Project Blue Book

The Project Blue Book was a series of studies on the UFO phenomenon by the United States Air Force (USAF). It was the second revival of this type of study, begun in 1952, and was active until December 1969.

The goal of Project Blue Book was to determine if UFOs were a potential threat to national security. Thousands of UFO reports were collected, analyzed and filed. This has been the last UFO-related USAF project to have been made public so far.

Project Blue Book

Towards the end of 1951 several high-ranking and highly influential USAF generals were so dissatisfied with the state of Air Force UFO investigations that they dismantled Project Grudge and replaced it with Project Blue Book in early 1951. of 1952. During the time that the Blue Book lasted, ending in 1969, 12,618 UFO reports were collected, and in the end it was concluded that the majority were misinterpretations of natural phenomena (clouds, stars, etc.) or conventional aircraft. A few were considered frauds. 701 cases—approximately 6%—were classified as unexplained. The reports were archived and are available under the Freedom of Information Act, but witness names and other personal information have been redacted.

The first head of the project was Captain Edward J. Ruppelt. Following his orders, a standard for reporting the phenomena was created. Ruppelt officially coined the term "UFO" to replace "flying saucer", more suggestive and inaccurate, which had been used until then. He left the Air Force a few years later, and wrote the book The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects, which described the USAF's study of UFOs between 1947 and 1955.

Astronomer J. Allen Hynek was the scientific consultant on the project. He worked for the project until its conclusion and created the concept that is known today as 'close encounters'. He was a great skeptic when he started, but said his skepticism softened during the investigation, after analysis of some UFO reports that seemed inexplicable.^{[citation needed]}

The Robertson Committee

In July 1952, after collecting information on hundreds of sightings over the preceding months, a series of visual observations were made to coincide with radar detections near Washington D.C. National Airport. These observations led the CIA to to establish a committee of scientists that included several physicists, meteorologists, engineers, and an astronomer (Hynek), headed by Dr. H. P. Robertson, a physicist at the California Institute of Technology. The Robertson committee met for the first time on January 14, 1953.

Ruppelt, Hynek and others presented the best evidence that had been collected by Blue Book, including footage. After spending only 12 hours reviewing 6 years of information, the Robertson committee concluded that most of the UFO cases had a rational explanation, and that all of them could be explained with a deeper investigation, which they considered not worthwhile.^{[citation required]}

In their final report, they noted that there were numerous low-value reports overloading intelligence channels, heightening the risk of missing an alleged real threat to the US.

Therefore, they recommended the Air Force downplay the UFO issue and launch a smear campaign to diminish public interest, advised using the media, including the Walt Disney Company, and psychologists, astronomers, and celebrities to ridicule the phenomenon and propose conventional explanations. ^{[citation required]}. In addition, UFO 'hobbyists' groups should be watched due to their potential influence on mass thought. The obvious irresponsibility and possible use of these groups for subversive purposes should be taken into account".^{[citation needed]}.

In short, the Robertson committee recommended that public opinion be controlled through a program of espionage and official propaganda.^{[citation needed]}. Many ufologists believe that these recommendations are the basis of Air Force policy regarding the UFO phenomenon, not only immediately after the Robertson committee report, but also today^{[citation needed ]}.

Consequences of the Robertson Committee

ISS had a duty to investigate only the most important UFO cases, that is, those that posed a risk to intelligence or national security. These cases were dropped from the Blue Book program, which was relegated to studying the simpler reports.^{[citation needed]}

General Nathan Twining, who launched Project Sign in 1947, was then the Air Force chief of staff. In August 1954, he was given the mission of clearing up responsibilities within the 4602 ISSA by publishing an updated regulation 200-2 for the Air Force. Furthermore, UFOs were defined as "any airborne object which, by its performance, aerodynamic characteristics, or unusual features, does not conform to the characteristics of any aircraft or missile known at this time, or simply cannot be identified as a common object". The UFO investigation was declared secret for reasons of national security, and was intended to find out "technical aspects." Regulation 200-2 again stated that Blue Book could discuss UFO cases with the media only if they involved identifiable phenomena. If they were not explainable, the only information that should be given to the media was that the situation was being analyzed. They also ordered Blue Book to reduce the number of unidentified to a minimum.^{[citation needed]}

This was all done in secret. Blue Book's public-facing assignment remained official UFO research, but the reality was that it had been reduced to a front organization that barely did complex investigations^{[citation needed]}. It had become almost solely a public relations team on a mission to debunk everything. To cite one example, by the end of 1956, the number of cases listed as unsolved had dropped to just 0.4 percent, from 20 percent. to 30% from just a few years earlier.^{[citation needed]}

When the frustrated Ruppelt quit in August 1953, they had reduced his staff to two subordinates and himself. His understudy was a non-commissioned officer. All of his successors as directors of Blue Book expressed apathy or even outright hostility to the UFO issue, or were hampered by a lack of funding and official support.

Ruppelt's brief tenure at Blue Book is considered the peak period of public UFO investigations. At that time, the investigations were treated seriously and had the support of high places. Thereafter, Project Blue Book fell out of favor, never to resurface.

