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Official reports, hearing transcripts, case files and releases: the paper behind the cases. 2,872 documents, 2,610 mirrored with their text, 53,529 pages indexed, so a search reads inside them and lands on the page.
New in the library The PURSUE files The Department of War's UAP release, mirrored in full: the videos, recordings and images, each beside its case file.Documents2,872 records · page 54
This 92-page Project Blue Book file, released through The Black Vault, covers the 7 January 1948 sighting at Godman Field, Fort Knox, Kentucky. It holds control tower witness reports, a record of the P-51 pursuit led by Captain Thomas Mantell, AMC requests for theodolite readings and weather data, and astronomical tables for Venus and the Moon. One analysis concludes the object was not Venus and calls the sighting unexplained. The file also includes a 1964 letter to the Simpson County coroner about Mantell's death.
This Project Blue Book file, released through The Black Vault, collects US Air Force records from 1950 to 1959 on the movie film Nicholas Mariana shot at Great Falls, Montana on 15 August 1950. It includes the OSI interview report, letters about borrowing and copying the film, and a 1956 Douglas Aircraft analysis. Blue Book's own findings were not consistent: one letter lists the cause as unknown, while later memos conclude the objects were probably two F-94 jets.
This Project Blue Book file on the Socorro, New Mexico sighting, held by the Internet Archive, collects Air Force records and 1964 press clippings. It covers policeman Lonnie Zamora's April 24, 1964 report of an egg-shaped object with four legs, the scorched brush and ground depressions, and Dr. J. Allen Hynek's investigation. An Air Force summary says soil and brush analysis found no radiation or propellant and the case stayed open. Later New Mexico reports were judged known objects or hoaxes.
This Black Vault release compiles 1964 newspaper and wire service clippings plus a Project Blue Book summary on the Socorro, New Mexico sighting by policeman Lonnie Zamora on April 24, 1964, when an egg-shaped object left four depressions and burned brush. It covers J. Allen Hynek's site visit, APRO and NICAP comment, and related New Mexico reports at La Madera, Edgewood and Albuquerque. The Air Force summary reports that soil and brush analysis found no radiation or propellant, and the case remained open.
This Project Blue Book file on the Socorro, New Mexico sighting of 24 April 1964 compiles an Air Force record card and a large set of press clippings. The clippings cover policeman Lonnie Zamora's report of an egg-shaped object with four landing marks and scorched brush, plus J. Allen Hynek's investigation and follow-up reports from La Madera, Edgewood and elsewhere. An Air Force summary says soil and brush analysis found no foreign material, radiation or propellant, that the case remains open, and that later related sightings were explained or found to be hoaxes.
This is Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14, "Analysis of Reports of Unidentified Aerial Objects," Project No. 10073, dated 5 May 1955. The study reduced about 4,000 sighting reports received by the U.S. Air Force between June 1947 and December 1952 to IBM punched cards and analyzed them statistically, including chi square tests comparing knowns with unknowns. It concludes that the reports very probably do not represent technological developments beyond present scientific knowledge, and it notes that no case produced physical evidence.
This Project Blue Book case file compilation, hosted by NICAP, covers Rex Heflin's photographs of a UFO taken near Santa Ana, California, on 3 August 1965. It includes an Air Force investigation report by Captain Charles F. Reichmuth, a USMC El Toro G-2 report, an FTD photo analysis dated 14 August 1965, correspondence with Ralph Rankow and Congressman James B. Utt, and newspaper clippings. The analysis concluded the object was about one to three feet in diameter, close to the camera, and could not be the size reported.
This Project Blue Book case file, released through The Black Vault, collects records on the 24 July 1948 sighting by two Eastern Airlines pilots of a wingless object about 20 miles southwest of Montgomery, Alabama. It contains teletype replies from military bases reporting no aircraft movements, a 1948 Project Sign special investigation report with an interview of a Robins Air Force Base witness, and a December 1948 intelligence report. It also includes newspaper extracts, a Harvard College Observatory letter and Hynek's Project Grudge evaluation index.
This US Air Force Project Blue Book case file on Kenneth Arnold's sighting of nine objects near Mount Rainier, Washington, on 24 June 1947 was released through The Black Vault. It contains the Project 10073 record card, which concludes the objects were a mirage, plus Arnold's telegram, questionnaire data and interview notes. It also includes J. Allen Hynek's analysis arguing the objects were closer and slower than Arnold estimated. Other items are David Johnson's sworn statement on a Boise sighting, a Tacoma investigation telegram and news clippings.
