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| He recomended that " ... it is recommended that ... Army Air Forces issue a directive assigning a priority, security classification and code name for detailed study of this matter.” (Clark, 489) Though conducted by the ], the study’s information and conclusions would be made available to all the armed services, and to scientific agencies with formal government ties. | He recomended that " ... it is recommended that ... Army Air Forces issue a directive assigning a priority, security classification and code name for detailed study of this matter.” (Clark, 489) Though conducted by the ], the study’s information and conclusions would be made available to all the armed services, and to scientific agencies with formal government ties. | ||
| Twining’s suggestion was approved on ], and on ] ], Project Sign formally began its work at ], under the direction of Captain ]. Though it was classified “restricted”, the study’s existence was known to the general public, and was often called "Project Saucer". However, UFO historian Wendy Connors established through an interview with a surviving Sign secretary, that "Project Saucer" was |
Twining’s suggestion was approved on ], and on ] ], Project Sign formally began its work at ], under the direction of Captain ]. Though it was classified “restricted”, the study’s existence was known to the general public, and was often called "Project Saucer". However, UFO historian Wendy Connors established, through an interview with a surviving Sign secretary, that "Project Saucer" was the project's original informal name and had started a year earlier in late 1946. If this was the case, then the Army Air Force had already begun investigation of UFOs well before the ] sighting that launched the first flood of UFO reports of June/July 1947 in the United States. (See, e.g., WWII ] UFOs) | ||
| Studies were undertaken by Air Intelligence |
Studies were undertaken by Air Intelligence at the Air Force base nearest to any particular UFO report, though some cases were studied directly by ]. In order to sort out cases where witnesses had simply misidentified stars, clouds, planets or ]s, astronomer ] of ] was hired as a consultant, initally, to weed out cases where a witness had misidentified a mundane aerial phenemenon. | ||
| Sign’s first major undertaking was the study of |
Sign’s first major undertaking was the study of a widely publicized UFO incident ]. On 07 January 1948, Air Force pilot Thomas Mantell--in pursuit an aerial artifact Mantell reportedly described as “a metallic object ... it is of tremendous size.” (Clark, 352)--died when his airplane crashed near ]. Project Sign investigators determined Mantell had been chasing the planet Venus--a conclusion met with widespread incredulity. | ||
| Sign personnel determined that Mantell had been chasing the planet Venus--a conclusion which met with widespread incredulity. | |||
| According to later ] director ], |
According to later ] director ], Project Sign investigators were less skeptical about the Chiles-Whitted sighting over Montgomery, Alabama on ] ]. In this case, two airline pilots reported that a rocket-shaped UFO, glowing blue and seeming to emit reddish flames, approached them on a near-collision course. Pilots Chiles and Whitted reported the object appeared to show a double row of ports or windows emitting an intense bluish-white light. A very similar object with a double row of windows was also seen over ], ] a few days earlier and independently reported to Sign. Some Sign personnel were deeply impressed by this close sighting from two high-quality witnesses. The reports of "windows" suggested the objects possibly were occupied. | ||
| One early hypothesis, favored by many Project Sign investigators, was that UFOs were new weapons or novel aircraft developed by the ]. However, Sign researchers could find no hard evidence supporting this hypothesis. With the emergence of cases like the Chiles-Whitted sighting, a rift developed within Sign’s staff between those who thought UFOs might be extraterrestrial (see the ] or ETH) and those who rejected this idea in favor of a more prosaic explanation. The ] was reportedly drafted by certain Sign personnel, including director Sneider, which advanced the thesis that some of UFOs investgated had non-earthly origins. Ruppelt reported in his book that The Estimate was sent up the Pentagon chain of command and eventually rejected by Air Force Chief of Staff General ], who cited a lack of physical evidence to support the extraterrestrial conclusion. | |||
| ⚫ | With Gen. Vandenberg's rejection of The Estimate, Ruppelt said it was clear to the Sign personnel who supported ETH that there was no support at the top. Indeed, the faction which rejected ETH eventually came to dominate Project Sign. By late 1948, Project Sign was discontinued in name and replaced by a much more negatively oriented ]. | ||
| Ruppelt was to report in his book that The Estimate was sent up through the Pentagon chain of command and eventually rejected by Air Force Chief of Staff General ], who cited a lack of physical evidence to support the extraterrestrial conclusion. | |||
