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 Advance”1 page
- ·Photogram:netr1c -3- Serial C12 ~is ot "Utah" Film motion. Th decrease in average angular veloc:1ty between 3(e.) and 3(b) could be due to the obJeot's hav1Dg regressed betveen f'ilminge J\lat as was reported by Bewhouse. Also the average image diameter decreases about 3~ ayer the entire tillll, 1ndicat1Dg a possible over-all regression of the obJects. The tollow1.ng tabulation imlicates the hypothetical transverse companent ot relati-,e Tel.ocitie■ and accelerations at various distances. It is noted that th transver e Telooity may be cmq a fraction ot the total velocity so that the numbers act\tal..q indicate m1 n1mn Y&lues. It the obJeat'a Its transverse Its transverse ac- Velocity ot distance vae veloai~ was celeration vas single obJect was 100 teet o.6, tt/sec 0.36 n/sec2 3!'8 ft.sec 01" o.44 Jll'h or 0.011 g or 2.7JJJPh 1000 teet 6.~ tt/sec 3.6 -rt/sec2 39 -rt/sea or 4. mph or 0.11 8 or 27 mph 2000 teet 13 tt/sec 7.2 ft/sec2 78 -rt/sec or 8.8 mph or 0.22 g or 54 mph lllile 23 mph 0.56 8 135 1IQ}h 5 miles u, 2.8 s 670 J!U)h •10 miles 230 mph 5.6 I 1300 m,ph The objects in the "Utllh" and "Montana" tilE can ~ be correlated on the basis at two :rather weak points. First, their structure, er rather lack at it, 1s fl1m1Jar. Tims as shown 1n the "blow-ups", figures 6a and 6b, there are no recognizable ditterenoes between them*• Seccnd, the objects on the "Montanan t1lm are numit'est~ a s~le pair J CJD the "Utah" tilm perhaps 3~ ot the trames ahoW ehstera at objects aeemiJlsq also grouped in pairs. See figures 6c and. 5b. The veather report was obtained by- the author tram the Ail'port Statian at Salt take City. The nearest station Yith available data is Corinne wich re- ported a. maxt.mnm t rature ot 84°, a m1n1'DI\Jm at 4.7° and no precipitation. A high pressure cell the Pacific Northwest spread over Northern Utah dur· 1Dg ~ 2, the pressure at Tl'elllO.Uton would hne ri.811:lg trend, the vis1- bilit)r good, and the v1.n4s relatively light. The absence ot clouds and the apparentq excellent Visiblllt7 shown on the ti wow4 seem to be 1n agree ment with this report. ~ use at references (2) and (3), the sun's az th :Nl.32°E <itude 650 was oaupgted. Ro shadows were anilable to coa:tim the time ot f1Jm1ng. * The 11MSea on the "Utah" film appear to be a little br1ghter. However, possible nriations in dEJV'elopllent techniqaes wotild not allow qunti tative ~is in this regazid. 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.