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DOW-UAP-D102: Project Blue Book File on Tremonton Film, Utah, 1952

Department of War · 2026-09-18 · 156 pages · text from the file's own layer

This Department of War release reproduces Project Blue Book records on the Tremonton, Utah film of 2 July 1952. In them, Navy Chief Photographer Delbert C. Newhouse explains how he filmed a group of bright objects near Tremonton. ATIC memos and a December 1952 travel report record Navy and General Mills balloon specialists judging that the objects closely resembled pillow balloons. A January 1953 memorandum discusses publicly releasing the film. The file also includes unrelated sighting reports from Phoenix and Massachusetts, plus material about Donald Keyhoe.

  • p. 73 …readings were averaged and advanced one reading each deter minant. Of the M:>ntana film, densities…
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Analysis ot Photographic Material Serial 02
PHorOJRAMM:rfi'RIC ANALYSIS CF THE "ur.AH" FIIM
TRACKOO UFO'S
Several Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO'e) were sighted and photo
graphed at about 11:10 MST on Juzy 2, 1952 by Delbert c. Newhouse at a
point on State Highway 30, seven miles north ot Tremonton, Utah (latitude
41° 50', longitude 112° 10' ). Mr. Newhouse, a Chief Warrant Officer in
the U. s. Navy*, wee in transit f'ran Washington, D. c. to Portland,
Oregon. A map or the area is included as f'igure l.
He, his wife and their two children were making the trip by car.
Shortly af'ter passing through the city of Tremonton, his wife noticed a
group ot strange bright shining objects in the air off towards the east
ern horizon. She called them to her husband's attention and prevailed
upon him to atop the car. When he got out, he observed the objects
(twelve to f'ourteen ot them) to be directly overhead and milling about.
He described them as "gun metal colored objects shaped like two saucers,
one inverted on top ot the other". He estimated that they subtended
11 about the same angle as B-29's at 101 000 :feet" (about halt a degree - Le.,
about the angular diameter of the moon). Next, he ran to the trunk of hie
car, took out his Bell and Bowell Autanaster lanm movie camera equipped
with a 3" telephoto lens, loaded it, focused it et in:fiD.ity and began
shooting. There was no reference point above the horizon so he was unable
to estimate absolute size, speed or distance. He reports that one of the
objects reversed its course and proceeded away fran the rest of the group;
he held the camera still and all.owed this sil'.lgle object to pass across
the f'ield ot view of the camera, picking it up later in its course. He
repeated this for three passes. 4
,,,..-V4s
During the filming, Newhouee 1changed the iris stop of the camera fran
t/8 to t/16. The density ot the film can be seen to change markedly at a
point about 3~ through the sequence (figure 5(b) at t/8 and the other
blowups at t/16). The camera was operated at 16 fps.
The color film (Daylight Kodachrane) af'ter processing was submitted
to his superiors. The Navy forwarded the f'ilm to the USAF-ATIC where the
:film was studied tor several. months. According to Al Chop (then with
ATIC and present'.cy vith DAC) Air Force personnel were convinced that the
objects were not airplanes; on the other hand the eypothesis that the camera
might have been out of' focus and the objects soaring gulls could neither
be confirmed nor denied. Mr. Chop's remarks are essentially substantiated
by Capt. Edward Ruppelt, reference (1) then head at Project "Blue Booktt
tor ATIC.
* At the time he had already logged sane 2,200 hours as a chief photographer
with the Navy.

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