Project Bluebook

Project Bluebook:

Project Bluebook The Official Party Line

Project Bluebook:

Project Bluebook Project Bluebook is the United States Air Force’s official investigation of Unidentified Flying Objects. It’s roots lie in Project Sign back in the 1940’s and contine on to the official closure of Project Bluebook in January of 1970. The official doctrine of the Air Force changed drastically during this time. Initially the study was conducted seriously and with scientific integrity. By the end of the project, the unit’s mission had changed to discrediting reports, hiding information, and redirecting inquiry away from what the Air Force considered to be an embarrassing subject.

Bluebook Timeline:

Bluebook Timeline Originally headed by Capt. Edward Ruppelt in 1951, Project Bluebook was a tool for serious inquiry and research. CPT Ruppelt coined the term UFO or Unidentified Flying Object to replace the various terms that had been applied such as “flying saucer” or “flying disk”. Project Bluebook was given its name by the blue composition books that were then in use for exams at American colleges. People in the military at this time felt that the study of UFO’s was as important as final exams in college. CPT Ruppelt was a competent investigator who develop standardized report forms and computerized the data he collected. With the help of the Battelle Memorial Institute he published Project Bluebook Special Report #14. This document is considered to be the most concise and scientific investigation and report on the phenomenon of UFOs. Ruppelt took his job seriously and would relieve personnel who were too far on either side of the debate. He did not want complete skeptics or compete believers.

Bluebook Work:

Bluebook Work Under Ruppelt's direction, Blue Book investigated a number of well-known UFO cases, including the so-called Lubbock Lights , and a widely publicized 1952 radar/visual case over Washington D.C. . According to Jacques Vallee [8] , Ruppelt started the trend, largely followed by later Blue Book investigations, of not giving serious consideration to numerous reports of UFO landings and/or interaction with purported UFO occupants. Astronomer Dr. J. Allen Hynek was the scientific consultant of the project, as he had been with Projects Sign and Grudge. He worked for the project up to its termination and initially created the categorization which has been extended and is known today as Close encounters . He was a pronounced skeptic when he started, but said that his feelings changed to a more wavering skepticism during the research, after encountering a minority of UFO reports he thought were unexplainable.

Bluebook Results:

Bluebook Results In July 1952, after a build-up of hundreds of sightings over the previous few months, a series of radar detections coincident with visual sightings were observed near the National Airport in Washington, D.C. After much publicity, these sightings led the Central Intelligence Agency to establish a panel of scientists headed by Dr. H. P. Robertson, a physicist of the California Institute of Technology, which included various physicists, meteorologists, and engineers, and one astronomer ( Hynek ). The Robertson Panel first met on January 14, 1953 in order to formulate a response to the overwhelming public interest in UFOs. After spending 12 hours reviewing 6 years of data, the Robertson Panel concluded that most UFO reports had prosaic explanations, and that all could be explained with further investigation, which they deemed not worth the effort. In their final report, they stressed that low-grade, unverifiable UFO reports were overloading intelligence channels, with the risk of missing a genuine conventional threat to the U.S. Therefore, they recommended the Air Force de-emphasize the subject of UFOs and embark on a debunking campaign to lessen public interest. They suggested debunkery through the mass media, including The Walt Disney Company , and using psychologists, astronomers, and celebrities to ridicule the phenomenon and put forward prosaic explanations. Furthermore, civilian UFO groups "should be watched because of their potentially great influence on mass thinking… The apparent irresponsibility and the possible use of such groups for subversive purposes should be kept in mind."

The Hardin Era:

The Hardin Era In March 1954, Captain Charles Hardin was appointed the head of Blue Book. However, most UFO investigations were conducted by the 4602nd, and Hardin had no objection. Ruppelt wrote that Hardin "thinks that anyone who is even interested [in UFOs] is crazy. They bore him In 1955, the Air Force decided that the goal of Blue Book should be not to investigate UFO reports, but rather to reduce the number of unidentified UFO reports to a minimum. By late 1956, the number of unidentifed sightings had dropped from the 20-25% of the Ruppelt era, to less than 1%.

The Gregory Era:

The Gregory Era Captain George T. Gregory took over as Blue Book's director in 1956. Clark writes that Gregory led Blue Book "in an even firmer anti-UFO direction than the apathetic Hardin." [10] The 4602nd was dissolved, and the 1066th Air Intelligence Service Squadron was charged with UFO investigations. In fact, there was actually little or no investigation of UFO reports; a revised AFR 200-2 issued during Gregory's tenure emphasized that unexplained UFO reports must be reduced to a minimum. One way that Gregory reduced the number of unexplained UFOs was by simple reclassification. "Possible cases" became "probable", and "probable" cases were upgraded to certainties. By this logic, a possible comet became a probable comet, while a probable comet was flatly declared to have been a misidentified comet. Similarly, if a witness reported an observation of an unusual balloon- like object, Blue Book usually classified it as a balloon, with no research and qualification. These procedures became standard for most of Blue Book's later investigations

The Friend Era:

The Friend Era Major Robert J. Friend was appointed the head of Blue Book in 1958. Friend made some attempts to reverse the direction Blue Book had taken since 1954. Clark writes that "Friend's efforts to upgrade the files and catalog sightings according to various observed statistics were frustrated by a lack of funding and assistance. In 1960, there were U.S. Congressional hearings regarding UFOs. Civilian UFO research group NICAP had publicly charged Blue Book with covering up UFO evidence, and had also acquired a few allies in the U.S. Congress. Blue Book was investigated by the Congress and the CIA, with critics—most notably the civilian UFO group NICAP [9] asserting that Blue Book was lacking as a scientific study. In response, ATIC added personnel (increasing the total personnel to three military personnel, plus civilian secretaries) and increased Blue Book's budget.

