65 HS1-834228961 62-HQ-83894 SUB A

·
. In the analysis a _ vestigation of the radar a nd- ~isua l
,..sightings described, e are some yar dsticks whil have been
: established from exper cnce and trends to measure' d atte mp t to
de termine the source of UFO•s . Some of these are ge neral in nature
r and a r e subject to ·cr:i.ange· as l')ew scientific and factual inf·ormation
i s r eceived. I t should be remembered that any object vie wed from a
grea t distance appears to be round . Nearly all the sightings r eportecl
a r e de scribed as round and would tend to indicate that most of the
objects ·are at a grea.te r ·.d.1s-tahce from the observer .than is gen~r ally
estima t ed, • • .- :. ,; • • · ·
. . .
Another misconception centers about photographs of unident ified
flying objects. At best ·tl!le. majority of photographs have proven
non - conclusive as e vidence· to this program ,mainl y_due _to type camera s
used. • Also, 'it might be ·mehti'c1ned that because still photogr aphs· .can
be so easil y faked, either by using a mock-up or model against a
l egitimate background~ or · by retouching the negat,ive , the y are worth
l e ss a s e yidence . I nnumerable objects , f ~om ashtrays to wash basins ,
have been photogr·aphed wh+1e sailing thrpugh :the air. Many su·ch
photoB have been publ i~he~ ·wi thout revealing the true identity ·of the
objects. •
More attention is given to moving picture s of unidentified fly
ing objects since tHey a r e more difficult to retouch. Howe ver, only
a ve ry f ew movie - type fi l ms have bee n received by the Air Force and
they r eveal only pinpoints of light moving a cross the sky. · The Air
Force has been unable to identify the source -of the s e lights because
the ima ge s are too small to analyze properly. Since owne rship of
the s e films remains with the pe rsons taking the m, the Air Force is
now in a position to give the m out .
The difficulty of evaluating •rep.orts of all · types is ba s ed
l ar gely upon the lack of basic da t a surrounding the sightings. The
drop in sightings during 1953 is l a rgely due to the increased a ccura cy
and the compl e teness of r eports being r e ce ived. To be of value , a
r eport should include such basic da t a as size , shape , composition,
spe ed, altitude, direction, and the maneuve r pattern of the obj ects .
Without such inf ormation, it is almost impossible to e sta blish the .
identi ty of the object sighted. In addition , a r e cent study has shown
a direct corre lation be twee n the numbe r of sightings r eported a nd the
publicity given to 1' saucers" by the na tion's press .
The Air Force took a furthe r ste p in early 1953 by procur~ng
Vide en came ras for the purpose of photogr aphing this phe nome na ~ The s e
came r a s we re distributed to va rious military installa tions . This type
0a me r a ha s two lense s , one of which t a ke s a n ordina ry photograph, a nd
the othe r has a d i ffraction gr a ting wh1ph sepa r a t e s l i gh t int o its
component pa rts. This a ids in de t e r mining the composition of t he ob
j e ct pho t ogr aphed. A small numbe r of photogr aphs ha ve bee n r e ceived
from t his camer a ; however, only light spots of no de t ail ha ve been
i ndicated in the photos t o da t e. As mor e photogr aphs a r e take n by
the se obser ve rs , it is be lie ved tha t a grea t deal of t he mys t ery wi ll
be lifte d from the progr am.
The Ai r For ce would like to state t ha t no e vidence ha s been
r e ce ived which woul d t end to i ndicate t ha t the Un i t ed Sta t e s is be ing
Qbs e rved by mach i ne s from oute r spa ce or a fo r e ign gove rnment, No
objec t or particle of a n unknown substa nce ha s bee n r e ce ived a nd
-3- MORE