Project Blue Book file: Trinidade Island, 16 Jan 1958

ROB MERCER•I
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rhe A. P. R. O. Bulleli" is Ihe official copyrighted public.llion of Inc Ae ri.1 Phenomenil Reseald.. Organ ization IA. P. It C .\, 1712 Vlln COUlt. Al amo!Jordo .- New Me .... co. lind i\
iuved elle ry o the r monlh 10 mombo" 0,,1.,.. The Aerial Phenomena Re . .. a •.;h Organizat ion is .. "on.prol i' group dediC illed 10 .he .,y.,nlv,,1 $Olul'on 01 the rnysle,y of the
unidentified objects which haye been p resent in Ihe skin for hundreds of ye", '. Inquiries regarding member.hip may be made 10 Ihe .. hove "ddren .
ALAMOGORDO, NEW MEXICO - MARCH, 1960
NICAP SCORES
NICAP made national headlines on 27
Feb. with ' its disclosure of an Air Force
Inspector General's Brief issued to all
Commands on 24 Dec. 1959. The bricf
reads as follows:
"Unidentified flying objects - some-
times treated lightly by the press and
referred to as flying saucers-must be
rapidly a nd accu rately identified as serio
ous USAF business in the Z1. As AFR
200-2 points out the Air Force can·
cern with these sighlings is threefold:
First of ali, is the object a threa t to
the dcCense of the U. S.? Secondly, does
it contribute to technical and scientific
lmowlcd gc ? And then there's the inher-
ent USAF responsibility to explain .to
the American people through public in-
formation media what is going on in
their skies.
"The phenomena or actual objects
compriSing the UFOs will tend to in·
crease, wit h the public more aware of
goings-on in space but sti ll inclined to
some apprehension. Technical and de-
fense considerations will continue to ex-
ist in this area.
"Published about three months ago,
AFR 200-2 outlines nece ssary orderly
qUillificd reporting as well as public-
information procedures. This is where
the base should stand today, with prac-
lices judged at least satisfactory by the
commander and inspector.
"-Responsibility for handling UFO's
shou ld re st with either Intelligence, Op·
eriltions, or the Provost l'l'larshal or the
Information officer-in that order of pref·
erence, dictated by the limits of the bilse
organization.
"-A specific officer should be desig·
natcd as respo nsible;
"-He should have experience in in·
vestigative tcchniques and also, if possi.
ble, scientific or technical background;
"-He shoul d have the authority to
obtain the assistance of specialists on
the base;
"-lIe should be equipped with binocu·
lars, camera, geiger counter, magnify-
ing glass, and have a source for con·
tllincrs in which to store s amples.
"What is rcquired is that every sight-
ing be investigated and reported to the
Air Technical Intelligence Center at
Wright·Patterson AFB and that explana-
Authorities Grab Photos;
Hopf Urges Vigilance
On Part of Members
Two instances in which private indi-
viduals succeeded in obtaining photo-
graphs of UAOs within the la st few weeks
have come to the attention of the APRO
staff.
On the fourth of March, Charles Mol'·
ris , 31, an airplane in structor, obtained
19 feet of moving picture film of a for-
mation of three disc-shaped objects over
Dubuque, Iowa. Morris estimated their
altitude as 20,000 feet, their speed at
about 200 miles per hour. The objects
were saucer·shaped , silvery in color.
Morris gave the film to the Federal gov·
ernment "for processing and study," the
UPI report stated.
At Grand Blanc, Michigan, Joe Perry,
a pizza re staurant owner and amateur
astronom er, shot 'a few pictures of the
full moon in February. When the color
pictures were developed, one showed,
clearly silhouetted against the lunar disc,
a saucer·like object, rildiating a green
tail, and with a dome. Mr. Perry showed
them around his restauran t, to customers
and friend s , and one individual said, "It's
a flying sa llcer." Before long, two FBI
agents dropped in, looked at the pic-
tures , were noncommital whcn looking
at them, and in Perry's words, "Thcy
didn't seem to be interested until I show·
cd this particular one, and then both of
them jumped up." The agents took the
photo showin g the saucer, and several
other s. Perry sa id he hoped he has been
of some se r vice to the government, "but
I hope I get that picture back," he said.
John Hopi, APRO's photo analyst, said
in a recent letter to the staff: "This
film will neve r be seen again-he might
just as well have burned it up!"
The re st of the staff joins Hopf in
urging membcrs to keep a sharp eye
out for any picture of a UA O. Inform
the photographc l· that APRO will pay
for th c pri vilege of analyzing the film ,
and will guarantee that the original nega-
tives will bc returned, if requcsted.
MEMBERS-
Please Forward Address Changes!
On Septem ber 14, 1951, Mr. Ibrahim
Sued, a so ciill columnist for the Rio de
.Janeiro daily newspapcr, "0 Globo,"
included in his colUmn the text of a
letter he had received from a rea{ler.
Quote:
"Dear Mr. Ibrahim Sued . As a faith ful
reader of your column, and an admirer
of yours, I wi sh to give you somethin g
of the hi ghest interest to a newspaper-
man, concernin g the flyin g s aucers. If
you believe thcy are reill, of coursc. I
also didn't believe anything sa id or pub-
lished about them, But just a few days
ago I had to change my mind. I was
fishing together with som e friends at a
place near the town of Ubat uba, Sao
Paulo, when I saw a flyin g: disk. It
approached the beach at unbelievable
. speed, an accident seeming imminent-
in other words, a cras h into the sea.
At the la st moment, however, when il
was about to strike the walcl', it lll<lcle
a sharp turn upwa rd s and climbed up
rapidly in a fantastic m<lne uver. We fol-
lowed the spectacle with our eycs ,
startled, when we saw the dj sk explode
in flames. It disintegrated into thousand s
of fiery fril gmc nts, which fell spa rJdin g
with magnificent brightness. They looked
like fireworks, in spite of the time of the
accident-at noon. Most of these frag·
ments, almost all, fell into the se a. But a
number ot s mall pieces fe ll close to the
beach and we picked up a large ~l1nOullt
of this material-which was as li ghl ,IS
paper. I enclose herewith a sllla ll sample
of it. I don't know anyone that could be
trusted to whom I might se nd it for
ana lysis. T never read a bou t a flyin g
saucer having been found, or about frilg-
rnents or parts of a sallcer that had been
picked up; unless it had been done by
military authorities and the whole thing
kept as a top·secret subject. I am cer·
tain that the matter will be of grea t
interest to the brilliant columnist and I
am sendin g two copics of t hi s Jctter-
to the newspaper and to your home."
Unquote. The s ignature was not legible .
IVIr. Sued ha d never written about the
UAOs beforc. Dr. Olavo T. Fontes,
APRO' s Brazilian representative, read
the letter in the column and decided to
call IVIr. Sued and attempt to at least
view the particles. Four hours after a
telephone conversation with the column·
ist, Dr. Fontes visited IVIr. Sued at his