| ⚫ | With Vandenberg's rejection of The Estimate, Ruppelt said it was clear to Sign personnel who |
||
| Ruppelt referred to the Project Grudge era as the "Dark Ages" of official Air Force UFO investigations. Still, by late 1949, some 20 percent of UFO sightings remained classified as “unknown” by Grudge. By late 1951, according to Ruppelt, some highly influential Pentagon generals had become so disenchanted with Grudge's debunking that Grudge itself was dismantled and replaced by ], with Ruppelt in charge. | Ruppelt referred to the Project Grudge era as the "Dark Ages" of official Air Force UFO investigations. Still, by late 1949, some 20 percent of UFO sightings remained classified as “unknown” by Grudge. By late 1951, according to Ruppelt, some highly influential Pentagon generals had become so disenchanted with Grudge's debunking that Grudge itself was dismantled and replaced by ], with Ruppelt in charge. | ||
Revision as of 17:21, 4 December 2005
Project Sign was an official U.S. government study of unidentified flying objects undertaken by the United States Air Force in late 1947.
Sign was instigated following a recommendation from Lt. General Nathan F. Twining, then the head of Air Materiel Command. Just before this, Brig. Gen. George Schulgen, of the Army Air Forces air intelligence division, had completed a preliminary review of the many UFO reports--then called “flying discs” by military authorities--which had received considerable publicity following the Kenneth Arnold sighting of June 24 1947. Schulgen's study, completed in late July 1947, concluded that the flying discs were real craft. Schulgen then asked Twining and his command, which included the intelligence and engineering divisions located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (then Wright Field), to carry out a more exhaustive review of the data.
In his formal letter to Schulgen on September 23 1947, Twining concluded that (somewhat shortened)
- a. The phenomenon reported is something real and not visionary or fictitious.
- b. There are objects probably approximately the shape of a disc, of such appreciable size as to appear to be as large as a man-made aircraft.
- c. There is the possibility that some of the incidents may be caused by natural phenomena, such as meteors.
- d. The reported operating characteristics such as extreme rates of climb, maneuverability (particularly in roll), and action which must be considered evasive when sighted or contacted by friendly aircraft and radar, lend belief to the possibility that some of the objects are controlled either manually, automatically or remotely.
- e. The apparent common description of the objects is as follows: ...
- f. It is possible within the present U.S. knowledge... to construct a piloted aircraft which has the general description ...
- g. Any development in this country along the lines indicated would be extremely expensive...
- h. Due consideration must be given to the following:
- (1) The possibility that these objects are of domestic origin - the product of some high security project not known to AC/AS-2 or this command.
- (2) The lack of physical evidence in the shape of crash recovered exhibits which would undeniably prove the existence of these objects.
- (3) The possibility that some foreign nation has a form of propulsion, possibly nuclear, which is outside of our domestic knowledge.
He recomended that " ... it is recommended that ... Army Air Forces issue a directive assigning a priority, security classification and code name for detailed study of this matter.” (Clark, 489) Though conducted by the Army Air Force, the study’s information and conclusions would be made available to all the armed services, and to scientific agencies with formal government ties.
Twining’s suggestion was approved on December 30, and on January 22 1948, Project Sign formally began its work at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, under the direction of Captain Robert R. Sneider. Though it was classified “restricted”, the study’s existence was known to the general public, and was often called "Project Saucer". However, UFO historian Wendy Connors established, through an interview with a surviving Sign secretary, that "Project Saucer" was the project's original informal name and had started a year earlier in late 1946. If this was the case, then the Army Air Force had already begun investigation of UFOs well before the Kenneth Arnold sighting that launched the first flood of UFO reports of June/July 1947 in the United States. (See, e.g., WWII foo fighter UFOs)
Studies were undertaken by Air Intelligence at the Air Force base nearest to any particular UFO report, though some cases were studied directly by Air Materiel Command. In order to sort out cases where witnesses had simply misidentified stars, clouds, planets or meteors, astronomer J. Allen Hynek of Ohio State University was hired as a consultant, initally, to weed out cases where a witness had misidentified a mundane aerial phenemenon.