This 81-page Project Blue Book case file covers the Levelland, Texas sightings of the night of 2 to 3 November 1957. It holds the record card, Air Force teletype reports from the 1006th AISS and radar units, witness questionnaires, press clippings about the White Sands sightings, and analyst memos. Several witnesses said a bluish-white oval object stopped their car engines. The Air Force concluded the cause was ball lightning in stormy weather, with wet or faulty ignition systems explaining the engine failures.
This 217-page Project Blue Book desk file on the 24 April 1964 Socorro, New Mexico sighting by policeman Lonnie Zamora comes from the Rob Mercer collection. It contains the Blue Book record card, which carries the case as unidentified pending more data, along with Foreign Technology Division messages and resumes and a narrative of the sighting. It also holds inquiries about lunar modules, helicopters and VTOL craft, soil and radiation findings, and a letter by J. Allen Hynek rejecting Donald Menzel's hoax hypothesis.
This NICAP compilation by Dan Wilson gathers Project Blue Book records on the sighting of 24 February 1959, when American Airlines Flight 139, flying from Newark to Detroit, and two United Airlines crews saw three lights over Pennsylvania and Ohio. It includes the record card, pilot statements, Air Force letters and correspondence with an Akron UFO committee. The Air Force concluded that the lights came from three B-47s refueling from KC-97 tankers. Book excerpts disputing Captain Killian's later claims are also included.
This file of USAF Project Blue Book records, released through NICAP, covers a sighting at New Delhi, India on 15 March 1951. It holds a Project record card, a 21 May 1952 message, and an Air Intelligence Information Report of 26 March 1951 from the US Air Attache. That report describes a cigar-shaped object seen over Safdarjang Airdrome by the Delhi Flying Club chief engineer and about 25 witnesses. Blue Book listed the case as UNIDENTIFIED.
This secret Project Blue Book investigation report, numbered T53-11156, covers a combined air-visual, ground-visual, air-radar and ground-radar sighting near Rapid City and Blackhawk, South Dakota, on 5 August 1953. It records interviews with the radar controller and two F-84 pilots who chased a light, checks of weather balloon tracks, and comments on how reliable each witness was. It suggests that a balloon, a star such as Capella, or an equipment malfunction may explain the sighting, but it carries the incident as Unsolved.
This U.S. Air Force Project Blue Book case file, hosted by The Black Vault, covers a fireball seen on 9 December 1965 over Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Canada, and concludes it was a meteor. It holds memos on calls about Acme, Pennsylvania, where a search from the Oakdale Radar Site found nothing, plus letters from witnesses and a photographer. It also includes a Sky and Telescope article on the Great Lakes fireball and letters identifying material found in Lapeer County as chaff.
This Project Blue Book file, released through The Black Vault, covers the RB-47 encounter of 17 July 1957 over Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma. It includes the record card, which lists the sighting as identified as American Airlines flight 655, and Air Defense Command correspondence that carried the sighting as unknown. There is also Major Lewis D. Chase's observer data sheet and an electronic analysis finding it difficult to conclude nothing was present. James McDonald's reconstructed account is included, along with a CAA letter about airliner incidents.
This USAF Project Blue Book file, distributed by NICAP, covers the radar and visual sightings at Bentwaters and Lakenheath, England, on 13 and 14 August 1956. It contains the record card, Air Intelligence Information Reports, ATIC correspondence with Dr. J. Allen Hynek, and a retired controller's later letter to the University of Colorado describing an RAF interceptor being tailed. The Air Force attributed the radar returns to anomalous propagation and meteors, and the visual sighting to Mars.
This Project Blue Book file, released through NICAP, covers the August 1956 radar and visual UFO sightings at RAF Bentwaters and Lakenheath, England. It contains radar operator statements, pilot intercept accounts, weather data and USAF teletype messages. It also includes ATIC analyses suggesting weather returns or Perseid meteors, and an October 1956 memorandum by Dr. J. Allen Hynek. Hynek judged the meteor explanation unlikely, called for better data and relayed Dr. Whipple's proposal for camera sky patrols.
