Documents / Report
This is the final report of the Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects, conducted by the University of Colorado under Air Force contract F44620-67-C-0035, with Edward U. Condon as scientific director and Daniel S. Gillmor as editor. It was submitted to the National Academy of Sciences on 15 November 1968 for review. The report includes field studies, photographic and radar analyses, case studies, historical chapters and appendices such as the Robertson Panel report and the Twining letter.
'n,e 5C'cond i!li.:ident reporte,J by thi~; pilot, the 30 August 1957,
Chesapeake Bay It-port, ol~curred as he was fl) i ng another Capital Airlines
Viscount at 12,O()() ft. approaching Norfolk, Va. T11ere was a Northeast
Airlines DC-6 flyj ng at 20,000 ft. lidi r0ct ly above" the Viscount. In
this ca.se, the object "was brilliant; it flew fast and then ahruptly
halted 20 mi. in front of us at 60,000 ft. 31titlH1.e." 'The Northeast
pilot looked fOf the object on radar and "could get no return on his
screen with the antenna straight ahead but when tilted upward ISo he
got an excellent blip right where I told him to lOlJk for the object."
This object "dissolved right in front: cf my ~~ye~" and the crew
above lost it from the scope at the same time. '!1ley said it just
faded away. 'nlis sighting covered "several minutes."
These two similar gightir,gs are very difficult to account for.
lhe first sighting over Alatama has most of the characteristics of an
optical mirage; an ol~jel:t at about the sallie altitude sceming to
"pace" the aircraft, the mcnnderings being easily acconntable fo1' as
normal "image wander." Ilowever, there (lre two a~;pects that negate
this hypothesis: (1) the manner of appearance and disappearance
of the UFO is ~nconsi:-;;tent. with the geometry of a mirage; the high
angle of appearance tcJ
\o.'hich S(,CI11~, to be the ol1l~ :llll11iss;:hlc natllral explanation in vic\'! of
the pilot's c>qwricncc as ~jn obscrVf~r. 'l1lC rcasuns al'~' twofold:
(1) th(' apparent angle at which tlw objcd ~~[lS ()b~('rvcdis incompatibh'
191
'J11e ~(,COJl(t i:ldJent reportelJ by thb pilot, the 30 i\Ugllst 1957,
Chesapeake Bay Hport, occurred a;: he wa~ fJ) ing another Capital Airlines
Viscount ..It L',OOO ft. approachine Norfolk, Va. '[11e1e was a Northeast
Airlines DC-6 flying at 20,000 ft. "dir0ctly above" the Viscount. In
this case, the object ·~as brilliant; it flew fast Bnd then ahruptly
halted 20 mi. in front of us at 60,000 ft. alti1:Ul~.e." 'I11e Northeast
pilot looked for the object on radar and "could get no return on his
screen with the antenna straight ahead but when ti Hod uplo.'ard ISO he
got an excellent bltp right where 1 told him to louk for the object."
This ooject "dissolved right in fron!: cf my ,~yc~" and the crew
above lost it from the s'hich Sl'e!tl~, to be the onl~ ;Himlss;:blc natllral explanation in vil'~/ of
the pi lot IS experi encc as 'ill oh~l·rv'~r. 'lllC l"cas.JI1S arc twofold:
(1) till' ,lpparent angle at wldeh the objed 1;0,; oIJsl'rvcdis il1\:ompat i bh'
191 Report, from the classic collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 1497 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.