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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY
OFFICE OF NAVAL RESEARCH
WASHINGTON 25, D. C.
IN REPLY REFER TO
ONR:463:FLT:pn
Ser 1545
24 January 1955
Mr. Donald E. Keyhoe
214 Kent Road
Alexandria, Virginia
Dear Mr. Keyhoe:
This will acknowledge your letter of 2 December 1954, in which you requested information about unidentified flying objects.
Many of the questions contained in your letter concern sighting reports by naval personnel. This Office does not receive such reports and is in no position to comment on matters related thereto. All reports of unidentified objects originating within the armed forces are sent directly to the cognizant group at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, since the Air Force is the responsible agency in this investigation. You are advised to refer to the Air Force all inquiries concerning such reports, regardless of their source.
Both the Army and the Navy are actively cooperating in the expeditious handling of sighting reports and assisting to the best of their abilities when requested by the responsible group within the Air Force. This Office maintains liaison with the Air Force in order to keep advised of the status of the investigation. According to the information received to date, there is insufficient data available to prove any single hypothesis regarding this peculiar phenomenon. There is no indication whatsoever that any danger may be involved.
With reference to your question concerning a statement by Dr. Urner Liddel that was published in Look Magazine in 1951, it should be stated that the opinions expressed in that article were based on the information available to him at the time. There is no doubt that many unidentified objects noted during that period were high altitude research balloons. The Air Force is now informed of all such balloon operations under cognizance of the Navy.
For your further information the Office of Naval Research is currently interested in many applications of magnetics and magnetic materials, including basic factors affecting them. However, no work in the field of "magnetic power" as such, is under consideration as a possible means of propulsion for guided missiles and/or space vehicles.
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