USAF Historical Archives ASI(ASHAF-A) Maxwell AFB, Ala 3611 2 To, C omrnande r Acrosp~cG 1cchnical Intclli~encc Center Attn: Col aclc-;i.tz .lriFht-Patterson A": , 0hio 1. cquost r briefint; be eiven by fTIC on 'LTJ:i'O prol~rP .. s r nd nrobl cr:z to an auvicncc o~ an Jro irately So to I~ rcrrber::; of vl.C lnstj tute of Technology student boo:,~ and f'Dculty. '.2his briefing iri 11 be sponsored by the Institute s cbaner of '1'au Beta Pi end be one of a Monthly series of lect~rcs on tonics of gcncrnl tecrnic:l interest. 2 . Tho t.:.:1e desired for the brlaflnf is 1110 hours on '-htArscJ" .. , in the Institu .. c of Tcchnolor,y Jtrlitori .... , uilcii Jf 1'-'5 A tot~ 1 f 5 r.ri.nutcs Hill be allocatee 'or tho n r c. n~. tion ~r.i. tr. possibly 35 ! d.::utes for lecture [ nd 15 minutes for a questio~-.:.r.sucr 3. ... l-~ vc discussed tf is mc:.tter informally ui th <-.jor Fr.:.cnd and .r. ioatt Vic e PrPsi dent, Ohio Eta o Tau Beta Pi. ex" 3336, Institute of '-eclnology Unidentified Flying Objects -UFO' s As a term i n military parlance, means any air-borne object, usually aircraft, which fails to identify itself to, or to be identifie d by, trained ground or air- bor ne visual or radar crews . In such cases it is the duty of the U. S . Air Force, charged with the protection of the nation f r om possible attach from the air, to s e cure identification of the UFO and to take appr opriate action. Since 1947, owing to a sequence of bizarre circumstances, UFO has become an omnibus term connoting any object or optical phenomenon, usually aerial, which the observer cannot readily explain. Lacking scientific or technical training, witness may ascribe unwarranted propP.rties and origin to the UFO. "UFO" is frequently used interchangeably with "flying saucer," a term coined in 1947 as a result of t he reported sighting by a civilian pilot, Kenneth Arnold, of a series of disc-like objects which r eportedly cavorted about t he mount ain ridges in the vicinity of Mt. Rainier . This prototype sighting was fol lowed by a wave of reports unidentified objects of various types {colors, shapes , maneuvers) by observer s v.arious parts of the U. S. A. and in other countries also. Since then, many such reports of sightings have been made through official channels to the Air Force, which holds the responsibility for the identification of UFO' s . Observations have generally occurred in waves, but on the average, since 1947, they have numbered better than one a day. If one notes that many r eported sightings are not made through official channels, but to newspaper s and to civilian groups interested i n t he phenomena of UFO's, it can be estimated that t he rate of observations may be as high as t1-ro or three a day in this country, over a period of a dozen years . France, Italy, England and a number of Latin American countries have also experienced minor waves of UFO reports. official Air Force reported sightings foll ows: ~e steady stream of reports has been the ca~se of concern to the Air Force and detailed investigations have been made to discover the stimuli that give rise to such reports. The Air Force objectives have been to determine (1) whether the r eported UFO' s constituted a threat to the nation, (2) whether the phenomena had intrinsic scientific value, and(3) the role UFO' s may play a s a factor in the s ky surveillance program. It has been coniuded over the many years of UFO inves- tigations that: (1) the phenomena bor e no hostile purport and did not constitute a security threat, (2) there was no compelling reason to believe that the great majority of sightings arose from anything other than misidentification of natural objects and phenomena, and that t he real cause of these sightings generally lies in the conditions under which a n object or phenomenon is seen, and (3) the con- tinued evaluation of UFO reports i s of scientific value and, especially, necessary in the evaluation of the military sky surveillance problem. It has been established that many sightings have arisen from the viewing of frequently startli.ng natural objects for the first time , e . g . , of very bright meteors, high altitude scientific balloons {which when caught in the jet stream can attain high velocity) , flocks of migrating birds , and espedally distant terrestrial or celestial objects seen under unusual meteorological conditions, such as those that pr oduce mirages, which can distort, displace, and anjmate objects seen visually or by radar. Such meteorological conditions, some thoroughly understood (mirages) and some poorly understood (as ball lightning) an easily cause even an experienced observer to ascribe the light he sees to a tangible, nearby, self-propelled object, obviously unidentified. Indeed, it i s not at all surprising that, with so many more people turning their attention skyward, many experience