Governmental Study Groups Index
By Billy Booth
See how the US government has been involved in the study of UFOs, with histories of the main study groups.
Showing posts with label Governmental Study Groups. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Governmental Study Groups. Show all posts
Thursday, January 1, 2015
Project Grudge
"Project Grudge: The Tip of the Iceberg" -- Lt. Col. Charles Brown Testimony
By Billy Booth
UFOs/Alien Expert
Project Sign would be officially defunct on February 11, 1949. Enter Project Grudge, another government UFO study group. No matter what high hopes existed for Grudge, it became nothing more than a repeat of Sign, the name change being the most significant difference.
From Project Twinkle, and Project Sign, one very important fact emerged: There was no way that a study group could be formed where everyone involved would agree on a solution, and wrap up the UFO mystery in a neat little box. It was just too complex, and two separate trains of thought came from all the meetings, no matter how top-secret they were.
One group, despite any "real" evidence, believed that UFOs could well be extraterrestrial, based mainly on credible reports by pilots who described the unbelievable maneuvers made by these flying craft from who knows where.
The second group, despite all the evidence, would not believe any explanation not based on conventional science, or simple misidentification of everyday flying objects.
Project Grudge did attempt to do something unique: give each and every case a solution, or tag that identified it as something. Another nice sounding system, but a simple solution would not work on a complex problem.
Unfortunately, Grudge would be short-lived. It officially closed its doors after 8 months. They issued a final report, and despite their desire to identify and classify each and every case, 23% were labeled as "unidentified."
Captain J. Ruppelt took over on September 11, 1951 in a final attempt to make a study group work, but to no avail. Usually called Grudge II, it was simply a repeat of past failures. Going to the private sector, the Battelle Memorial Institute was called upon by the government to explain the UFO enigma.
This had some degree of success, but made no major contribution to a scientific conclusion. Finally, in 1952, the Robertson Panel and Project Blue Book were created.
Governmental Study Groups
Project Sign
By Billy Booth
UFOs/Alien Expert
Since reports of the so-called "Foo Fighters" of WW II, the United States Air Force has been involved in some extent in the investigation of unidentified flying objects, though not always in an official capacity. Most of the pre-Arnold sightings were not given much weight by the Force, writing them off as misidentified conventional objects, or atmospheric phenomena.
Interestingly enough, the Foo Fighter reports were explained by the Germans as American devices, and by the Americans as German machines. UFO sightings made by military personnel reached a peak in the mid-1940s, and the attention of the Air Force reached a new level. Classified orders gave instruction that these sightings be sent to the Technical Intelligence Division of the Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Field.
The Air Force became a separate branch of the military in late summer of 1947, and the Air Intelligence at the Pentagon requested a report from the Air Materiel Command for information on Unidentified Flying Objects. A conference was called by Lt. General Nathan F. Twining, with personnel from several different branches within the service to discuss the UFO mystery.
This "think tank" produced a number of definitive conclusions: The UFO phenomena is real, and not visionary or fictitious, there are disc-shaped objects the size of airplanes flying in our skies, some of the sightings could be caused by natural phenomena, the operating characteristics of the unknown objects was extraordinary, such as rates of climb, maneuverability, and evasiveness.
Also given was a "common description." These objects were seen as metallic or light reflecting, they give no contrail, they were usually circular or elliptical in shape, flat on the bottom, and domed on top. It was not uncommon for the objects to be seen in groups of anywhere from three to nine.
Also, the objects made no sound, except for some reports of "rumbling" sounds. Any "private" enterprise of these objects was nearly impossible, due to the immense cost involved. The possibility that a foreign government possessed this technology could not be ruled out, however.
After all was said and done, on December 30, 1947, Major General L.C. Craigie, Director of Research and Development, issued an official order establishing "Project Sign." This project was also often referred to as "Project Saucer."
The main objective of Sign was... to collect, collate, evaluate and distribute to interested government agencies and contractors all information concerning sightings and phenomena in the atmosphere which can be construed to be of concern to the national security.
There were differing reactions to reports of UFOs being explained as extraterrestrial in origin, and some parts of reports were expunged, causing personal differences to inflame the project. Shortly thereafter Sign would officially be changed to Project Grudge.
Governmental Study Groups
Project Twinkle
UFOs/Alien Expert
There have always been unidentified objects or lights in the sky that have baffled the residents of Earth since the beginning of recorded history. These enigmatic sightings come in many shapes and sizes, and are often seen only briefly, making them oftentimes the seed of folklore as much as fact.
Shortly after the Kenneth Arnold sighting of so-called "flying saucers" over Mt. Ranier, and the Roswell crash in 1947, a series of sightings of "green fireballs" began, mostly in the southwestern United States, and almost exclusively over the state of New Mexico.
Often, these types of reports would go without being investigated by any governmental agency, but these sightings took on an ominous flavor. They were very often occurring over sensitive government installations, most notably the Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratory. The green fireballs were honing in on government secrets.
An investigation was initiated by meteor expert Lincoln La Paz. He concluded that the fireballs were structured, that is, not atmospheric phenomena. Initially at least, they were thought to be of Russian origin. Were the fireballs Cold War spying devices?
So much did the high ranking United States officials fear the agenda of the green fireballs, that several top-secret meetings were held, some at Los Alamos, and others in Washington, D.C. The Air Force Scientific Advisory Board was in charge of the D.C. meetings.
