Blue Book file compilation, part 1

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

Hector Quintanilla, Jr., Major, USAF Chief, Project Blue Book Wright Patterson AFB Bayton, Ohio

## Dear Sir:

We were very glad to get your letter during the third week in November, because as you might imagine we have been the subject of considerable ridicule since the Pentagon released its "final evaluation" of our sighting of September 3, 1965. In other words, both Ptl. Hunt and myself saw this object at close range, checked it out with each other, confirmed and reconfirmed the fact that this was not any kind of conventional aircraft, that it was at an altitude of not more than a couple of hundred feet, and went to considerable trouble to that the weather was clear, there was no wind, no chance of weather inversion, and that what we were seeing was no illusion or military or civilian craft. We entered this in a complete official police report as a supplement to the blotter of the morning of September 3 (not September 2, as you letter indicates). Since our job depends on accuracy and an ability to tell the difference between fact and fiction, we were naturally disturbed by the Pentagon report which attributed the sighting to "multiple high altitude objects" in the area and "weather inversion." What is a little difficult to understand is the fact that your letter (undated) arrived considerably after the Pentagon release. Since your letter says that you are still in the process of making a final evaluation, it seems that there is an inconsistency here. Ordinarily, this wouldn't be too important except for the fact that in a situation like this we are naturally very reluctant to be considered irresponsible in our official report to the police station.

Since one of us (Ptl. Bertrand) was in the Air Force for four years engaged in refueling operations with all kinds of military aircraft, it was impossible to mistake what we saw for any time of military operation, regardless of altitude. It was also definitely not a helicopter or balloon. Immediately after the object disappeared, we did see what probably was a B-47 at high altitude, but it bore no relation at all to the object we saw.

Another fact is that the time of our observation was nearly an hour after 2:00 AM, which would eliminate the 8th Air Force operation Big Blast, since as you say this took place between midnight and 2:00 AM. Norman Muscarello, who first reported this object before we went to the sight saw it somewhere in the vicinity of 2 AM, but nearly an hour had passed before he got into the police station, and we went out to the location with him.