Correspondence Relating to Project Blue Book, 1955
- Date
- 1955
- Place
- N/A (correspondence; references incidents in Washington D.C. and northern Honshu, Japan)
- Record
- Pentagon file
- Assessment
- Not assessed
- Evidence strength
What was reported
A large correspondence file (220 nominal pages, most badly OCR-degraded) of letters between Project Blue Book, congressional offices, and private citizens in 1955. Legible portions include a student's letter describing a school speech defending UFO reality (citing George Adamski's Palomar photographs) and a citizen's pointed letter to Maj. Gen. John A. Samford challenging the Air Force's 'new lighting system' explanation for specific 1952-53 sightings (including a 29 Feb 1953 Washington D.C. case and a Dec 1952 northern Honshu, Japan case), contrasting it with a 1952 Air Force press-conference statement. A page bearing a professional writer's letterhead (contributor to the New York Times Sunday Magazine, Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, and other national publications) indicates correspondence with journalists/authors as well.
What officials concluded
Tentative explanation
A citizen letter quotes an Air Force 'fact sheet' attributing brilliant flashing lights to a new lighting system used on power lines and military aircraft, and separately quotes a 1952 Air Force press statement that the government was not…
- Agency
- Department of War
- Released in
- 123456
Evidence profile
- Yes: Visual
- No: Infrared
- No: Radar
- No: Video
- No: Photo
- No: Film
- No: Audio
- No: Night vision
- No: Other sensor
- No: Civilian
- Yes: Military aircrew
- No: Military ground
- No: Airline crew
- No: Sensor operator
- No: Law enforcement
- No: Scientist
- No: Astronaut
- No: Intelligence official
- No: Other
- Yes: Light only
- No: Orb or sphere
- No: Disc
- No: Triangle
- No: Cylinder
- No: Cube
- No: Other shape
- No: Physiological
- No: Physical trace
- No: Electromagnetic
- No: Sound
- No: Silent
Why this rating This file is public/press correspondence rather than incident evidence; the specific 1952-53 cases it references are described only secondhand by a critical citizen, with no primary sensor data or official investigation record present in this file.
As described in the file
- Witnesses
- Unnamed pilots/officers referenced in the citizen's letter (e.g. 'First Lt. Ed Balocco', 'Lt.Col.Russel')
- Sensors
- Visual
- Lights and colour
- Reddish light with a bouncing/flashing quality (Feb 1953 DC case); rotating clusters of red, white and green lights (Dec 1952 Honshu case)
Pentagon files
DOW-UAP-D096, Correspondence Relating to Project Blue Book, 1955
Open the original on war.gov
What the file claims
- Unverified
A citizen correspondent challenged the Air Force's official explanation (a 'new lighting system') for specific named 1952-53 sightings, including a 29 February 1953 case reported to Second Marine Air Wing HQ at Cherry Point, NC, and a December 1952 case over northern Honshu, Japan reported to Air Force Intelligence.
- Unverified
The same correspondent noted the Air Force's 1955 explanation directly contradicted a 1952 Air Force press-conference statement that the government had nothing to substantiate reports of unusual aircraft or missiles.
- Unverified
A high-school student's UFO-advocacy speech cited George Adamski's Palomar Observatory photographs as evidence for interplanetary flying saucers and requested informational literature from Project Blue Book.