Finally, in December of 1949, Project Twinkle was created. This was to be a network of stations with one duty-observe, study, and collect data on the fireball phenomena. This project did little to solve the mystery, and was disbanded two years later. They had now decided that the phenomena was after all, atmospheric in nature.
There were sightings recorded, but these fell into the "normal" explanation pool. Some of these were birds, airplanes, balloons, rockets, and more. After about one year of study, absolutely no explanation was given for the green fireball mystery. Project Twinkle was a short lived study group.
Governmental Study Groups
The Robertson Panel
UFOs/Alien ExpertBy Billy Booth
Another UFO study group was formed by the Central Intelligence Agency in 1952. This group was called the Robertson Panel, and was primarily formed because of the heavy amount of UFO sightings in and around the Washington D.C. area. The group was informed of many military activities, and intelligence issues, therefore the group was labeled "secret."
The Panel would determine that UFOs could, for the most part, be easily explained by the misidentification of everyday aerial objects. The group would also advocate a campaign to "debunk" UFOs. Their desire was for the public to lose interest in UFOs, and to be put bluntly, quit calling in reports.
Actually, the growing public interest in UFOs, and incoming queries were having an impact on government facilities, and the Robertson Panel desire was to quite this activity. According to some group members, this public interest had reached "mass hysteria" levels, and it was thought that our enemies, especially the Soviet Union, could capitalize on the problem.
The group was under the leadership of Howard Percy Robertson, who was physicist, and a CIA employee. The groups first meeting was on January 14, 1953. The group members were:
Louis Alvarez, physicist (and later, a Nobel Prize winner)
Frederick C. Durant, missile expert
Samuel A. Goudsmit, Brookhaven National Laboratories physicist
Thornton Page, astrophysicist, deputy director of Johns Hopkins’ Operations Research Office.
Lloyd Berkner, physicist and J. Allen Hynek, astronomer, were associate panel members.
The group met for four days. They studied film and went over various reports. Most of the group members were skeptics, yet some very interesting conclusions were reached.
On day one, two classic UFO films were shown: one, the 1950 Montana film, and second, the 1952 Delbert Newhouse film, which was taken in Utah. Two Navy film and photograph experts presented their conclusions: both films depicted objects unidentifiable by any conventional means. Naturally, this went against the status quo of the mindset of the majority of the group. Also, Air Force Captain Edward J. Ruppelt gave a summary of Air Force attempts to study the UFO mystery.
On the second day of the meeting, Ruppelt concluded his presentation, Dr. J. Allen Hynek discussed the Battelle efforts, and the entire panel reviewed Air Force efforts at researching UFO sightings.
Governmental Study Groups
Project Blue Book: UFO Study Group
By Billy Booth
By the latter part of 1951, many of the higher ranking USAF generals became very dissatisfied by Air Force investigations into the UFO mystery. Project Grudge was closed and replaced by Project Blue Book. Blue Book began in the early part of 1952.
Captain Edward J. Ruppelt would be the first head of Blue Book. He was a decorated Airman from WW II, and later earned an aeronautics degree. He had also replaced some of the earlier terms given to the UFO enigma, such as "flying saucers," and "flying discs," with the more technical "unidentified flying objects." Ruppelt is credited as leading a serious effort to understand what UFOs really were.
Ruppelt implemented several upgrades to previous efforts to study the situation of UFOs. For one, he initiated a questionnaire for reporters. This would compile a more accurate statistical data base. He employed the Battelle Memorial Institute to computerize, as it were, the data. Ruppelt demanded neutrality among his group members, and anyone leaning too far one way of the other would soon find himself out of the group.
Ruppelt sought advice from scientists and other experts in an attempt to find an answer to the mystery of the UFOs. He also released press releases for public consumption, and classified reports for military intelligence. Under his leadership, two very important cases were analyzed, the Lubbock Lights, and the Washington D.C. wave of 1952.
One of the most important members of Blue Book was Dr. J. Allen Hynek, who was listed as a scientific consultant. Hynek had already served on Project Sign and Project Grudge. Though a skeptic in the beginning, he would become the most well known and respected UFO investigator of his era. He also developed a system of categorizing UFO sighting reports, coining the lasting phrase, "close encounters." He would be involved in the investigation of the most dramatic UFO cases of his time.
When Ruppelt left for a brief period of time for another assignment, and and when he returned, he was surprised to see his staff reduced from ten or more to just two. Frustrated, he finally left Blue Book. He was replaced in March, 1954, by Captain Charles Hardin. Ruppelt would write about Hardin... "he thinks that anyone who is even interested [in UFOs] is crazy. They bore him."
In 1956, Hardin was replaced by Captain George T. Gregory, who was noted as being more "anti-UFO" than Hardin. Very few reports were investigated during this time frame, and they were quickly determined to be of little importance.
In 1958, Gregory was replaced by Major Robert J. Friend, who made an attempt toward a more serious approach to the UFO problem, but his efforts were thwarted by lack of funds, and personnel. He would eventually recommend that Blue Book be dissolved.
1963 would see another head of Blue Book, Major Hector Quintanilla, who for the most part, assumed the role of debunker. Many critics claimed that by this time, Blue Book had little, if any, credibility left.
Governmental Study Groups
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