Project Blue Book Special Report #14

In late December 1951, Ruppelt met with members of the Battelle Memorial Institute, a think tank based in Columbus, Ohio, near Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Ruppelt asked these experts for help in investigating the matter in a more scientific way. Thus, the Battelle Institute was the one who created the standardized report. Beginning in late March 1952, the Institute began analyzing the reports and coding about 30 of their features on IBM cards for computer analysis.

Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14 was a massive statistical analysis of the cases analyzed by Blue Book up to that point, some 3,200 when the report was completed in 1954. Even today it remains the largest UFO study never undertaken. Battelle employed four scientific analysts, who attempted to classify the cases into "explainable", "inexplicable", and a third category "with insufficient information". The first two types were further classified into four quality categories, from excellent to poor. For example, cases considered excellent typically involved experienced witnesses, such as commercial pilots or trained military personnel, or multiple witnesses, corroborating the claims with evidence, such as radar detections, photographs, or other tangible material. For a case to be considered 'explainable', it was only necessary that two separate analysts had to agree on the solution. However, for a case to be "unknown," four analysts were required to agree. Thus, the criteria for an "unexplained" it was quite rigorous.

In addition, observations were classified by six different features - color, number, duration of observation, brightness, shape, and speed - and then these features were adjusted for explainable and unexplained cases to see if there was a statistically significant difference.

The main results of the statistical analysis were:

• Approximately 69 per cent of cases were found to be explanatory or identifiable; 9 per cent lacked sufficient information. Twenty-two per cent were considered "inexplicable", something below the initial value of 28 per cent of the Air Forces studies, but still a very significant fraction.
• In the "explicable" category, 86% of the phenomena were due to planes or balloons, or had astronomical explanations. Only 1.5 per cent of all cases were psychological or "small" cases. A "mixta" category included 8% of all cases and included possible fraud.
• The higher the quality of the case, the more likely it was to be classified as unknown. 35% of the excellent cases were considered "unknown," while only 18% of the poorest cases were. This was the result of the antithesis predicted by the skeptics, which generally argued that the "inexplicable" were cases of lower quality, involving unreliable witnesses, which could be solved if better information was available.
• In the six characteristics studied, "inexplicable" cases differed from "explicable" at a statistically insignificant level: in five of the six measures the probability of being explanable or inexplicable was by chance differentiated by 1 % or less. When the six features were considered together, the likelihood of matching one or another was less than 1 billion.

Despite this, the conclusion of the Battelle Institute's final report stated it was "extremely unlikely that any of the reports of unidentified object sightings represent technological developments outside the range of current knowledge".

Some later researchers, including Dr. Bruce Maccabee, who reviewed the data in depth, have noted that the analysts' conclusions were generally at odds with their own statistical results, shown in 240 drawings, tables, graphs, and maps.. It is said that the analysts may simply have been in trouble if they had ended up accepting their own results, or perhaps they may have written the conclusions to suit the new political climate within Blue Book after the Robertson committee.^{[citation needed]}

When the Air Force finally released Special Report No. 14 in October 1955, the report was said to have scientifically proven that UFOs did not exist. Critics of this claim counter that the report actually showed that the number of "unexplained" was clearly different from "explainable" at a very high level of statistical significance.

The Air Force also claimed, incorrectly, that only 3% of the cases studied were unknown, instead of the real 22%. They even claimed that the remaining 3% would likely disappear if more data became available.^{[citation needed]}. Critics counter this by disregarding the fact that analysts had already lumped such cases into the category of "insufficient information," while both those considered "explainable" as the "inexplicable" they had enough information to make a determination, also the "unexplained" they tended to represent the highest quality cases, where they had the best information and testimonials.^{[citation required]}

Official Conclusions of Project Blue Book

Project Blue Book stated that the UFO sightings were generated due to:

• Mass history.
• Individuals who invent fraudulent cases to seek advertising.
• People with psychopathologies.
• Misinterpretation of several conventional objects.

Since April 2003, the USAF has publicly indicated that there are no immediate plans to reinstate any official government UFO study program.

Note that these official Air Force conclusions contradict those obtained by their own commissioner in Blue Book Special Report #14. Psychological factors and frauds actually made up less than 10% of all cases and 22% of all observations. The best cases remained unresolved.^{[citation needed]}

USAF official position on UFOs

Between 1947 and 1969, the Air Force investigated UFOs under Project Blue Book. The project, based at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, ended on December 17, 1969. Of the 12,618 observations cataloged by Project Blue Book, 701 remained "unexplained."

The decision to discontinue UFO investigations was based on several factors, including evaluation of a report written by the University of Colorado titled "The Scientific Study of UFOs," the review of this report by from the National Academy of Sciences, previously studied UFO cases, and the experience of the Air Force, which investigated UFO reports between 1940 and 1969.

