Government and military
Air Force investigations, bases and aircrew reports, from Project Sign to today. 216 events, newest first.
Government1969
An Air Force-funded University of Colorado study led by physicist Edward Condon was made public. It concluded that further UFO study was unlikely to advance science, and the Air Force later cited it when closing Project Blue Book.
Photo: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Public domain
Military1969
The Brazilian Air Force's IV Air Zone in Sao Paulo set up SIOANI, a system to collect and study reports of unidentified aerial objects, issuing bulletins from March 1969. It wound down by 1972; its records are now in Brazil's National Archive.
Photo: Tonyjeff, based on militar symbol., Public domain
GovernmentJan 1969
An Air Force-requested National Academy of Sciences panel chaired by Gerald Clemence reviewed the University of Colorado UFO study and judged its scope and methods sound, agreeing that further UFO study deserved no high priority. The Air Force cited this review when it closed Project Blue Book.
Photo: G. Edward Johnson, CC BY 4.0
GovernmentJan 1969
A chapter of the Air Force-funded Condon report, by astronomer Franklin Roach, reviewed what Mercury and Gemini crews saw in orbit. It found most sightings explainable but judged three unexplained: two by James McDivitt on Gemini 4 and one by Frank Borman on Gemini 7.
Photo: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Public domain
Close encounters1969
After a stormy board meeting, Donald Keyhoe gave up the directorship of NICAP and moved to its board; accounts cite money troubles. Jack Acuff took over as the civilian group declined in the years after the Air Force closed Project Blue Book.
Photo: CBS, "The Mike Wallace Interview" 1958 March 8, Public domain
GovernmentJan 1969
The Air Force-funded Condon Report included the 1956 Lakenheath-Bentwaters radar-visual case as its Case 2. The study said it learned of the case in winter 1968 from an unsolicited letter by the retired USAF watch supervisor on duty that night, and obtained the Blue Book file afterward.
Photo: Chris, CC BY-SA 2.0
Military24 Oct 1968
Missile-site maintenance and security crews near Minot AFB reported a glowing object for over three hours, and a returning B-52 crew tracked a target on radar that paced the bomber while its radios failed to transmit. Project Blue Book attributed the reports to a natural phenomenon.
Photo: Project Blue Book, Public domain
Military17 Jun 1968
On 16-17 June 1968, U.S. Air Force jets whose pilots took the radar returns of allied ships for enemy helicopters attacked several ships near the Vietnam DMZ, hitting HMAS Hobart and killing two sailors. In 1973 USAF chief Gen. George Brown described the episode as a series of UFO sightings.
Photo: RAN Public Relations, CC0
Media14 May 1968
John G. Fuller's Look article described turmoil in the Air Force-funded Colorado UFO study, quoting a 1966 memo by coordinator Robert Low that spoke of a 'trick' to make the project look objective. Condon called the article false and misleading; two dismissed staff members were central to the story.
Photo: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Public domain
Government8 Feb 1968
Edward Condon dismissed staff scientists David Saunders and Norman Levine from the Air Force-funded University of Colorado UFO study after a 1966 memo by coordinator Robert Low reached physicist James McDonald. Look magazine's May 1968 account made the dispute public.
Photo: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Public domain
GovernmentNov 1967
Moscow Aviation Institute astronomer Felix Zigel appeared on Soviet television asking viewers for UFO reports. In November 1967 AP reported that a commission led by Air Force Gen. Stolyarov was studying UFOs; the group was closed after about five months.
Sightings24 Oct 1967
Before dawn, Devon police constables Roger Willey and Clifford Waycott reported following a bright, cross-shaped light near Holsworthy for about 50 minutes, and a civilian motorist parked nearby said he saw it too. RAF Chivenor said it knew of no aircraft that matched.
