Documents / Report
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.
“Expedition X”1 page
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0105 CONFIDENTIAL SECURITY INFORMATION Subj: Interpretation of Movies of Unidentified Objects; progress report on 10. a. There is no recurring pattern in the relative position of the objects in formation. It appears however, as if the shift in relative positions were regular and that the original formation would be recovered if the continuing action has been recorded. b. No. However, the same formation is maintained with objects changing positions. c. No detection of relative positions being maintained coincidental with movement about their axis. d. No detection of undulating motion of objects in phase either in 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 remain motionless while other move about. g. Certain objects disappear while still well within the field of 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 fields 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 made to corroborate the opinions presented. Because of the lack of proper equipment, money and personnel, the investigation was limited. There are obvious tests which can be conducted to prove or disprove some of the findings presented. It is suggested that these be undertaken. 5. Reference (d) requests spectrophotometric analysis of the Utah film be made. Preliminary plan of test is underway. L. W. KEITH Copy to: CNO (OP553) BuAer (PH)
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.