Project Blue Book File on Tremonton Film, Utah, 1952

This U.S. Air Force Project Blue Book file compiles 1952 and 1953 messages, memos and reports on the movie film Navy Chief Photographer Delbert C. Newhouse shot on 2 July 1952 near Tremonton, Utah. It records interviews with Newhouse's family, requests about the film, and Navy and General Mills balloon experts judging that the objects closely resembled pillow balloons. It also covers internal debate about releasing the film to the press. Unrelated reports from Phoenix, Lexington and Highland Park sightings are included too.

From the source:Release of 2026-09-18 Incident: 7/2/52, Tremonton, Utah. This document records the Project Blue Book investigation and subsequent assessments of an incident near Tremonton, Utah, on July 2, 1952. Project Blue Book was a 1952-1969 U.S. Air Force program to investigate the nature and origin of unidentified flying objects (UFOs). The file describes the Air Force’s assessment of the principal witness, Delbert C. Newhouse, a U.S. Navy Warrant Officer specializing in photography, as honest and reliable, and as an expert with more than 1,000 hours of aerial-photography experience. Newhouse reported observing 12 to 14 reflective objects and recorded the event on color motion-picture film using a handheld Bell & Howell Auto Master camera. The file reflects an evolving Air Force assessment of the imagery over several years. Early documentation considered several possible explanations, including sunlight reflecting from birds or balloons, and a mirage effect, and did not identify the objects conclusively. Later assessments became more confident that the objects were seabirds reflecting sunlight, citing identifiable seabirds and similar films showing seabirds as bright points of light under comparable conditions. However, the film’s limited detail and lack of fixed reference points prevented reliable determination of the objects’ distance, size, altitude, or linear speed from the film alone. AARO Comment: The file contains conflicting references to the film format. Several documents describe a 35mm film, while contemporaneous submission documentation identifies the original as a 50-foot roll of processed 16mm Kodachrome color motion-picture film recorded with a handheld Bell & Howell Auto Master camera. Newhouse reported exposing approximately 30 feet of the roll during the incident and using the remaining film later that day to record unrelated mountain scenery in Idaho. Other records show that 35mm positive and negative duplicate blowups were produced from the original 16mm material. The file also indicates that the original film was duplicated for preservation, citing its deteriorating condition. The footage retained by the National Archives and Records Administration and presented in this collection as DOW-UAP-PR159 is a digitization of a 16mm print.

~UNCLAS.SIFIEO DEC 5 1952
From 34 measurements taken from Part III of the film,
the maximum and minimum per frame were 0.2889 and 0.0667mm
respectively with a mean shift of 0.1729mm. On this basis
the mean velocity is 653.5 mph. Differences in mean vel
ocities due to assumption of variance in distance from the
observer may be determined by x/5 times 653.5.
lOa. 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 had been recorded. This should be substantiated or'
refuted upon completion of the stereoscopic study.
b. Comments held in abeyance
c. Comments held in abeyance
d. Comments held in abeyance
e. Yes
f . Comments held in abeyance
g. Certain objects disappear while still well within
the field of view.
4. Discussion. There are many theories and conditions
concerning the images photographed ~hich can be explained
as natural phenomena. In the analysis conducted, no attempt
is made to explain the phenomena nor are the comments tem
pered by knowledge of present day science (although its
influence was felt). Comments are as seen, as analyzed,
and as computed; and as such, are partly at variance with
the natural phenomena theories.
a. Light Source. The opinion that these images are
light sources is based on the time they can be viewed
continuously on the film, approximately 90 seconds, and
on the a.Dgle through which they were photographed, approx
imately 60 degrees. It is felt that if these images were
reflected light, blinking would occur during a period of
90 seconds while passing through an angle of 60 degrees
when photographed at the rate of 16 frames per second.
Although this premise would permit aircraft and balloons
to be the source, they are ruled out because of the velocity
determination. If aircraft is assumed to be close enough
to permit velocities of present aircraft, they would be
close enough for positive identification. If they are too
far away for positive identification, then the velocity is
too great for any aircraft as we know them.
b. Color. Colors were noted as shades of red, green, •
blue .and- lu h-white. It appears however, that except for
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