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.
“Cooper”1 page
r •U. S. NAVAL PHOI'OGRAPHIC INTERPRETATION CENTER U. S. NAVAL RECEIVING STATION Washington 25, D. c. Code 01/HWW/lbll Jl2 .UNCLASSlflED Serial: (1 I From: Officer in Charge To: Director of Naval Intelligence (OP-322H4D) Subj: Interpretation of Movies of Unidentified Obje/.; progress report on Ref': (a) Cont ltr DNI OP:,22Y5/rtm., dtd 27 Oct 1952 Vi.th enclosures thereto (b) Conf memo, Chief, Topical Division, USAF, AFOIN 2A2, dtd 24 Nov 1952 with enclosures thereto (c) PIC Conf ltr 01/RWW/gcl, ser 0263 dtd 5 Dec 1952 (d) Rest memo, Chief, Topical Division, USAF, AFOIN 2A2, dtcl 16 Feb 1953 Encl: (1) Charts 2-13 1. Reference (a) is a request from U, s. Air Force for the i nterpretation of movies of unidentified objects taken in Utah, 2 J~y 1952. Included among the enclosures are approximately 30 feet of processed, 16aun color motion picture film and a list of questions for guidance in determining the type of analysis desired. Reference (b) requested interpretation of additional movies taken in Montana, 1950. This report supercedes reference (c) and presents the test procedures and methods designed to answer the questions contained in enclosure 7 of reference (a). The results and analysis were performed b y the Photogrammetry Division, Evaluation Department of this Center and do not necessarily represent the official attitude of the Depart ment of the Navy or this Center. 2. Tests and Procedure. a. Plots. rThe film exposed in Utah ie i n very poor condition; dry, brittle, a nd with a tendency to break. After initial viewing, duplication of the film was peri"ormed in order to preserve the f~ - In the duplication process some color coITection was made to permit better viewing of the objects. To prepare plots of the objects, a stop trame projector was rigidly mounted at a fi.Xed distance from a finely-ground glass screen. The magnification was 22 times giving a format size or 14.211 wide. This proved very satisfactory a nd provided a shadow free image upon which overlay plots could be made. DOWNGRADED A! & YE A'R !N'l'Jm, 1 A~~ DECLASSIFIED AFTER 12 YEARS. UNCLA DOD DIR 5200.10 • SSJFJED DECLASSI FIED Authority NND 923007 l
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.