The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects

The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects
AuthorEdward J. Ruppelt
SubjectUnidentified flying objects
PublisherDoubleday
Publication date
1956
Publication placeUnited States
Pages315
LC ClassTL789 .R8

The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects is a 1956 book by then-retired Air Force UFO investigator Edward J. Ruppelt, detailing his experience running Project Bluebook.[1] The book was noted for its suggestion that a few UFO sightings might be linked to spikes of atomic radiation.[2] Contemporary media summarized four topics discussed in the book:[3]

  • There is "no real proof" that flying saucers exist—no reliable photographs, no "hardware".[3]
  • While the Air Force is officially dismissive of the spaceship theory, that conclusion is "far from unanimous".[3]
  • Some staff within the Air Force had produced a UFO analysis, called the "Estimate of the Situation", concluding that some UFOs were interplanetary spaceships. That analysis was rejected by a panel of scientists meeting in January 1953.[3]
  • Technological explanations were not considered: "No one at the meeting gave a second thought to the possibility that the UFOs might be super-secret US aircraft or a Soviet Development".[3]

In 1960, Ruppelt authored a second edition in which he reported being "positive" that UFOs do not exist.[4]

  1. ^ Ruppelt, Edward J. (November 17, 1956). The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects. Doubleday. ISBN 9780598368362 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ "The Oneonta Star 19 Jan 1956, page Page 1". Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ a b c d e "St. Louis Post-Dispatch 19 Jan 1956, page Page 41". Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ Ruppelt (1960), Ch. 20