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.

J Whom it may cA rn ATIAA-5/Lt Fiue. os/65365/ l; Dec -~2
MEMORANDUM FOR RECORD
PROBLEM:
Tremont~-f'
Utah, sighting.
FACTS AND DISCUSSION:
On 15 Dec 52 Lt A.G. Flues telephoned Lt Malcom Ross, USN, at the Of
fice of Naval Research, University of Afinnesota. The purpose was to deter
mine whether pillow balloon releases could account for the Tremon~..,_,Utah,
incident of 2 Jul 52.
Lt Ross had seen the Tremon-tP1n'ovies and it was his opinion, as well as
that of Lt Lewis, ONR, that the objects photogr~phed were pill-0w balloons.
However, Lt Ross said that the Navy had not .f:el~ased any pillow balloons in
or near that area at that time. Lt Ross po~nted out that General Mills, Inc.,
Minneapolis, is, in so far as he knows, the ·sole manufacturer of pillow bal
loons and suggested that ATIC contact-1,±'~ J. R. Smith of General Mills to
determine what organizations and ageheies had purchased pillow balloons. Lt
Ross also stated that in the winter of 1952, the 11 Crusade for Freedom" pur
chased many pillow balloons from General Mills. These were sent to various
cities in the United States and released periodically. Lt Ross did not know
the exact times, dates, or points of these releases, but he suggested that
ATIC contact the 11 Crusade for Freedom".
REOOMdENDATI0N:
That ATIAA-5 contact Mr. J. R. &iith and the 11 Crusade for Freedom"~
.- .t:·?~
DECLASSIFIED Aulhority NND 923007