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This Project Blue Book file, released through The Black Vault, collects US Air Force records from 1950 to 1959 on the movie film Nicholas Mariana shot at Great Falls, Montana on 15 August 1950. It includes the OSI interview report, letters about borrowing and copying the film, and a 1956 Douglas Aircraft analysis. Blue Book's own findings were not consistent: one letter lists the cause as unknown, while later memos conclude the objects were probably two F-94 jets.
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## PHOTOGRAMETRIC ANALYSIS OF THE "MONTANA" FILM TRACKING TWO UFO'S Two Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO's) were sighted and photographed at about 11:30 AM MST on August 15, 1950 by at Great Falls, Montana. Mr. owns and operates a in Missoula, Montana and is the owner of the . It was during an in- spection of this ball park that the sighting took place. (and his secretary also present at the time) first noticed the UFO's as silvery objects to the NW, accidentally when looking to tell the wind by the smoke from the Anaconda Copper Company smokestack nearby. The UFO's drew his attention to the extent that he ran 60 feet from the grandstand to the parking lot, got his motion picture camera (Revere turret type 16mm) out of his car and began tracking the UFO's which appeared to him to have stopped in mid-air, re- mained stationary for a while and then, with a swooshing sound, floated away to the left (SW) keeping about the same distance from each other until they were lost from sight, cf. figure 1, a survey of the area near the ball park, and figure 2, a photograph of the ball park. The color film (Daylight Kodachrome) after processing, was submitted by Mariana to USAF-ATIC. It was studied and analyzed there and also by the U.S. Navy. No information concerning their findings was released, but Mr. Al Chop (now with DAC Public Relations) recalls that the analysis was considered inconclusive, except that according to Capt. Edward Puppelt, then head of ATIC's Project "Bluebook", it was felt that the objects shown on the film could not have been balloons. The captain recalled that the government first examined the film in 1950, then returned it to Mr. again borrowed it in 1952, returning it to him later. Mr. claims that the Kodachrome original, as returned to him from the Eastman Kodak Processing Laboratory, comprised 315 frames. This original film was shown by him before several service clubs and other audiences in Montana. He recalls that the first 30-odd frames showed larger images of the UFO's with a notch or band at one point on the periphery of the objects by which they could be seen to rotate in unison while on the rest of the film the objects show up only as unarticulated bright white dots. The film as returned by the Air Force, according to Mr. , had had the first 35 frames removed and only the remainder of the film was returned. He says that he has a letter in his files admitting this removal and that the clipped-off part was lost. (Pertinent ATIC files consulted on July 6, 1955, however, contain no evidence or admission that any part was removed or lost.) Eventually, Mr film came into the possession of Green-Rouse Productions, at Sam Goldwyn Studios, 1041 North Formosa Street, Hollywood, from whom a 16mm and later a 35mm reprint of it were borrowed for examination and analysis in our Data Reduction Department by routine Iconolog techniques. (This action was undertaken because this film is one of the very few existing motion picture records of UFO's and is accorded considerable interest in several quarters. Such analysis was recommended by ATIC personnel in 1950 but not actually carried out.)
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