The National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (Nicap)

# Approved For Release 2001/04/02 : CIA-RDP81R00560R000100010001-0 Acceleration & Color

Date	Location	Description
5-18-62	Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.	Cigar-shaped UFO hovered; began moving slowly SW, changed direction and flashed away to West. [Section VII.]
9-15-62	Oradell, N.J.	Disc-shaped UFO darted back and forth, touched down on reservoir; moments later took off at high speed.
9-21-62	Hawthorne, N.J.	Circular UFO (apparently a disc) hovered; began moving when spotlight shone at it, sped away rapidly.

A disc can present either a perfectly circular outline or, if viewed from an angle, an oval or roughly elliptical outline. Assuming that a certain percentage of the UFOs reported as round or elliptical/oval actually were discs viewed from an angle, we have from 35% minimum to 66% maximum disc-shaped objects.

Over 60% of the UFOs which maneuvered in this manner, therefore, were the typical circular and oval objects so often described in UFO reports.

At any rate, objects described as disc-shaped or round constitute 55% of the cases.

## C. FLIGHT CHARACTERISTICS

## (1) Study of Color Changes Related to Motion

A special study was made of cases in which UFOs reportedly changed color during flight. A sample of 82 color change cases was accumulated. In addition, 25 cases of change in luminosity or brightness (some overlapping the color changes) were singled out for examination. Could any pattern be discovered relating these changes to the motion or maneuvers of UFOs?

No attempt was made to discover what relation might exist between type or shape of UFO and color patterns. The large majority of color change cases occurred at night, when the UFOs mostly appeared as light sources only.

(★) The colors observed during acceleration were isolated. (★) Shifts of color toward the red and violet ends of the spectrum were studied in relation to hovering, acceleration, etc. (★) Cases in which white, or dark (absence of color) constituted one predominating color were examined as a class. (★) Luminosity changes were similarly analyzed.

Red	Orange	Yellow	Green	Blue	Indigo	Violet
Color Spectrum

## Results:

Though it is admittedly a small sample and may not be significant, the 25 cases of luminosity change yielded the most promising pattern. In all except two cases, the luminosity change occurred during acceleration or direction change. (The sequence of events was not clear in one exception. The UFO flared up brilliantly sometime during the observation, as it moved back and forth at low altitude.)

In 18 cases the luminosity increased with acceleration. (In two of these cases, the opposite was also observed: dimming during deceleration.)

In 2 additional cases (for a total of 4) decrease of luminosity was observed. (One occurred as the UFO made a turn; dimming caused window-like lights to become visible on object. One occurred just before hovering luminous sphere accelerated and sped away; lower hemisphere dimmed.)

In 3 cases, pulsating or blinking lights were observed. (One, pursued by an aircraft, sped up and the light became steady. One pulsated from bright to dim twice while hovering. One pulsated more brightly as it began a series of erratic maneuvers.)

A secondary pattern, more difficult to assess because of inexact descriptions in many sightings, is suggested by the data. Careful interrogation of witnesses on this point in future sightings (or appropriate tracking instrumentation) would provide a test of it.

Hypothesis: That the colors of UFOs which undergo change during acceleration shift toward the red end of the spectrum.

From the original sample of 82 cases, it could be determined that in a minimum of 23 cases (28%) , the color change occurred during and seemed to be associated with - acceleration. These cases were broken down into three categories:

(a) Change from one specific color to another (10 cases). In 9 out of 10 cases the color shift was toward red, (7 shifting to red, 2 to amber). The remaining case was a red UFO which gave off a green flash of light while changing direction, but not changing to that color.

(b) Change, specific color to or from white (10 cases). In all 10 cases the color shifted white to or from red/orange (5 each way).

(c) Change, specific color to or from dark (3 cases). In all 3 cases the color shifted dark to or from red/orange (2 from dark to red/orange, 1 from orange to dark).

In 21 of the 23 color change cases related to acceleration, red/orange was either the first or last color observed in the sequence. In two cases, the color shifted to red, then back toward the violet end of the spectrum, to blue or green.

The only other conclusion of possible significance is that the data (primarily U. S. cases) failed to verify the prediction of Lt. Plantier's theory reported by Aime Michel, that UFOs should give off green luminescence during sharp turns. [4]

Only one confirming instance of this was found.

## (2) Oscillation

a. Wobble on Axis

A regular feature of UFOs, observed periodically since the first U.S. reports, is the tendency of the objects to wobble much as a spinning top does when it begins to slow down. The sample of 35 cases in this chart is not the result of an exhaustive search; no doubt, there are many more. However, it was impractical to search the thousands of UFO reports on record for this one feature without use of an expensive punchcard system. In the listed cases, the following points stand out:

* The UFOs which show this feature, with few execptions, are disc-shaped.

* The wobble does not necessarily occur only during hovering or slow flight.

* With few exceptions, the observations of this feature occurred during relatively close-range sightings in daylight.

Date	Location	Description
6-23-47	Cedar Rapids, Iowa	10 shiny discs"fluttering along in a string."
7-6-47	Fairfield-Suisan AFB, California	USAF pilot saw UFO"oscillating on lateral axis."
7-8-47	Rogers Dry Lake, California	Round metallic UFO;"rotation or slow oscillation" while moving slowly.[Section II.]
7-10-47	Southern New Mexico	Elliptical UFO sighted by astronomer,"wobbled" while hovering.[Section II.]
7-12-47	Utah Lake, Utah	Group of discs fluttered and stabilized alternately.
Summer 1948	Erie, Penna.	Disc wobbled while flying straight course;(accelerated and climbed away).[Section VI.]
7-26-49	Mitchell, Nebraska	Saucer-shaped UFO whirling,"occasionally tipping."
4-9-50	Shelby,N.C.	Round aluminum-like UFO wobbled along on course for 2 minutes,then shot straight up.