Appendix I to Project Blue Book Status Report Number 8
6/1952 - 9/1952
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This Air Force chart of UFO sightings between June and September 1952, correlated coverage of UFOs in national magazines with highly publicized sightings such as in Washington, DC, in July 1952.
The Air Force’s interest in tracking UFOs emerged due to increasing Cold War tensions during the late 1940s and 1950s and the Roswell incident of 1947. During this time period, Federal officials as well as ordinary citizens reported seeing objects flying through the sky.
Fearful that the objects might be secret weapons by the Soviet Union and to quell public mass hysteria surrounding the possibility of encountering extraterrestrial life, the Federal Government established Project Blue Book in 1952 to collect and evaluate UFO data. Project Blue Book was actually the third in a series of studies on UFOs conducted by the Air Force, preceded by Project Sign (1947–49) and Project Grudge (1949–52).
The primary purpose of Project Blue Book was to keep track of reports of UFO sightings. Although officials most often were confident that the objects were simply known objects that they couldn't 100% identify, they didn't rule out the possibility of extraterrestrial phenomena. This omission led some members of the public to believe UFOs were signs of extraterrestrial life. As a result, civilians made tens of thousands of reports to Project Blue Book personnel claiming to have seen a UFO.
In 1968, the University of Colorado UFO Project, better known as the Condon Committee, released a report claiming that very little of substance had come from the Air Force’s study of UFOs. The committee argued that continued study of UFO sightings was unwarranted and called for Project Blue Book to be discontinued. The Air Force issued a termination order for the study in December 1969, and all activity officially ceased in January 1970.
The Air Force’s interest in tracking UFOs emerged due to increasing Cold War tensions during the late 1940s and 1950s and the Roswell incident of 1947. During this time period, Federal officials as well as ordinary citizens reported seeing objects flying through the sky.
Fearful that the objects might be secret weapons by the Soviet Union and to quell public mass hysteria surrounding the possibility of encountering extraterrestrial life, the Federal Government established Project Blue Book in 1952 to collect and evaluate UFO data. Project Blue Book was actually the third in a series of studies on UFOs conducted by the Air Force, preceded by Project Sign (1947–49) and Project Grudge (1949–52).
The primary purpose of Project Blue Book was to keep track of reports of UFO sightings. Although officials most often were confident that the objects were simply known objects that they couldn't 100% identify, they didn't rule out the possibility of extraterrestrial phenomena. This omission led some members of the public to believe UFOs were signs of extraterrestrial life. As a result, civilians made tens of thousands of reports to Project Blue Book personnel claiming to have seen a UFO.
In 1968, the University of Colorado UFO Project, better known as the Condon Committee, released a report claiming that very little of substance had come from the Air Force’s study of UFOs. The committee argued that continued study of UFO sightings was unwarranted and called for Project Blue Book to be discontinued. The Air Force issued a termination order for the study in December 1969, and all activity officially ceased in January 1970.
This primary source comes from the Records of Headquarters U.S. Air Force (Air Staff).
National Archives Identifier: 595542
Full Citation: Appendix I to Project Blue Book Status Report Number 8; 6/1952 - 9/1952; Status Reports and Special Reports; Project Blue Book Administrative Files, 1947 - 1969; Records of Headquarters U.S. Air Force (Air Staff), Record Group 341; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/1-appendix-i-project-blue-book, December 13, 2024]Rights: Public Domain, Free of Known Copyright Restrictions. Learn more on our privacy and legal page.