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.
. . "THE AIR FOftCE HAD-PLANH£0 TOSHO" IS Fl LIii TO TH!'. PIIE86 AND TO MAK£ A8TA~IIENT TO TH£ PV/IUC. THIS STATEMENT,'tlQ.IU)Al!)FAL THE OFFICIAL ANALYSIS-·" PREPARE FOR A PRESS $HOWIN8 AND PU8l/C STATEMENT CON CERNING THE UTAH PICTURES/ MAJOR K£YH0£, WHO HAO BEEN fJIV£N THE A1Rf'ORC£0ATA ON THE UTAH PICTURES BEFORE "WHE TH£ COMIIIIEO AIR FORCE ANO NAVY ANAl.YSIS SHOW!:O TMAT tN£ AUCEltS CO&M.0 IIOT et ANY IXJIIIIEN TIONAI. OIi.iS/i'S. AUt fORCEOfFICIALS IJl8A8REE/J AJ TO WHAT SttOUUl IE TOI./J THE PUBLIC. THE PLAN FOR A PUBLIC DISCLOSURE WAS THEN K/1.I.E/J..... THERE WILL BE NO PRESS ------SHOW/I#, CANCEi. PLANS... IN A llltESS IIEL£ASE, DAt'ED SEPT. 2t, lte:J, 4 P..... HENAY HOLT ANO COMPANY ANNOUNCED .•• THE .OFFICIALS WHO FAVOREO A PU8UC STATE MENT HAO IEEN OVERRULED, THEN DECIDED TO INC/.U/)£ THIS INFORMATION IN HIS BOOK, * ..F/.YIN8 SAUCERS FROM OUTER SPACE"... THE CAT WAS OUT OF THE BAG. IN IMMEDIATE RETALIATION,THE OFFICE OF AIR FORCE INFORMATION ISSUED A PRESS RELEASE ON SEPT. 29, 1953 ... THE TIIEMOTON PICTURES WERE RETURNED TO WARRANT OFFICER NEWHOUSE. THEY WERE OF NO IMPORTANCE.' ntE A/II FORfJE HA$ SECRET I/OT/ON PICTVllES OF Fl.YINtl SAV(JERS WHICH PROVE THn ARE INTER PLANETARY CRAFT, MAJOR DONALD E. KEYHOE, A RETIRED Ml\lUNE CORPS OfflCER...DECLAREO TODAY.HIS CLAIM ,HE SAl~,IS /IACKEIJ BY OFFICIAL A/II FOIi&,( POCUMENi"8 CONTAINED IN HIS FORTHCOMING BOOK ••• TH/$ WAS TltE IIEA$0N FOR MAJOR THE TELEGRAM WAS DATED KEYHOE'S TEt.£8RAII. HE SAID! OCT. 2,1953. MAJOR IC!YHOf. .---~~~=~~=""':":=":"!:'~----. WAS NEVER BROUGHT UP OPt SEPT. 29, YOUR OFFICE 'IUCLY FOR DISCIPLINARY ACTION. II/PLIED THAT 1 1118/tEl'ltEGENTED TH£ AIR FORCE ANALYSIS OF THE UTAH WASN'T THE OTAH. FI.YINIJ SAUCER l'ICTVIIES tN MY FILM RE.TURNED TO SOOK ... IF THIS IS TIIV£, THEN AS A W. 0. NEWHOUSE MEREU' HETIIIED I/ARIN£ CO/IP8 OFFICER, A 'POOR COPY? t SHDULO 8IE: $118.IECTF.IJ TO IJl8CI• I PI./NA/fY ACTION...IF MY IJl.A/118 WEREN'T THERE MANY ~ INCORRECT, TH£N I. ftnPECTFULLY COPIES MADE AND SUGGEST THAT••. I BE COll/fT•MAlfTIALEIJ STUDIED? FOR MAKING FALSE STATEMENTS ABOUT THE AIR FORCE ANM.YS/8.* WHERE IS THE ORIGINAL? WHAT NEWSPAPER CHAIN HAS BEEN DENIED A SHOWING WITH THE CLAIM THAT ALL COPIES WERE BURNED UP FROM OVERUSE? ZI 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.