Photo: SequenceDancer, CC BY-SA 3.0
Sightings20 May 1967
Amateur prospector Stefan Michalak said a landed craft near Falcon Lake, Manitoba, vented hot gas that set his shirt alight and left grid-shaped burns. The RCMP and RCAF investigated, a University of Colorado team studied it for the Air Force, and no definitive explanation was reached.
Photo: Jd.101, CC BY-SA 3.0
Military16 Mar 1967
All ten Minuteman missiles of Malmstrom's Echo Flight went offline within about half a minute, an event recorded in declassified unit histories. Former launch officer Robert Salas and others later said guards reported glowing objects at the time; their decades-later accounts are disputed.
Photo: U.S. Air Force photo, Public domain
Government25 Jan 1967
Early in the Air Force-funded Colorado study, project director Edward Condon told a Sigma Xi audience in New York state that his inclination was to recommend the government get out of the UFO business. Critics later cited the remark as a sign the study was prejudged.
Photo: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Public domain
Media17 Dec 1966
In a national magazine, Air Force consultant J. Allen Hynek wrote that most UFO reports had ordinary explanations but a small residue remained puzzling. He criticized how the Air Force handled the subject, called for real scientific study and said he had seen no evidence of a deliberate cover-up.
Photo: United States Government, Public domain
Close encounters21 Oct 1966
J. Allen Hynek, the Air Force's own scientific consultant on UFOs, published a letter in the journal Science urging scientists to give unexplained reports serious, scholarly study rather than dismissing the subject.
Photo: United States Government, Public domain
Government7 Oct 1966
The Air Force Office of Scientific Research announced a contract with the University of Colorado for an independent scientific study of UFOs, the project whose final report physicist Edward Condon summarized. The first contract gave $313,000 for 15 months starting November 1, 1966.
Photo: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Public domain
Government19 Sep 1966
The Air Force issued Regulation 80-17, replacing AFR 200-2, to set uniform procedures for investigating and reporting UFOs over the United States. It tied the program to air defense and required bases to keep a UFO investigative capability. Later changes pointed reports to the Condon study.
Photo: US Air Force, Public domain
Government5 May 1966
The Library of Congress Legislative Reference Service issued a report by Robert L. Chartrand, assisted by William F. Brown, summarizing UFO reports, Air Force monitoring under Project Blue Book and public reaction. It came weeks after the April 1966 House Armed Services hearing on UFOs.
Photo: William Henry Jackson, Public domain
Government5 Apr 1966
The House Armed Services Committee held an open hearing on UFOs with Air Force Secretary Harold Brown, Blue Book consultant J. Allen Hynek and Maj. Hector Quintanilla. Brown said an advisory board found no threat and urged contracts with universities to study selected sightings.
Photo: United States Department of Defense, Public domain
Government28 Mar 1966
House Minority Leader Gerald Ford of Michigan wrote to the leaders of the House Armed Services and Science and Astronautics committees urging an investigation of UFOs, calling the Air Force's 'swamp gas' explanation of the Michigan sightings flippant. The Armed Services hearing followed on April 5.
Photo: Gerald R. Ford / US Congress, Public domain
Sightings20 Mar 1966
Police and residents near Dexter and Hillsdale, Michigan reported glowing lights over swampy ground. Air Force consultant J. Allen Hynek suggested swamp gas, drawing ridicule, and Rep. Gerald Ford called for hearings, which the House Armed Services Committee held that April.
Photo: Gerald R. Ford / US Congress, Public domain
GovernmentMar 1966
An ad hoc committee of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board chaired by Brian O'Brien reviewed Project Blue Book and recommended a university-based scientific study of UFO reports. That recommendation led to the University of Colorado project headed by Edward Condon.
GovernmentMar 1966
After meeting Washtenaw County Sheriff Douglas Harvey about the Dexter sightings, Michigan Rep. Weston Vivian went to Washington planning to ask the Defense Department and the Air Force to investigate, according to a press report entered in the April 1966 House hearing record.
Photo: US Government Printing Office, Public domain
