Documents / FOIA release
This is a US Air Force news release fact sheet on UFO reports, filed in CIA records and approved for release in 2004. It reports 173 sightings between 1 January and 30 June 1960, with 139 analyzed and only 3 left unidentified. It also gives yearly totals from 1947 onward, explains how cases are categorized, and cites Project Blue Book Special Report #14. The Air Force concludes that there is no evidence of hostile intent, interplanetary spacecraft, advanced technology or physical debris.
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Approved For Re se 2004/03/26 : CIA-RDP81R00560R100040013-4 1947 The total number of sightings reported to the United States Air Force since are as follows: YEAR OBJECTS SIGHTED AND REPORTED 1947 79 1948 143 1949 186 1950 169 1951 121 1952 1501 1953 425 1954 429 1955 404 1956 778 1957 1178 1958 573 1959 364 1960(through30June) 173 Reporting, investigation, analysis and evaluation procedures have improved considerable since the first sighting of unidentified flying object was made on 27 June 1947. The study and analysis of reported sightings of UFO's is conducted by a selected scientific group under the supervision of the Air Force. Dr. J. Allen Hynek, Head of the Department of Astronomy and Director of the Observatory at Northwestern University, is the Chief, Scientific Consultant to the Air Force on the subject of Unidentified Flying Objects. The selected, qualified scientists, engineers, and other personnel involved in these analyses are completely objective and open minded on the subject of UFO's. They apply scientific methods of examination to all cases in reaching their conclusions. The attempted identification of the phenomenon observed generally must be derived from human impressions and interpretations because scientific devices or measurements are not available. The date in the sightings reported are almost invariably subjective in nature. However, no report is considered unsuitable for study and categorization. General categories of identification are balloons, aircraft, astronomical, other, insufficient data, satellites and unidentified. Approximately 4,000 balloons are released in the U. S. every day. There are two general types of balloons: weather balloons and upper air research balloons. Balloons will vary from types 4 feet in diameter to large types 200 feet in diameter. The majority released at night carry running lights which often contribute to weird or unusual appearances when observed at night. This also hold true when observed near dawn or sunset because of the effect of the slant rays of the sun upon the balloon surfaces. The large balloons, if caught in jet streams, may assume a near horizontal position when partially inflated, and move with speeds of over 200 MPH. Large types may be observed flattened on top. The effect of the latter two conditions can be startling even to experienced pilots. Many modern aircraft, particularly swept and delta wing types, under adverse weather and sighting conditions are reported as unusual objects and/or "flying saucers." When observed at high altitudes, reflecting sunlight off their surfaces, or when only their jet exhausts are visible at night, aircraft can have appearances ranging from disc to rocket in shape. Single jet bombers Approved For Release 2004/03/26: CIA-RDP81R00560R000100040013-4
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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. 5 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.