Documents / Case file
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.
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the type of motion shown by the objects, moving from right to left, or generally
from east to west ~s the ce.mera was situated. This agrees with Figure I, show
ing the single object reversing course from left to right 1 or west to east.
10c and d. The relative positions of these objects in the first sequence
follow a definite formation plan of either three pairs, a trio, and a single,
or uerhaps five pairs (if one of the trio and the si le are actually a nearby
pair). It ap!)Ek'U'S that the objects tend to remain in -oosition for curved uath
maneuvering. A possible shift in formation aunears at the start of the trio
paths. otherwise, the objects definitely anpear to undulate in -obase in this
secuence; as in the other seouences also.
lOe and f. Several repeated slow motion viev.riri~·s of the entire film do not
indicate clearly any abrupt chP..nges in flight nath of any part of the formation.
At times the camera am:>ears to lag in followin{r the entire grou;p 1 and some of the
ten objects then move outside the field of view momentarily. Whether or not a
particular object remains motionless for a moment deuends uuon the rela.tionship
of group movement to camera movement.
10g. As exo12ined in ParafTa-;:>h lOf, sometimes objects may move out of the
field of view. In a few instances, n0Fcver 1 certain objects may change in
brightness considerably I and uractically appear or disanpear ,rell within tne
field of view. In the second seouence, which lasts about 14 St::Conds, the lower
two pairs in Figure II flare up suddenly ne&r the center of the field of view,
being invisible cl moment before. As they fl<.Xe uo, they appe to curve more
rapidly to the left and. u:p,.\iards than the center trio. Reversing this seauence
in slow motion shm·1s thc.t t.nese four oojects were faintly visible just before
they disanoeared at about the same position.
tabulation of flight sequences and durations is listed in .A_?pendix III.
COllCIBSICJllJS
1. Subject motion picture film apparently recora.s the motions of ten un
known aerial objects, all alike in observed characteristics of movement and size.
2. The exact nature of these objects cc.nnot be determined, because they
are visible only as small spots of light. It can be deduced, however, that they
are either non-s _Jherical in shape and similc1__r to bright mete.l in reflectance, or
else variably self-luminous by some means.
3. There is apparently a coordination of movement to some extent among
these objects. They seem to move in formations \·'hich c:-re probably three-dimen
sional in arrangement. The l ar gest anoue.r size of the entire group is on the
order of 6 to 8 de~rees of arc.
4. The movements of these objects sug,_o-est flight paths consist~· of skew
curves in space. In one instance a single object changed course ana. followed a
nearly straight line path with reasonable uniformi t--,1 of motion t an a.ngu.lar
velocity of about 2.1 dee,;rees. During this straight line flight it remained
reasonably uniform in brightness.
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DECLASSIFIED Authority NND 923007 Case file, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 156 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.