Documents / Report

Film Analysis of Unidentified Objects, 1953

U.S. Department of War · 1950 · 23 pages · text by GLM-OCR

This confidential progress report, dated 4 May 1953 and signed by L. W. Keith, went from the Navy's Photographic Interpretation Center to the Director of Naval Intelligence. It analyzes movies of unidentified objects filmed in Utah on 2 July 1952 and in Montana in 1950, which the U.S. Air Force had asked the Navy to interpret. Using plots, density readings and velocity estimates, the analysts judged the objects to be probably light sources that were disk shaped and moved at high speeds. They concluded the objects could not be identified as natural phenomena or commonly known man-made objects.

From the source:Release of 2026-08-07 Incident: 1950, 1952, Montana, Utah. This file contains a memorandum relating to the U.S. Naval Photographic Interpretation Center’s assessment of two films allegedly depicting unidentified airborne objects, captured in Montana and Utah in 1950 and 1952, respectively. The file documents the Center’s analytic process, assumptions that constrained its confidence level, tentative conclusions, and recommendations for future research. The Center assessed, generally, that the objects depicted in the film demonstrated characteristics that were inconsistent with those of natural phenomena or commonly known aerospace technologies. The memorandum documents the Center’s recommendation for a more well-resourced investigation to corroborate its presumptive findings, citing a lack of funding and personnel. The accompanying charts compare the film’s luminosity with the apparent angular size of the phenomena, using contemporary mathematical modeling and photogrammetric analysis techniques.

Open the PDF Original source ↗
DOW-UAP-PR159 · video · 1952-07-02 Historical Film of Reported UFOs, Utah, 1952 This archival footage is a digitization of a 16mm print of Kodachrome color motion-picture film shot on a handheld Bell & Howell Auto Master camera near Tremonton, Utah, on July 2, 1952. U.S. Navy Chief Warrant Officer Delbert C. Newhouse reported observing and filming a group of bright airborne objects and shortly thereafter submitted the footage to the U.S. Air Force. The film later became one of the visual cases reviewed by Project Blue Book, the 1952–1969 U.S. Air Force program that investigated the nature and origin of unidentified flying objects (UFOs). The film’s limited detail and lack of fixed reference points prevented a conclusive resolution. From the 55-second mark onward, the film transitions to unrelated footage appearing to show a demonstration of sewing equipment. The presence of unrelated sewing-equipment footage suggests that the surviving footage may be a composite or reused print, though the available record does not establish how or when the materials came to be combined. As documented in records submitted with the film, contained in this collection under the title DOW-UAP-D102, the footage originally was paired with mountain scenery from Idaho, which is not preserved in this digitization. Download (76.1 MB)

“Expedition X”1 page

  • p. 1 …ACTION DESIRED INIT. RTG. ACTION DESIRED INIT. Expedite Information and return Prepare reply for signature of…

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

DECLASSIFIED

BUAER ROUTE SHEET MAVAER-141A (REV. 5-52)

Authority:

NND 67905

CONFIDENTIAL

DIVISION	RTG. & ACT.	DATE	INIT.	DIVISION	RTG. & ACT.	DATE	INIT.	DIVISION	RTG. & ACT.	DATE	INIT.
RECD.	RELD.	RECD.	RELD.	RECD.	RELD.
CHIEF OF BUAER (AER) AERO. STDS. GP. (AG) ASS'T CHIEF FOR MTL. & SERVICES (4) 5/4
AIRBORNE EQUIP. (AE)
AIDE (A) DEP. ASST. CHIEF
GENERAL INSP. (GI)
 CONTRACTS (CT)
ASST. RES. TRA. (SR) ARMAMENT (AR)
SMALL BUS. SP (SB)
DEPUTY & ASS'T CHIEF OF BUREAU (1) DESIGN ELEMENTS (DE)
 INDUSTRIAL PL. (IP)
EXECUTIVE OFFICE (12) ELECTRONICS (EL)
 INSPECTION (IN)

ADM. SERVICES (AS) MAINTENANCE (MA)

 EVALUATION (EV)
AIRCRAFT LOG. (AL)
 EXP. PROGRAM (EP)
COUNSEL (CO) REVIEWED BY NAVAIR
 GUIDED MISSILES (GM) ON DECLASS PROJECT
FISCAL (FI)
FI-1 DECLASS INFUL
 AIRCRAFT (AC) OTHER EQUIP. (PH)
MIL. REQUIREM. (MR) YES

PERSONNEL (PE) POWER PLANT (PP) PRODUCTION (PD)

 RESEARCH (RS)

PLANS COORD. (PC) SHIPS INSTALL. (SI) SHORE ESTAB. (SE)

ASS'T CHIEF FOR RES. & DEVEL. (2)
TECHNICAL DATA (TD)

DEP. ASST. CHIEF
EXECUTIVE ASST.
ASW COORD. ASST.
RDB-SPEC. ASST.
ADMINISTRATIVE ASST.

RTG.	ACTION DESIRED	INIT.	RTG.	ACTION DESIRED	INIT.	RTG.	ACTION DESIRED	INIT.
	Expedite Information and return Prepare reply for signature of:
	24 hour reply requested Recommendation and return
	Confer with Return with information req.
NO FURTHER ACTION NECESSARY (Signature)	FILE NUMBERS

1. Red routings shall be made and changed only by Comm. & Files Br. All other routings shall be made in black.

2. Indicate order of routing for both incoming and outgoing correspondence by consecutive numbers.

3. X - Indicates activity preparing reply. (Place in "RTG & ACT," column. To left of column if numeral already inserted.)

4. 0 - Indicates routing of pink copy after correspondence is mailed. (If numerical sequence desired indicate to left of column.)

5. All numerical routings must be initialled prior to mailing.

6. Indicate instructions by placing numerical routings in appropriate box in lower right hand corner.

7. This form is UNCLASSIFIED when blank and unattached.

CONFIDENTIAL

SECURITY INFORMATION

1 $ \frac{5}{25} $ P25 CONFIDENTIAL

Cases discussed

About this file

Report, from the pursue 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. 23 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.