The Report on Unidentified Flying ObjectsRuppelt, Edward J.
History
The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects
Ruppelt, Edward J.
Unidentified flying objects
Then the ground operator proceeded to tell him that the UFO chase
had been watched on radar. First the radar had the UFO target on the
scope, and it was a UFO because it was traveling much too slowly to
be an airplane. Then the radar operators saw the F-86 approach,
climb, and make a shallow dive toward the UFO. At first the F-86 had
closed in on the UFO, but then the UFO had speeded up just enough to
maintain a comfortable lead. This went on for two or three minutes;
then it had moved off the scope at a terrific speed. The radar site
had tried to call him, the ground station told the F-86 pilot, but
they couldn't raise him so the message had to be relayed through the
tower.
Rack up two more points for the UFO--another unknown and another
confirmed believer.
Two or three weeks after the meeting of the panel of scientists in
Washington I received word that Project Blue Book would follow the
recommendations that the panel had made. I was to start implementing
the plan right away. Our proposal for setting up instruments had gone
to the Pentagon weeks before, so that was already taken care of. We
needed more people, so I drew up a new organizational cable that
called for more investigators and analysts and sent it through to
ATIC's personnel section.
About this time in the history of the UFO the first of a series of
snags came up. The scientists had strongly recommended that we hold
nothing back--give the public everything. Accordingly, when the press
got wind of the Tremonton Movie, which up until this time had been a
closely guarded secret, I agreed to release it for the newsmen to
see. I wrote a press release which was O.K.'d by General Garland,
then the chief of ATIC, and sent it to the Pentagon. It told what the
panel had said about the movies, "until proved otherwise there is no
reason why the UFO's couldn't have been sea gulls." Then the release
went on to say that we weren't sure exactly what the UFO's were, the
sea gull theory was only an opinion. When the Pentagon got the draft
of the release they screamed, "No!" No movie for the press and no
press release. The sea gull theory was too weak, and we had a new
publicity policy as of now--don't say anything.
This policy, incidentally, is still in effect. The January 7, 1955,
issue of the _Air_ _Force_ _Information_ _Services_ _Letter_ said, in
essence, people in the Air Force are talking too much about UFO's--
shut up. The old theory that if you ignore them they'll go away is
again being followed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account