Documents / FOIA release
This 1952 Central Intelligence Agency file brings together papers on unidentified flying objects. A memorandum to the Director of the Psychological Strategy Board says the subject may matter for psychological warfare, intelligence and operations. A study by the Office of Scientific Intelligence describes the small Air Force section at Wright Field led by Captain E. J. Ruppelt, criticizes its case-by-case analysis, and recommends a centrally coordinated research program. The file also contains a Project Blue Book paper on identifying weather and research balloons.
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## Part I = Weather Balloons 1. In the analysis of Flyobrpts prior to 1 Jul 52 approximately 15% were classified as "possibly" or "probably" balloon. The basis for decision was generally little more than a form of guesswork; if the Flyobrpt did not do anything, and much loeway was allowed for observer's fallibility, that a balloon could not do in maneuvers, speed, etc., and if the description corresponded even roughly to that of a balloon, it was so classified. If there was no particular reason to believe a balloon was in the area, the report became a "possible". If the sighting occurred near a balloon launching site or on or about the launch time, it became a "probable". It was obvious that an effort to obtain factual data to support such conclusions was in order. 2. ATTAA-5 approached the problem of weather balloons first. Weather balloons are of the following types: a. Radiosonde = Rubberized tan latex, 6' in diameter at launch, up to 20' at altitude. Carries a transmitter and telematering device for temperature pressure, dewpoint sequences, which transmitter under certain conditions would give radar returns. Also carries a white running light during night launches battery operated, which should last for duration of flight. Normal ascent is to 70,000' = 100,000', at ± 1,000 ft/min, at which altitude the balloon bursts and equipment recovery is effected by a red parachute. b. Ravin - Same balloon as above, but it carries only a radar: "triangle", and is a winds aloft observation. c. Rawinsonde - Sane, a combination of rawin and radiosende. d. Patal - Sano type of balloon, tracked by theodolite for winds aloft observation. o. Pibal = A rubberized tan latex balloon, 30" in diameter at release and 4 or 5' at altitude. Burst and climb.comparable to radiosonds. A winds aloft observation, tracked by theodolite. Carries running light for night lauaries. All types of balloons are launched at 0300Z, 0900Z, 1500Z and 2100Z daily. Forever, some stations launch one, two, three, or four times daily; others launch irregularly, some launch only one type, and others several or all. In addition, time of launch may vary approximately thirty minutes from the scheduled time, either way. All agonies which launch balloons are quick to admit that balloons can ralfunction and that many are lost. In addition, wind currents at altitude can cause the balloons to assume odd shapes and strange manners. The balloons under corpain atmospheric conditions can appear to be almost any color, and may be visible even at extreme altitudes, particularly at sunrise and sunset, to an observer on the ground.
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 19 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.