Project Blue Book

The U.S. Air Force’s Historic UFO Investigation Program that lasted a decade.

Name	Project Blue Book
Duration	March 1952 to December 1969
Purpose	To collate and analyze reports of UFO sightings
Investigated by	Air Force personnel and several scientists

Mainstream media has always made life beyond Earth and the existence of aliens possible. In movies like E.T. and the renowned Area 51, the extraterrestrial has captured people’s imaginations, but is there any truth to this?

Civilians in the U.S. have reported countless alien and UFO sightings, but authorities have consistently brushed the idea as mere hokum. However, when a few reports came from pilots, people trained to be discerning about what they see in the skies, the once-fictional and unthinkable became a possibility. You can also report a UFO sighting if you’ve seen something unusual.

This prompted the government to conduct a thorough investigation into the mysterious phenomenon through Project Blue Book.

What Is Project Blue Book?

Project Blue Book refers to the U.S. Air Force’s study of unidentified flying objects (UFOs). It was based at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, and operated from March 1952 to December 1969, gathering a total of 12,618 reported sightings.

Its name was derived from the blue booklets used in American colleges during exams, reflecting the administrators’ intent of following a scholarly and methodical approach to the program. The Air Force even created a questionnaire for the reports to standardize the documentation of what would’ve been a subjective experience.

Upon its discontinuation, the project’s records consisted of 2 cubic feet of administrative files, 37 cubic feet of documents containing individual sightings arranged chronologically, and 3 cubic feet of records related to the Office of Special Investigations (OSI).

Altogether, Project Blue Book became the government’s repository of any reported UFO sightings.

Its Origins and Early Development

The program was the third of the official government UFO investigations, following Project Sign and Project Grudge. Here’s a detailed outline of their timeline:

• Project Sign (1947 – 1949)
• Project Grudge (1949 – 1952)
• Project Blue Book (March 1952 – December 1969)

While they were conducted to analyze alleged UFO sightings, these projects also existed because of the Cold War era. The influx of UFO reports coincided with this and the Roswell UFO incident in 1947, which prompted the Air Force to pay attention to these events and determine:

• If these objects were secret weapons that posed a threat to national security
• If they were truly extraterrestrial beings

These investigations began when Lt. Gen. Nathan Twining sent a memo about flying discs and directed the Air Force to examine them. This led to the launch of Project Sign in 1947, which investigated a total of 243 sightings over two years.

Investigators were quick to rule out the potential threat posed by these objects and concluded that they likely had interplanetary origins instead.

After the termination of Project Sign in 1948, Project Grudge succeeded it in 1951. It was a relatively short-lived program that investigated only 244 additional sightings and gradually evolved into Project Blue Book, which brought 1,501 sightings in 1952.

Methodology and Investigation Procedure

Project Blue Book followed a standardized procedure in conducting its investigations.

• Data would be collected through official channels.
• An interview would follow, during which the witnesses would answer the questionnaire.
• Facts would be deducted from the reports.
• Probable identification of the phenomena would be done based on available data and following the project’s already established categorization.
• A conference composed of four personnel would also categorize the phenomenon.

Project Blue Book’s reports were submitted monthly and contained a list of all incidents that occurred within the month. Since identifying the objects was the ultimate objective, the evaluation and translation of the verbal reports were crucial to the data collection.

The Air Force followed a pragmatic and statistical approach. They relied on their questionnaire, coding system, and worksheet, which were only entrusted to qualified scientists and engineers.

In terms of identifying these objects, Project Blue Book had already established categories based on its previous analysis. They concluded that the sightings were either:

• Balloon
• Astronomical phenomenon
• Aircrafts
• Light phenomenon
• Birds, clouds, and dust
• Psychological manifestations
• Insufficient information

Conclusions and Findings

Of the 12,618 sightings Project Blue Book gathered, 701 remained “unidentified” when the program was discontinued.

In one of their reports, the involved personnel wrote, “It can never be absolutely proven that ‘flying saucers’ do not exist. This would be true if the data obtained were to include complete scientific measurements of the attributes of each sighting, as well as complete and detailed descriptions of the objects sighted. It might be possible to demonstrate the existence of ‘flying saucers’ with data of this type if they were to exist.”

Despite this systematic approach, Project Blue Book still couldn’t arrive at a definite conclusion due to a lack of solid evidence and resource constraints.

The Air Force was investigating multiple cases handled through correspondence rather than field investigations. They were working on subjective reports without studying the scene.

Key Individuals Involved in the Investigation

Several notable personnel were recognized for the significant roles they played in Project Blue Book.

Edward James Ruppelt

Edward was the first director of Project Blue Book, serving from its inception in 1951 until 1953. Having worked on Project Grudge, he led the implementation of reporting procedures and scientific objectives in Project Blue Book.

Edward established the protocols that guided the program throughout its existence. He later wrote “The Report on Project Blue Book,” detailing the program’s findings.

Josef Allen Hynek

American astronomer J. Allen Hynek was initially recruited as the astronomical consultant for Project Sign and later carried on as the lead scientist of Project Blue Book.

He alleged that the program was discouraged from pursuing extraterrestrial possibilities for the reported sightings, which led him to criticize the project’s lack of rigor.

Instead of examining the sightings’ causes, he believed the project sought out far-fetched attempts to debunk them instead. Hynek was most known for being skeptical of the UFO phenomenon before becoming a Ufologist himself.

Howard P. Robertson/Robertson Panel

Howard was an American mathematician and physicist who headed the Robertson Panel, a group of scientists who reviewed UFO reports from Project Blue Book.

The committee’s inception occurred in 1952, following a series of visual sightings near Washington National Airport. The CIA prompted the government to establish an expert panel of scientists who would meet in 1953, interview military officers, and review films and photographs of UFO sightings.

The Robertson Panel concluded the following:

• 90% of the reported sightings can be easily attributed to meteorological and astronomical phenomena or earthly objects.
• They posed no apparent threat to national security, and no evidence has been found to support these sightings.

The panel later suggested that the Federal personnel soothe people’s consciousness by using mass media and celebrities to discredit UFOs.

Edward U. Condon/Condon Report

Edward was an American physicist who, alongside 37 scientists from the National Academy of Sciences, comprised the second committee set up in 1966.

They were responsible for reviewing the most interesting material for the project. The committee also wrote parts of Project Blue Book, which covered 59 UFO sightings in detail and concluded that:

• No UFO report indicated a threat to national security.
• No evidence presented these objects as technological developments.
• No evidence indicated that the sightings were extraterrestrial vehicles.

This report indicated that no substantial findings would be made if the investigations continued, which ultimately led to the termination of Project Blue Book in 1969.

Significance in Modern Ufology

Although Project Blue Book yielded no significant findings, it still contributed to shaping the public’s understanding of UFOs. Its approach to collating data laid the groundwork for future research about the phenomenon.

The program also changed Dr. Hynek’s beliefs, which led him to build the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) and continue his investigations even after Project Blue Book’s termination. 

The project remains a significant chapter in Ufology, as it isn’t only the longest-lived investigation but also marks the Air Force’s interest in understanding its mysteries.

FAQ

Why did Project Blue Book get canceled?

It was canceled after both committees found no evidence of the UFO sightings being extraterrestrial in nature or a threat to national security.

What happened after its termination?

After the project’s dismissal, several universities and professional and private organizations continued to open their doors to collecting and analyzing reports about UFOs.