This Project Blue Book file from the USAF, released via The Black Vault, covers the 16 January 1958 sighting at Trindade Island. Its record card says two Rio de Janeiro newspapers printed photos of an alleged flying saucer taken from a Brazilian naval ship, and that ONI analysis judged them a hoax. The file also holds galley proofs from a Menzel book arguing the Barauna photographs were faked, plus APRO Bulletin and NICAP material.
This 1976 National Archives guide describes microfilm publication T1206, which holds the textual records of Project Blue Book, the US Air Force's investigations of unidentified flying objects. Names of people involved in sightings are removed. The records are on 94 rolls of 35 mm microfilm and include administrative files, case files arranged by date from 1947 to 1969, and Office of Special Investigations files. The guide lists the contents of each roll and of each administrative box, including the Sign, Grudge and Twinkle reports and Special Report No. 14.
This Project Blue Book file combines a USAF record card with a fireball report. The record card lists two objects with a glowing white band that maneuvered erratically, and its conclusion reads as insufficient data. The attached report covers a fireball seen on September 12, 1952 at about 7:00 P.M. E.S.T., moving toward Flatwoods, West Virginia. It was brilliant greenish white and egg-shaped. The report estimates a visible flight of about 135 miles, an altitude of about 65 miles and a velocity near 27 miles per second, based on an observation point near Akron, Ohio.
This NICAP document reproduces part of a Project Blue Book sighting list and has no date. It covers entries numbered roughly 2656 to 2697 for August, running from Stalingrad, USSR and Centerville, Idaho to Port Moresby, New Guinea and Lewisdale, Maryland. Some case files are marked as missing. The evaluations given include aircraft, meteors, balloons, stars and planets, anomalous propagation and insufficient data, and several entries are listed as unidentified.
This MoD file, titled UFOs - Persistent Correspondence - Dr David Clarke, holds Dr David Clarke's Freedom of Information requests and emails to the Directorate of Air Staff from 2005 to 2008. Clarke asked for the DI55 report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena in the UK Air Defence Region and for Rendlesham papers. He also sought records about Nick Pope. Other items include an internal review that released redacted passages on plasmas, the MoD's statement that it had no report of the 2008 South Wales police helicopter sighting, and a 2009 disposal form.
This combined Project Sign file, drawn from USAF records, documents the 1 October 1948 encounter over Fargo, North Dakota, in which Air National Guard pilot 2nd Lt. George F. Gorman chased a small round white light in his F-51 for 27 minutes. The file holds checklists, interrogation reports by Major Paul Kubala of the ATI Field Office at Wright-Patterson, tower witness statements, Geiger readings on the aircraft and press clippings. It concludes that Gorman's statements should be accepted as truth until proven wrong.
This declassified U.S. Air Force file contains the final report of Project Twinkle, dated 27 November 1951 and written by Louis Elterman of the Geophysics Research Division, together with related correspondence. The project was set up to investigate the green fireballs and other light phenomena around Holloman AFB and Vaughn, New Mexico, and it was run with Askania cameras. The report calls its findings essentially negative and recommends no further funding. In March 1952 the Directorate of Intelligence declined to declassify it.
The Project Twinkle Final Report, approved 27 November 1951 by Louis Elterman of the Air Force Geophysics Research Division's Atmospheric Physics Laboratory, describes a camera and observation program begun in 1950 to investigate green fireballs and other light phenomena over New Mexico, at Vaughn and Holloman AFB. It says the findings were essentially negative and puts most sightings down to aircraft, balloons, birds, planets, meteors or clouds. It recommends no further spending, with meteor camera film to be checked instead.
This DoD Washington Headquarters Services release collects emails about Luis Elizondo, marked as correspondence from a private citizen to a DoD employee. In a June 2020 email and a June 2019 email, Elizondo asks public affairs officer Susan Gough to correct statements that he had no assigned duties in AATIP. He says he ran the program and names people who could confirm his role. Attached August and September 2017 emails with Neill Tipton discuss handing the portfolio over to Tipton.
This FOIA release from DoD Washington Headquarters Services collects 2020 Pentagon public affairs and Navy emails about press queries on unidentified aerial phenomena. It includes the August 14, 2020 announcement that Deputy Secretary David Norquist had approved the UAP Task Force, and follow-ups on a CBS query about a claimed F/A-18 cellphone photo of a triangular object. It also reproduces The Debrief and Vice/Motherboard articles, and internal emails on DOPSR's handling of the Navy videos and Luis Elizondo's AATIP role.
