Project Blue Book
For 17 years the US Air Force investigated UFO reports. Of 12,618, it left 701 unidentified.
What was reported
Project Blue Book was the US Air Force's official study of UFO reports, run from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio from 1952 to 1969, after earlier projects called Sign and Grudge. Its scientific consultant was the astronomer J. Allen Hynek.
Over its life it examined 12,618 reports. Most were identified as aircraft, balloons, stars, planets and other ordinary things; 701 stayed 'unidentified'.
Explanations offered
It closed after the University of Colorado's Condon Report concluded that further study of UFOs was unlikely to advance science. Critics, including Hynek himself in later years, said many cases were dismissed too quickly. Its files are now public at the US National Archives.
- When
- 1952–1969
- Where
- Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio, USA
- Witnesses
- US Air Force investigators, and thousands of people who sent in reports
- Status
- Mostly explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.