Sign’s first major undertaking was the study of a widely publicized UFO incident Mantell Incident. On 07 January 1948, Air Force pilot Thomas Mantell--in pursuit an aerial artifact Mantell reportedly described as “a metallic object ... it is of tremendous size.” (Clark, 352)--died when his airplane crashed near Franklin, Kentucky. Project Sign investigators determined Mantell had been chasing the planet Venus--a conclusion met with widespread incredulity.
According to later Project Blue Book director Edward J. Ruppelt, Project Sign investigators were less skeptical about the Chiles-Whitted sighting over Montgomery, Alabama on 24 July 1948. In this case, two airline pilots reported that a rocket-shaped UFO, glowing blue and seeming to emit reddish flames, approached them on a near-collision course. Pilots Chiles and Whitted reported the object appeared to show a double row of ports or windows emitting an intense bluish-white light. A very similar object with a double row of windows was also seen over The Hague, Netherlands a few days earlier and independently reported to Sign. Some Sign personnel were deeply impressed by this close sighting from two high-quality witnesses. The reports of "windows" suggested the objects possibly were occupied.
One early hypothesis, favored by many Project Sign investigators, was that UFOs were new weapons or novel aircraft developed by the Soviet Union. However, Sign researchers could find no hard evidence supporting this hypothesis. With the emergence of cases like the Chiles-Whitted sighting, a rift developed within Sign’s staff between those who thought UFOs might be extraterrestrial (see the extraterrestrial hypothesis or ETH) and those who rejected this idea in favor of a more prosaic explanation. The Estimate of the Situation was reportedly drafted by certain Sign personnel, including director Sneider, which advanced the thesis that some of UFOs investgated had non-earthly origins. Ruppelt reported in his book that The Estimate was sent up the Pentagon chain of command and eventually rejected by Air Force Chief of Staff General Hoyt Vandenberg, who cited a lack of physical evidence to support the extraterrestrial conclusion.
With Gen. Vandenberg's rejection of The Estimate, Ruppelt said it was clear to the Sign personnel who supported ETH that there was no support at the top. Indeed, the faction which rejected ETH eventually came to dominate Project Sign. By late 1948, Project Sign was discontinued in name and replaced by a much more negatively oriented Project Grudge.
Ruppelt referred to the Project Grudge era as the "Dark Ages" of official Air Force UFO investigations. Still, by late 1949, some 20 percent of UFO sightings remained classified as “unknown” by Grudge. By late 1951, according to Ruppelt, some highly influential Pentagon generals had become so disenchanted with Grudge's debunking that Grudge itself was dismantled and replaced by Project Blue Book, with Ruppelt in charge.
Historian David Michael Jacobs argues that, overall, Project Sign’s personnel did an admirable job. However, “Its main problem was that the staff was too inexperienced to discriminate between which sightings to investigate thoroughly. Because of unfamiliarity with the phenomenon, the staff spent inordinate amounts of time on sightings that were obviously aircraft, meteors or hoaxes.” (Jacobs, 47)
Sources
- Jerome Clark, The UFO Book: Encyclopedia of the Extraterrestrial, Visible Ink, 1998; ISBN 1578590299
- David Michael Jacobs, The UFO Controversy In America, Indiana University Press, 1975; ISBN 0253190061
- Curtis Peoples, Watch the Skys! - A Chronicle of the Flying Saucer Myth. Smithsonian, 1994, IBSN 1-56098-343-4.
- Edward J. Ruppelt, The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects, Doubleday & Co., 1956 online