Documents / Report
This confidential progress report from the U.S. Naval Photographic Interpretation Center in Washington, dated May 1953 and addressed to the Director of Naval Intelligence, analyzes motion picture film of unidentified objects. The footage was taken in Utah on 2 July 1952 and in Montana in 1950. Analysts used frame plots and densitometer readings, and most of the group judged the images to be light sources. They computed velocities and accelerations that ruled out birds, aircraft and balloons, and 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.
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SECURITY INFORMATION
Subj: Interpretation of Movies o-f Uoidentif'ied Objects;
progress report on
lQ. a. There is no recurring pattern in the relative position
of the objects in formation. It appears however, as if the shU't
in relative positions vere regular and that the original formation
would be recovered 11' the continuing action h&s been recorded.
b. No. However, the same -formation is maintained with
objects changing positions.
c. No detection of relative position s being maintained
coincidental with movement about their axis.
d. No detection of undulating motion o:f objects in phase
either i n :formation or tumbling motion.
e. There is evidence of abrupt changes in direction of
flight path through fairly large angles.
f. Certain objects do appear to rems.in motion.less while
other move about .
g. Certain objects disappear while still vell within the
fie.ld or view. This is discussed in sub-paragraph 6 above.
4. Discussion.
During the study and investigation of the unidentified. objects,
the preliminary data uncovered were revealed to experts (with proper
security clearance) in the f'iel.ds of astronomy and physics. Although
they presented certain natural phenomena theories to explain the
cause of the objects under certain conditions they were not able to
do so under the conditions during which the photography was taken,
nor were they able to recognize these objects as man-made.
As to the results of the investigations being reported, no
attempt was ma.de tooorroborate the ppiilions presented. Because of
the lack of proper equipment, mone y and personnel, the investigation
was limited. There are obvious tests which can be conducted to prove
or disprove some o-r the findings presented. It is suggested that these
be undertaken.
5. Ref'erence (d) requests spectrophotometric analysis of the Utah
film be made. Preliminary plan of test is underway .
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7 Report, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 23 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.