an aerial phenomenon they cannot readily explain. Initial experiences with unusual events have often challenged scientifi- cally trained men. Virtually all t he r ep orts received by the Air Force have been highly sub- jective, lacking s uch objective data as pictures, material fragments , spectro- scopi c analysis of l i ghts seen, or precise technical data on trajectories, distances, accelerations , et c . As t he course of investigation, over the year s , ubjective repDTts often containing emotionally charged impressions, progressed it became clear that the majority of r eports could be correlated with the appearance of aircraft, birds, celestial objects, balloons, etc. , under special conditions. the e xperience of t he Air Force in t he analysis of UFO reports grew, the percentage of unexplained cases fell from more than 1~ to as little as 2 or 3%. It i s readily admitted that this small residue-as reported-defies logical ex- planation. For none of t he extraordinary "unknowns," however, has ther e been sci entific data on which to base a valid, definitive investigation. early difficulties in coming to grips with t he s uccessive waves of sightings, coupled with concern that UFO reports , often made by pilots , might constitute a threat to the national security (and the consequent, and unfortunate air of secrecy imposed in the earl y years of UFO reports), had an electrifying effect on the imaginations and emoti ons of a surprising fraction of the populace. It led to an inordinate interest in UFO' s . Indeed, a logical, albeit scientifically unsupported "theory" of UFO' s arose. Thi s concept was abetted by the possibility of life elsewhere i n t h e universe which modern a stronomy envisions , and by a trong, often unconscious, desire on the part of many people to believe in the possibility of visitor s from outer space, and, unfortunately, to confuse possibility with probability. This theory of UFO' s , mainly because of its str ong emotional appeal, some - es bor dering on religiou s conviction, deserves mention: It is logical to assume that we on earth are not the only intelligences in the universe; so it follows t hat t hose civil i zations on other planets, perhaps planets in other solar stems, far mor e advanced than ours , might express an interest i n visiting this planet peri odically, as we might make periodic checks on the social progress of a tribe of aborigines. The earth has been visited many times i n the past by explor er s fr om other worlds (attest ed to, t he theory continues, by h istorical accounts , long befor e 1947, of strange apparitions in the sky) but such visits have been greatly increased since the advent of the A-and H-bombs, a "tampering" with nature that has caused concern t o othe r intelligence i n spa ce . This increase i n visitation was signalled by the wave of incidents that started in June 1947, one of which was the now famous Arnold case. It i s for the psychologist and the sociol ogist more than f or the physical scientist to comment on the widespread emotional appeal of this con cept, and on the pers istent attempts to link reported UFO sightings with visitations f rom space in the face of the continued lack of scientific evidence f or such . is amply evident that UFO' s and "flying saucers" exist a s reports . This has led t o the serious quip that "a flying s aucer is any aerial sighting or phenomenon which remains unexplained long e nough for someone to write a report about it. " It is the problem of the serious investigator to probe for the stimuli that give rise to the reports . U. s . Air Force investigators have long accepted the fact that most of the originator s of UFO reports are sincere people, interested in the welfare and security of the country, and that they are honestly puzzled by the sightings that they report. Their frequent readiness to ascribe a UFO to extraterrestrial sources, their emotional attachment to this explanation, and their reluctance to take into account the failure of the continuous and extensive surveillance of the sky by trained observers , both military and civilian {such as the professional and volunteer (Moonwatch) artificial satellite observers), to produce UFO sightings is surprising. It hardly appears credible that spacecraft should frequently announce themselves readily to casual observers and craftily avoid detection by the constant professional military and civilian surveillance of the sky. Nonetheless, it must be recognized that our knowledge of the universe and its contents, and of the physics of our atmosphere, i s still imperfect, and that there may be "more things in Heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. " UFO sightings , solong as they continue, deserve serious study, and may lead to not only advances in physical knowledge, but in the area of human behavior as well.