This is a book about unidentified flying objects--UFO's--"flying
saucers." It is actually more than a book; it is a report because it
is the first time that anyone, either military or civilian, has
brought together in one document all the facts about this fascinating
subject. With the exception of the style, this report is written
exactly the way I would have written it had I been officially asked
to do so while I was chief of the Air Force's project for
investigating UFO reports--Project Blue Book.
In many instances I have left out the names of the people who
reported seeing UFO's, or the names of certain people who were
associated with the project, just as I would have done in an official
report. For the same reason I have changed the locale in which some
of the UFO sightings occurred. This is especially true in chapter
fifteen, the story of how some of our atomic scientists detected
radiation whenever UFO's were reported near their "UFO-detection
stations." This policy of not identifying the "source," to borrow a
term from military intelligence, is insisted on by the Air Force so
that the people who have co-operated with them will not get any
unwanted publicity. Names are considered to be "classified
information."
But the greatest care has been taken to make sure that the omission
of names and changes in locale has in no way altered the basic facts
because this report is based on the facts--all of the facts--nothing
of significance has been left out.
It was only after considerable deliberation that I put this report
together, because it had to be told accurately, with no holds barred.
I finally decided to do it for two reasons. First, there is world-
wide interest in flying saucers; people want to know the facts. But
more often than not these facts have been obscured by secrecy and
confusion, a situation that has led to wild speculation on one end of
the scale and an almost dangerously blas? attitude on the other. It
is only when all of the facts are laid out that a correct evaluation
can be made.
Second, after spending two years investigating and analyzing UFO
reports, after talking to the people who have seen UFO's--
industrialists, pilots, engineers, generals, and just the plain man-
on-the-street, and after discussing the subject with many very
capable scientists, I felt that I was in a position to be able to put
together the complete account of the Air Force's struggle with the
flying saucer.
The report has been difficult to write because it involves something
that doesn't officially exist. It is well known that ever since the
first flying saucer was reported in June 1947 the Air Force has
officially said that there is no proof that such a thing as an
interplanetary spaceship exists. But what is not well known is that
this conclusion is far from being unanimous among the military and
their scientific advisers because of the one word, _proof_; so the
UFO investigations continue.
The hassle over the word "proof" boils down to one question: What
constitutes proof? Does a UFO have to land at the River Entrance to
the Pentagon, near the Joint Chiefs of Staff offices? Or is it proof
when a ground radar station detects a UFO, sends a jet to intercept
it, the jet pilot sees it, and locks on with his radar, only to have
the UFO streak away at a phenomenal speed? Is it proof when a jet
pilot fires at a UFO and sticks to his story even under the threat of
court-martial? Does this constitute proof?
The at times hotly debated answer to this question may be the answer
to the question, "Do the UFO's really exist?"
I'll give you the facts--all of the facts--you decide.
_July_ _1955_, E. J. RUPPELT