Government and military
The Air Force UFO studies from 1947 to 1969: Sign, Grudge, Blue Book and the Condon study. 116 events, newest first.
Government12 Mar 1968
Atmospheric physicist James McDonald told a Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute symposium that UFOs were a serious scientific problem, criticized Project Blue Book as inadequate, and called for well-funded international research.
Photo: United States Government, Public domain
Government29 Feb 1968
Pravda ran 'What? Flying Saucers Again?' by astronomer Ye. Mustel and two other senior Soviet scientists, saying UFO reports had natural explanations and no facts supported their reality. U.S. government translators and the Condon report recorded it.
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
Close encounters3 Dec 1967
Ashland police officer Herbert Schirmer said he saw a lighted, saucer-shaped craft over a highway before dawn and later could not account for about 20 minutes. The Condon Committee examined the case and said it had no confidence the experience was physically real.
Photo: Ammodramus, CC0
Close encounters22 Apr 1967
University of Arizona atmospheric physicist James E. McDonald told the American Society of Newspaper Editors that the UFO problem had been mishandled for years. He blamed a 1953 CIA-sponsored panel's recommendation for a debunking effort and said Project Blue Book had been downgraded.
Photo: United States Government, Public domain
Government20 Feb 1967
Condon and four committee members visited the CIA's National Photographic Interpretation Center, which agreed to give technical help on UFO photos as long as the work was never identified as CIA work. In May 1967 NPIC briefed them on an analysis that debunked photos from Zanesville, Ohio.
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
GovernmentNov 1966
During NASA's Gemini 12 flight, Jim Lovell reported four objects near the capsule and judged they were items the crew had thrown overboard. The Condon study agreed, finding the transcript shows four items were discarded, against claims by writer John Keel that only three were.
Photo: NASA/Jim Lovell, 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
SightingsSep 1966
Gemini 11 astronauts Pete Conrad and Richard Gordon reported and photographed a large tumbling object on their 18th orbit. NORAD identified it as the Soviet Proton 3 satellite, and the Condon study's review of the photos suggested several pieces of that launch.
Photo: NASA, 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
Sightings22 Apr 1966
Several residents and two police officers in Beverly, Massachusetts reported lights and a disc-like object over the high school field, one passing low over a witness. The Condon Report (Case 6) attributed most of the long observation to Jupiter but left the close encounter unexplained.
Photo: John Phelan, CC BY-SA 4.0
Sightings17 Apr 1966
Portage County deputies Dale Spaur and Wilbur Neff said they chased a bright object from near Ravenna about 85 miles into Pennsylvania before dawn; officers elsewhere reported it too. Blue Book chief Hector Quintanilla attributed it partly to Venus, an answer the deputies and others disputed.
Photo: Project Blue Book, 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
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.
Government1966
University of Arizona atmospheric physicist James McDonald began an intensive study of UFO reports and visited Wright-Patterson AFB to review Air Force UFO files. He later told a House symposium the files surprised him and changed his views.
Sightings4 Dec 1965
On their second orbit, Gemini 7 astronauts Frank Borman and Jim Lovell reported a 'bogey' and many small particles alongside their booster. The Air Force-funded Condon study listed it among a few astronaut sightings it had not adequately explained.
Photo: NASA, Public domain
Sightings23 Oct 1965
Jerry Townsend, a 19-year-old KEYL radio announcer, said his car died on Highway 27 near Long Prairie beside a tall rocket-like object and small figures. The sheriff reported odd marks on the road. Project Blue Book listed the case as 'psychological', apparently without a field investigation.
Photo: Myotus, CC BY 4.0
Military7 Oct 1965
Edwards Air Force Base reported about a dozen moving lights over the base on October 7, 1965; an F-106 was scrambled and found nothing. About 40 minutes of a six-hour recording of the night's radio and phone traffic were declassified when Blue Book closed.
Photo: Unknown author, Public domain
Sightings3 Sep 1965
Brazoria County deputies Billy McCoy and Robert Goode said a huge dark object with a bright purple light came close to their patrol car near Damon, Texas. An Ellington AFB officer interviewed them and called them credible, and Project Blue Book listed the case as unidentified.
Photo: Djmaschek, CC BY-SA 3.0
Sightings3 Aug 1965
Orange County highway traffic investigator Rex Heflin took three Polaroid photos of what he said was a metallic disk crossing Myford Road near Santa Ana, then a fourth of a smoke ring. The Air Force-funded Condon study (case 52) found the evidence inconclusive and internally inconsistent.
Sightings2 Aug 1965
After a sheriff's dispatcher reported an object near Wellington, Kansas, the Wichita Weather Bureau radar tracked several slow, erratic targets for over an hour. The Condon study judged them likely false radar returns from strong temperature inversions.
Sightings4 Jun 1965
In orbit over the Pacific, Gemini 4 commander James McDivitt reported a white cylindrical object that seemed to have arms. NORAD suggested the Pegasus B satellite; the Condon study doubted that match and listed the sighting among three astronaut cases not adequately explained.
Photo: NASA, Public domain
Close encounters23 Apr 1965
George Adamski, the best-known 1950s contactee, died of a heart attack in Maryland at 74. His claims of meeting Venusians and his saucer photographs had been dismissed by investigators, including Blue Book consultant J. Allen Hynek, who called the photos crude fakes.
Photo: Unknown (likely a Buffalo Evening News or press photo), Public domain