As a consequence of these investigations, studies and experiences, the conclusions of the Blue Book Project were:

• (1) No ovni on which the Air Force has investigated has posed any threat to national security.
• 2) The Air Forces have found no evidence that the observations classified as "unidentified" represent objects or technological principles that go beyond the scientific knowledge of the time.
• (3) There has been no evidence to indicate that the observations classified as "unidentified" were alien vehicles.

With the conclusion of Project Blue Book, the establishment of Air Force regulation and control of the program to investigate and analyze UFOs were rescinded. Documentation regarding the old Blue Book investigation has been transferred to the Modern Military Branch, the National Archives and Records Service, and is available for public review and analysis.

Since the completion of Project Blue Book, nothing has occurred that would support a resumption of UFO investigations by the Air Force. Considering the current scenario, in which defense budgets are regularly dwindling, it is unlikely that the Air Force will jump headlong into such an expensive project anytime soon.

There are a significant number of universities and scientific organizations that have analyzed UFO phenomena during regular meetings and seminars. Interest in and timely review of UFO reports by private groups ensures that authentic evidence is not overlooked by the scientific community.

Criticism

Blue Book's conclusions were not accepted by everyone, however critics - including some scientists ^[who?] - suggested that Project Blue Book Azul worked in a very questionable way or, even worse, it was a simple cover.

For example, there are many UFO reports, mostly at night, concerning the Midwestern and Southeastern United States in the summer of 1965: some witnesses in Texas claimed to have seen "multicolored lights" and huge egg- or diamond-shaped aerial objects. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol reported that from the Tinsmith air base (near Oklahoma City) up to four UFOs had been tracked simultaneously, and that several of them had descended very quickly: from approximately 8,000 meters to about 2,500 in just a few seconds; something that clearly goes beyond the capabilities of a conventional aircraft. John Shockley, a meteorologist from Wichita, Kansas, reported that, using state weather service radar, he tracked some airborne objects flying at altitudes between about 2,000 and 3,000 meters. These and other reports received wide publicity.^{[citation needed]}

Project Blue Book officially determined that what the witnesses actually saw was nothing more than the planet Jupiter or some bright stars.

Blue Book's explanation was widely criticized as inaccurate. Robert Riser, director of the Oklahoma Arts and Science Foundation Planetarium, strongly disputed Blue Book's explanation. His reply was widely spread: "It's as far from reality as you can imagine. These stars and planets are on the opposite side of the earth as seen from Oklahoma City at this time of year. The Air Force must have had their astronomical apparatus upside down in August".^{[citation needed]}

An editorial in the Richmond News Leader opined that "attempts to discredit the observations reported under the Project Blue Book (sic) rationale will not solve the mystery... and they'll only serve to raise the suspicion that there's something there the Air Force doesn't want us to know about,' while a reporter for the Witchita agency wrote (in a separate brief editorial) that 'ordinary radar can't detect planets and stars".^{[citation needed]}

Another case praised by Blue Book critics occurred at about 5 a.m. near Ravenna, Ohio, on April 17, 1966. Police officers Dale Spaur and Wilbur Neff saw a discoidal silver object with a bright light that emanated from its lower part, about 300 meters high. They began to follow the object (which sometimes descended to about 150 meters). Other officers from nearby counties also became involved in the chase, which ended an hour later near Freedom, Pennsylvania, about 30 miles away.

This case reached the national media, with police submitting detailed reports to Blue Book. Five days later, without having interviewed the half dozen agents who participated, and other witnesses, the director of Libro Azul, Héctor Quintanilla, announced his conclusions: the agents (one of whom participated with the Air Force in the Korean War) had followed a telecommunications satellite, and then to the planet Venus.

This conclusion was strongly rejected by the police. In his counter-report, Hynek described Blue Book's conclusions as absurd, since in their reports, some of the agents had described the moon, Venus and the UFO: they had noticed that there was a "star" that morning; very bright near the moon. It was about Venus. An Ohio congressman, William Stanton, said that "the Air Force has lost a lot of its prestige in this community... when people trust the administration and it doesn't tell the truth, that trust is lost";.

Hynek's critique

After what he described as a promising start to the investigation, Hynek grew increasingly disenchanted with Blue Book throughout his involvement with the project, hurling accusations of indifference, incompetence, and shoddy research by research staff. the Air Forces.

Hynek wrote that during Air Force Commander Héctor Quintanilla's tenure as director of Libro Azul, "the flag of nonsense and nonsense waved at the highest point of its mast." Hynek reported that Sergeant David Moody - one of Quintanilla's subordinates - "applied the conviction method before the trial. Anything he didn't understand or didn't like, he immediately put in the category of psychological events. He was a know-it-all".^{[citation needed]}

Hynek recounted his bitter differences with Moody when the latter refused to investigate UFO observations in depth, describing Moody as "the master of the possible: the possible balloon, the possible plane, the possible birds... violently with him repeatedly"...^{[citation needed]}

External links (in English)

• Project Archive Blue Book Online version of the USAF Blue Book Project
• ufological report - Edward J. Ruppelt Electronic book
• The Blue Book Project on the FBI Web Summary of the project
• Declassified Archives in 2015