Report on the Historical Record of U.S. Government Involvement with Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, Volume I

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is present today, such as in cases where rocket exhaust plumes, micro-satellite trains, and UAS
systems with odd morphologies are reported as UAP.
The below examples represent a sample of the unclassified and declassified authentic
national security programs that AARO assesses probably were associated with erroneous UAP
reporting:
Manhattan Project (August 1942)
The U.S. effort to build an atomic bomb, the Manhattan Project, was named after the
location of its initial offices in what became known as the Manhattan Engineer District at 270
Broadway, Manhattan, New York City. General Leslie R. Groves, head of the project, followed
the custom of naming the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ districts after the city in which they
were located.131 The secrecy surrounding the Manhattan Project and the establishment of several
other national laboratories, such as Los Alamos National Laboratories, Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and
Oak Ridge National Laboratory to support this effort probably contributed to the spike in
reported UAP.132
V-173/XF5U-1 “Flying Pancake” (1942)
The V-173 aircraft flew for the first time on November 23, 1942.133 It was believed that
maintaining a uniform airflow over the wingspan—or “pancake” fuselage—would allow the
aircraft to take off and land at exceptionally low speeds without sacrificing high-speed
performance qualities that appealed to the USN for its fighter aircraft.134 The V-173 could take
off vertically, had a circular wing 23.3 feet in diameter, and could almost hover. The XF5U-1’s
design was largely similar to the V-173. However, the USN cancelled the project in 1948 in
favor of a switch to turbojet engines.135
Project Mogul (1947-1949)
The U.S. Army Air Force Air Materiel Command operated Project Mogul between 1947
and 1949. The aim of this program was to secure intelligence on Soviet nuclear weapons testing
and to provide an early warning mechanism for Soviet ballistic missiles. Specifically, Project
Mogul scientists worked on developing high-altitude balloons that would carry sensors capable
of detecting long-range sound waves from weapons tests or missiles traveling through the
atmosphere. A crashed balloon associated with Project Mogul outside of Roswell, New Mexico,
is assessed to be the source of early UFO claims.136
Project High Dive (1950s)
Project High Dive was a program that conducted tests on large balloons and used test
dummies in its experimentation. The goal of this program was to research the effects on pilots
when they ejected from aircraft, especially pilots’ tolerance to deceleration from wind drag.137