Goodpaster, Jeff &
Blatterbauer, Sandra. ìPsychosocial Charcteristics of Abductees:
Results from the CUFOS Abduction Project,î Journal of UFO Studies
(1991).
Rogo, D. Scott. Miracles (Dial Press, 1982).
Rokeach, Milton. The Open and Closed Mind
(Basic Books, 1960).
Sprinkle, R. Leo. ìPersonal and
Scientific Attitudes: A Study of Persons Interested in UFO
Reports,î
Flying Saucer Review, Special Issue #2 (June, 1969).
Steiger, Brad. Project Blue Book (Ballantine
Books, 1976).
VallÈe, Jacques. Messengers of Deception
(And/Or Press, 1979).
Warren, Donald I. ìStatus Inconsistency
Theory and Flying Saucer Sightings,î Science (November 6, 1970).
Pope, Nick (b. 1965). Nick Pope is
a government employee in the British Ministry of Defence. In 1991 he
was
posted to a division called Secretariat (Air Staff), where for the next
three years his job was to investigate UFO sightings to see if there
was
evidence of any threat to the defense of the United Kingdom. The job
that
he did was broadly analogous to the work done by the now defunct USAF
study,
Project Blue Book. Through his official research and investigation of
the
UFO phenomenon Pope became involved in related subjects such as alien
abductions,
crop circles and animal mutilations.
The Air Force later ìidentifiedî
the UFO as a satellite, seen part of the time, and confused with the
planet
Venus. Under pressure from Ohio officials, Major Hector Quintanilla,
chief
of Project Blue Book, had an acrimonious confrontation with the
witnesses
and refused to change the identification, although it was pointed out
to
him that they had seen the UFO in addition to Venus and the moon at the
conclusion of the observation. Major Quintanilla also denied that any
jets
had been scrambled.
Project Blue Book For over twenty
years, the U. S. Air Force was charged with investigating and
evaluating
UFO reports brought to its attention in the United States and at U.S.
bases,
stations, or property in other countries. Project Blue Book was the
responsible
unit within the Air Force during most of that period-from 1952 until
the
end of 1969.
Many observers believed that the Blue Book
staff was intellectually unable to handle some of the new, challenging
cases, such as the Exeter, New Hampshire, and Portage County (Ravenna,
Ohio) sightings, resulting in further embarrassing confrontations with
the press and the private UFO organizations. After 1966, the University
of Colorado UFO Project relieved the pressure considerably. The
universityís
Condon Report, released publicly in early 1969, recommended the closing
of Project Blue Book. A March 1969 meeting in Washington, D.C.,
attended
by officers from Systems Command, Air Defense Command, and Air Force
Headquarters,
resulted in the decision to close the operation permanently, and the
termination
was announced on December 17,1969, by Secretary of the Air Force Robert
C. Seamans, Jr. In a memorandum to the Air Force Chief of Staff,
General
John D. Ryan, Dr. Seamans stated that Blue Book could no longer
ìbe
justified either on the ground of national security or in the interest
of science.î
Over the years, numerous claims have been
made that Project Blue Book was merely a ìfrontî for a
secret
and more sophisticated Air Force or Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
operation.
Some observers have even proposed that Blue Book staff members were
innocent
ìpawns,î who were totally unaware of the ultrasecret
laboratories
where the real ìgoodî UFO material was sent. Despite all
the
claims, no hard evidence has ever been produced to support this. In
fact,
as Air Force personnel were subject to AFR 200-2 (and amendments),
which
required all UFO reports and material be transmitted to ATIC and,
later,
FTD, and as AFR 200-2 was signed by the Air Force Chief of Staff, it is
difficult to envision how hundreds of base-level personnel, of which
there
was (and is) a constant turnover, could have done otherwise. That is,
it
is not at all clear how they would have known where to send only the
ìgoodî
reports without the existence of an additional regulation, and any such
additional regulation would have very soon become public knowledge.
Although the U.S. Air Force no longer maintains
a special UFO investigative unit like Project Blue Book, it continues
to
investigate specific UFO incidents, if and when warranted by national
defense
or security reasons, as part of its normal intelligence functions.