For its last 6-plus years before being shut down in 1969 the project was headed by Lt. Col. Hector Quintanilla Jr., who had a staff of three, consisting of one officer, one sergeant and a secretary at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
Over the years, 12,618 reports of UFO sightings were investigated. When the project ended, 701 of those were still listed as “unidentified.”
Local reports
One of the agency’s more notable reports dealt with supposed UFO appearances in 1967 near Ann Arbor, Michigan. The report concluded that the sightings of strange glowing lights were attributed to swamp gas.
Among the reports from all over the country, several were from the Miami Valley, including:
• A Blue Book investigation in July 1965 showed that a UFO seen by thousands in the Miami Valley was actually a 200-foot-tall weather balloon.
• On March 28, 1966, a film shot by an Ohio State Highway Patrolman who said he saw an unidentified flying object near Wright-Patterson Air Force Base was developed and turned out to show “nothing but sky.”
• In June 1967, three Piqua students spotted what they described as a “huge, cigar-shaped spacecraft” hovering above a cornfield.
• In a March 1967 report, a 34-year-old Dayton observer reported white and red revolving lights traveling at high speed and then hovering and disappearing over the horizon, without the object making any noise or smoke. “I am certain it was not a star, an airplane, a helicopter, a weather balloon or another case of swamp gas,” the man wrote. “… I personally do not care whether you believe me or if anyone believes me. I know what I saw and I am convinced that it was something alien to me.”
• In March 1967, a Lebanon-area woman called authorities to report “a large, bright, spinning object” near her home. When she turned into her driveway, “the car headlights went out momentarily.” She went into her home to call an Air Force investigator at Wright-Patterson to report the craft, about the size of a small house, was behind her home and changing altitude frequently. A fellow witness reported it “made an indescribably disturbing noise when it came very low.”
• In May 1967, residents of Dayton, Kettering and Bellbrook all reported seeing a “huge yellow ball that moved quickly across the sky, from north to south, giving off considerable light but no sound at all.”
• In March 1968, several 75 Daytonians reported eye-witness accounts of a UFO in the sky. One person described it as a “long bright object which looked like an airliner with fire coming out the windows, and three jets in the tail.” Project Blue Book staff determined it was debris from a Zond 4 Russian space launching and closed the case.
Not taken seriously?
Many of those who filed reports were disappointed and frustrated that their claims had not been investigated more thoroughly.
It was inferred that the Air Force was not taking reports seriously.
The Air Force response was standard language in many reports: “The information which we have received is not sufficient for a scientific evaluation.” Often a reply would ask for additional information to be submitted on another form.
Closing the book
In 1966, under mounting pressure from members of the press, Congress and the scientific community, the Air Force was compelled to participate in an 18-month study of UFOs in cooperation with the University of Colorado.
The study did not reveal much of note, but did conclude that UFOs “educationally harmed” schoolchildren who were allowed to use science study time to read books and magazine articles about UFOs. It was suggested that teachers should withhold credit from any student UFO project.
The Air Force took the cue and disbanded Project Blue Book in 1969, shortly after the study results were made public.
The press release said Air Force UFO investigations can no longer be justified “on grounds of national security or in the interest of science ... the project does not merit future expenditures of resources.”
Project Blue Book staff packed away 50 cubic feet of records and artifacts collected during more than two decades of chasing flying saucers. The records were declassified and shipped to Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama where they were to be made available for scientific study.
Upon closing the agency, Quintanilla said, “I would agree little, if anything, has resulted from our investigations.”
When asked if he believed in life from other planets Quintanilla said he did not, but acknowledged, “As long as there is sky, some folks will believe there are objects out there sent by other planets.”
About the Author
