The Report on Unidentified Flying ObjectsRuppelt, Edward J.
History
The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects
Ruppelt, Edward J.
Unidentified flying objects
This was one conference where there was no need to discuss whether
or not this special type of UFO, the green fireball, existed. Almost
everyone at the meeting had seen one. The purpose of the conference
was to decide whether the fireballs were natural or man-made and how
to find out more about them.
As happens in any conference, opinions were divided. Some people
thought the green fireballs were natural fireballs. The proponents of
the natural meteor, or meteorite, theory presented facts that they
had dug out of astronomical journals. Greenish-colored meteors,
although not common, had been observed on many occasions. The flat
trajectory, which seemed to be so important in proving that the green
fireballs were extraterrestrial, was also nothing new. When viewed
from certain angles, a meteor can appear to have a flat trajectory.
The reason that so many had been seen during December of 1948 and
January of 1949 was that the weather had been unusually clear all
over the Southwest during this period.
Dr. La Paz led the group who believed that the green fireballs were
not meteors or meteorites. His argument was derived from the facts
that he had gained after many days of research and working with Air
Force intelligence teams. He stuck to the points that (1) the
trajectory was too flat, (2) the color was too green, and (3) he
couldn't locate any fragments even though he had found the spots
where they should have hit the earth if they were meteorites.
People who were at that meeting have told me that Dr. La Paz's
theory was very interesting and that each point was carefully
considered. But evidently it wasn't conclusive enough because when
the conference broke up, after two days, it was decided that the
green fireballs were a natural phenomenon of some kind. It was
recommended that this phase of the UFO investigation be given to the
Air Force's Cambridge Research Laboratory, since it is the function
of this group to study natural phenomena, and that Cambridge set up a
project to attempt to photograph the green fireballs and measure
their speed, altitude, and size.
In the late summer of 1949, Cambridge established Project Twinkle to
solve the mystery. The project called for establishing three
cinetheodolite stations near White Sands, New Mexico. A
cinetheodolite is similar to a 35-mm. movie camera except when you
take a photograph of an object you also get a photograph of three
dials that show the time the photo was taken, the azimuth angle, and
the elevation angle of the camera. If two or more cameras photograph
the same object, it is possible to obtain a very accurate measurement
of the photographed object's altitude, speed, and size.
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