Baker report, 1968 congressional hearings

If the object's
distance was-
Its transverse
velocity was-
Its transverse
acceleration was-
Velocity of single
object was-
100 ft. 0.65 ft./sec. or 0.44 m.p.h. 0.36 ft./sec2 or 0.011g. 3.8 ft./sec. or 2.7 m.p.h.
1,000 ft. 6.5 ft./sec, or 4.4 m.p.h. 3.6 ft./sec2 or 0.11 g. 39 ft./sec. or 27 m.p.h.
2,000 ft. 13 ft./sec. or 8.8 m.p.h. 7.2 ft./sec2 or 0.22g. 78 ft./sec. or 54 m.p.h.
1 mile. 23 m.p.h. 0.56 g 135 m.p.h.
5 miles. 115 m.p.h. 2.8 g 670 m.p.h.
10 miles. 230 m.p.h. 5.6 g 1,300 m.p.h.
The objects in the "Utah" and "Montana" films can only be correlated on the basis of two rather weak points. First, their
structure, or rather lack of it, is similar. Thus as shown, in the "blow-ups" there are no recognizable differences between
them*. Second, the objects on the "Montana" film are manifestly a single pair; on the "Utah" film perhaps 30% of the
frames show clusters of objects seemingly also grouped in pairs.
The weather report was obtained by the author from the Airport Station at Salt Lake City. The nearest station with
available data is Corinne which reported a maximum temperature of 84°, a minimum of 47° and no precipitation. A high
pressure cell from the Pacific Northwest spread over Northern Utah during July 2, the pressure at Tremonton would have a
rising trend, the visibility good, and the winds relatively light. The absence of clouds and the apparently excellent visibility
shown on the films would seem to be in agreement with this report. Through use of References (2) and (3), the Sun's
azimuth N132°E altitude 65° was computed. No shadows were available to confirm the time of filming.
The image size being roughly that of the Montana film (a few of the objects being perhaps 10% larger than the largest on
the Montana) the same remarks as to airplane reflections apply, i.e., they might have been caused by Sun reflections from
airplanes within one to three miles to the observer, although at these distances they should have been identified as
conventional aircraft by the film or the observer. No specific conclusions as to Sun reflection angles can be drawn since the
line of motion of the objects cannot be confirmed. However, the reported E to W motion of the UFO's and their passing
overhead coupled with the SE azimuth of the Sun would make the achievement of optimal Sun reflections rather difficult.
That the images could have been produced by aluminum foil "chaff"** seems possible, at least on the basis of the images
shown, as very intense specular Sun reflections from ribbons of chaff might flare out to about the size of the UFO's.
Examination of film frames obtained from the photogrammetric experiment -- reference Analysis of Photographic
Material, Serial 01, Appendix II -- show that no significant broadening is produced by flat white diffuse reflectors such as
birds, bits of paper, etc. at f/16 under the conditions of the filming. Actual measurements show a slight "bleeding" or
flaring of about 10% to 20%.
The rectangular flat white cardboards of the aforementioned experiments represented very roughly the configuration of
birds. The light reflected by such a surface is probably greater than that from a curved feather surface of a bird.
*The images on the "Utah" film appear to be a little brighter. However, possible variations in development techniques
would not allow quantitative analysis in this regard.
**Bits of aluminum foil dumped overboard by planes, often utilized as a countermeasure against antiaircraft radar. This
material might possibly be in the form of large ribbons several feet long and several inches across.
[[139]]
One figure shows the appearance of one and two foot birds* as they might appear on a 16 mm frame taken with a 3"
telephoto lens f/16 at a distance of 1,200', at 3,000' and at' 3,300'. Many of the images on the "Utah" film have an angular
diameter of 0.001,2 radians (some as large as 0.001,16 radians), thus they might be interpreted as one foot (wing span)
birds at 600' to 800', two foot (wing span) birds at 1,200' to 1,600' or three foot (wing span) birds at 2,400' to 3,200'. At
these distances, it is doubted if birds would give the appearance of round dots; also they would have been identifiable by
the camera if not visually. However, actual movies of birds in flight would have to be taken to completely confirm this