This FAA Alaskan Region folder, released via the National Archives and The Black Vault, collects public letters written in early 1987 about the November 17, 1986 sighting reported by JAL Captain Kenjyu Terauchi. Many writers ask for the FAA form summarizing the sighting, price lists, radar photos or transcripts, and FAA staff reply with order forms. A San Francisco Chronicle clipping in the folder describes the FAA's $194.30 mail-order package and Philip Klass's conclusion that the pilot saw Jupiter and possibly Mars.
This Black Vault release reproduces a folder of public letters sent to the FAA Alaskan Region in Anchorage, mostly from March 1987 with a few from 1988 and 1989. Many writers say they heard about the materials on Paul Harvey's radio newscast. They ask for tapes, radar images, drawings and summary reports on the November 17, 1986 sighting by the crew of JAL Flight 1628 over Alaska. Several letters mention the FAA's mail-order kit of 20 items and ask about prices.
This All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) case resolution, dated 20 March 2025, looks at infrared video recorded on April 26, 2013 by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection aircraft over Rafael Hernandez Airport near Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. Using reconstruction and pixel analysis, AARO found with high confidence that the two objects drifted over land at wind speed and never entered the ocean. It concludes with moderate confidence that they were a pair of sky lanterns.
This US Air Force memorandum for the record comes from Lt. Col. Dominic A. Bartol, Chief of the Plans and Special Events Division, Command Directorate of Information, and is dated 3 September. It records a telephone report of a UFO from Paul Marston, a freelance photographer in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Marston described at least four reports from the Exeter area that night. Among the witnesses were Norman J. Muscarello and police officers Eugene Bertrand and David Hunt, who saw a silent object with flashing red lights. The reports were passed to Pease AFB.
This FAA Alaskan Region Public Affairs Office release, dated March 5, 1987, is a computer printout of recorded FAA radar data for Japan Air Lines Flight 1628 on November 17, 1986. It covers 38 minutes of computer time and lists 105 radar returns. Of these, 86 are usable and 19 are uncorrelated primary returns. The printout records when the pilot first asked about other traffic and when he said he could not see the UFO. It also explains that uncorrelated returns occur when the primary and beacon signals do not match in position.
This Black Vault release contains FAA Alaskan Region correspondence and an order form for records on the Japan Air Lines Flight 1628 unidentified traffic sighting of November 17, 1986. A May 14, 1987 letter points requesters to an NTIS report, and a February 21, 1987 letter from Public Affairs Officer Paul Steucke introduces the itemized list. That list covers crew interview transcripts, Captain Terauchi's statements and drawings, air traffic control transcripts and tapes, radar data, and news releases.
This record, from the Brazilian Air Ministry's I Regional Air Command (I COMAR), 2nd Section, is marked confidential and logs UFO sightings in Pará state. Each entry gives the place, date, color, shape, movement, estimated altitude, distance and witnesses. The sightings run from September 1977 into November 1977 at Colares, Santo Antônio do Tauá, Vigia, Mosqueiro and the Bay of Marajó. Witnesses reported physical effects such as paralysis, and the A2/I COMAR team made its own observations with theodolite angles and photographs. Copies of local newspaper clippings from 1978 are attached.
This is a June 24, 2009 letter from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn III, released as a Defense Intelligence Agency record. In it, Reid asks Lynn to set up a Restricted Special Access Program with a bigoted access list covering parts of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP). He says the program has produced highly sensitive, unconventional aerospace-related findings. An attachment gives a preliminary access list that names Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies contractors.
This is a Defense Documentation Center report bibliography, prepared under DoD Instruction 5100.38 and released by the National Security Agency, with no date given. It lists technical reports on unidentified flying objects. The entries cover the three volumes of the University of Colorado's Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects directed by Edward U. Condon, the National Academy of Sciences panel review that agreed with its findings, a UFO bibliography by Lynn Catoe and a perception paper by Michael Wertheimer.
This National Security Agency release begins with an 18 July 1955 cover letter from the Air Force Special Security Office, Northeast Air Command, sending the Director of NSA reports on UFOB sightings in the NEAC area. It contains RB-47 radar and visual contacts over the Canadian Arctic in June 1955, plus signed statements on a July 1955 KC-97 and radar sighting near Harmon AFB, Newfoundland. The release also includes a 1958 intelligence report on unexplained radar tracks in the Panama Canal Zone and a later mission report noting a bright light.