The Quintanilla Era:

The Quintanilla Era Major Hector Quintanilla took over as Blue Book's leader in August 1963. He largely continued the debunking efforts, and it was under his direction that Blue Book received some of its sharpest criticism. UFO researcher Jerome Clark goes so far as to write that, by this time, Blue Book had "lost all credibility. Physicist and UFO researcher Dr. James E. McDonald once flatly declared that Quintanilla was "not competent" from either a scientific or an investigative perspective. [12] However, McDonald also stressed that Quintanilla "shouldn't be held accountable for it", as he was chosen for his position by a superior officer, and was following orders in directing Blue Book. Blue Book’s explanations of UFO reports were not universally accepted, however, and critics — including some scientists — suggested that Project Blue Book was engaged in questionable research or, worse, perpetrating cover up . [9] This criticism grew especially strong and widespread in the 1960s. Take for example, the many mostly nighttime UFO reports from the Midwestern and southeastern United States in the summer of 1965: Witnesses in Texas reported "multicolored lights" and large aerial objects shaped like eggs or diamonds. [9] The Oklahoma Highway Patrol reported that Tinker Air Force Base (near Oklahoma City ) had tracked up to four UFO’s simultaneously, and that several of them had descended very rapidly: from about 22000 feet to about 4000 feet in just a few seconds, [9] an action well beyond the capabilities of conventional aircraft of the era. John Shockley, a meteorologist from Wichita, Kansas , reported that, using the state Weather Bureau radar , he tracked a number of odd aerial objects flying at altitudes between about 6000 and 9000 feet. [9] These and other reports received wide publicity. Project Blue Book officially determined [9] the witnesses had mistaken Jupiter or bright stars (such as Rigel or Betelgeuse ) for something else.

Public Outcry:

Public Outcry Another case that Blue Book's critics seized upon was the so-called Portage County UFO Chase , which began at about 5.00am, near Ravenna, Ohio on April 17, 1966. Police officers Dale Spaur and Wilbur Neff spotted what they described as a disc-shaped, silvery object with a bright light emanating from its underside, at about 1000 feet in altitude. [9] [13] They began following the object (which they reported sometimes descended as low as 50 feet), and police from several other jurisdictions were involved in the pursuit. The chase ended about 30 minutes later near Freedom, Pennsylvania , some 85 miles away. The UFO chase made national news, and the police submitted detailed reports to Blue Book. Five days later, following brief interviews with only one of the police officers (but none of the other ground witnesses), Blue Book's director, Major Hector Quintanilla , announced their conclusions: The police (one of them an Air Force gunner during the Korean War ) had first chased a communications satellite , then the planet Venus. This conclusion was widely derided, [9] and was strenuously rejected by the police officers. In his dissenting conclusion, Hynek described Blue Book's conclusions as absurd: in their reports, several of the police had unknowingly described the moon, Venus and the UFO, though they unknowingly described Venus as a bright "star" very near the moon. Ohio Congressman William Stanton said that "The Air Force has suffered a great loss of prestige in this community … Once people entrusted with the public welfare no longer think the people can handle the truth, then the people, in return, will no longer trust the government."

The Condon Committee:

The Condon Committee Criticism of Blue Book continued to grow through the mid-1960s. NICAP 's membership ballooned to about 15,000, and the group charged the U.S. Government with a cover-up of UFO evidence. Following U.S. Congressional hearings, the Condon Committee was established in 1966, ostensibly as a neutral scientific research body. However, the Committee became mired in controversy, with some members charging director Edward U. Condon with bias, and critics would question the validity and the scientific rigor of the Condon Report. In the end, the Condon Committee suggested that there was nothing extraordinary about UFOs, and while it left a minority of cases unexplained, the report also argued that further research would not be likely to yield significant results.

The End:

The End In response to the Condon Committee's conclusions, Secretary of the Air Force Robert C. Seamans , Jr. announced that Blue Book would soon be closed, because further funding "cannot be justified either on the grounds of national security or in the interest of science.” The last publicly acknowledged day of Blue Book operations was December 17, 1969 Ultimately, Project Blue Book stated that UFOs sightings were generated as a result of: 1. A mild form of mass hysteria. 2. Individuals who fabricate such reports to perpetrate a hoax or seek publicity. 3. Psychopathological persons. 4. Misidentification of various conventional objects. As of April 2003, the Air Force has publicly indicated that there are no immediate plans to re-establish any official government UFO study programs

Official Conclusions:

Official Conclusions No UFO reported, investigated, and evaluated by the Air Force has ever given any indication of threat to our national security. There has been no evidence submitted to or discovered by the Air Force that sightings categorized as "unidentified" represent technological developments or principles beyond the range of present day scientific knowledge. There has been no evidence indicating the sightings categorized as "unidentified" are extraterrestrial vehicles.