The purpose of this listing is to discuss the status of missing and lost incidents recorded in the files of Major Donald Keyhoe and NICAP. In the instances where case material was recovered the sources will be disclosed as indicated.
Questions, comments and other missing file nominations are welcome at email: project1947@earthlink.net or Postal address:
| Project 1947 | |
| P. O. Box 391 | |
| Canterbury, CT 06331 |
1945 Luke Army Air Field, Arizona.
Three Army Air Force fighter planes took off in pursuit and one fired on a UFO. Note: Lt. Col. Theodore Hieatt, Deputy Chief of Intelligence at ATIC, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base confirmed to Keyhoe that UFOs or “foo-fighters” were fired on during WWII.
Sources: Keyhoe: The Flying Saucers Are Real and Keyhoe: Flying Saucers: Top Secret, pages 101-103, 105-106.
A Letter from ATIC dated July 12, 1957 concerning USAF firing on UFOs signed by Capt. Wallace Elwood and telephone conversations of Keyhoe with Capt. Elwood, Capt. Gregory and Lt. Col. Hieatt recorded in a NICAP memo by Lee Munsick, NICAP Secretary.
Follow up call from Lt. Col. Hieatt stating the pilot had fired on foo-fighters which were illusions during WWII and therefore conventional objects.
Notes by Munsick. The letters and notes are missing.
Status: Ted Bloecher, NICAP staffer, asked Keyhoe to bring in all his UFO material during the NICAP era for copying and filing. He did so but the original UFO report and the material described in Flying Saucers: Top Secret was not among his files.
February 29, 1949, Chilean Antarctic Base.
Chilean Navy Commander A. V. Orrego photographed a strange object in the sky over the base. The press reported that it was a flying saucer. Major wrote the Chilean Embassy for further information. He was told the photo was classified. Keyhoe did retype the letter from the Chilean Embassy and gave it to Ted Bloecher.
Sources: Keyhoe: Flying Saucers from Outer Space, page 44 and Richard Hall, editor, The UFO Evidence, page 88.
Status: Pedro Petrowitch formerly of UFO Chile determined the photograph was of weather phenomenon. (Latin American UFO Cases Data Base)
February 22, 1950, Boca Chica Naval Air Naval Air Station, Florida
“On February 22 two similar glowing objects were seen above Boca Chica Naval Air Station at Key West. A plane sent up to investigate was hopelessly outdistanced; it was obvious the things were at a great height. Back at the station, radar men tracked the objects as they hovered for a moment above Key West. They were found to be at least fifty miles above the earth. After a few seconds, they accelerated at high speed and streaked out of sight.” — (Keyhoe, Flying Saucers Are Real, page 12)
They were glowing objects too high and too fast for pursuit.
Source: Flying Saucers Are Real as stated.
Status: Keyhoe had an eidetic memory so in many cases he did not feel the need to keep records. He handed much of his material over to TRUE magazine. TRUE’s UFO files were destroyed in the mid-1950s. The source of this above report was a (Navy?) intelligence report. This item is missing and is not among the Project Blue Book files nor in Keyhoe’s files brought to Ted Bloecher for him to copy. While the Project 1947 NAVCAT lists Project Blue Book as a source this is in error and was a reference to later cases. (See Project Blue Book cases Nov 14 and Nov 15, 1950 Boca Chica NAS, Florida.)
November 7, 1950, East of Lakehurst, NJ
Witnesses: LTJG Robert Haven piloting Douglas AD-4Q Sky Raider aircraft, and an F9F-2, Panther jet pilot
Summary:
At 3500 feet heading W saw a steady white light to his right at
4000 feet, 5 miles away heading SE. Pilot made a climbing turn to
get behind object. Object made a head-on pass at aircraft. 5 more
such passes made as object climbed about 2000 feet/minute to 11,500.
When jets arrived, object at about 25,000 feet.
Sources: Project Blue Book Case: Balloon
Hynek UFO Report pp 68-70
Keyhoe Flying Saucers from Outer Space
(based on Special Delivery letter from LTJG Robert Haven to Keyhoe
which was thought lost)
See entries in Project 1947 NavCat 2.0 and Project Blue Book, LTJG Robert Haven report.
Status: Major Keyhoe made a copy of the Special Delivery letter that LTJG Haven wrote. Ted Bloecher typed up a copy for the NICAP files.
1950 Pentagon Press Desk
After an interview with General Sory Smith and Major Jerry Boggs, Keyhoe went to the press desk and was given two binders with summaries of UFOs and possible answers. Keyhoe called these Project Saucer case summaries. He brought these to Ted Bloecher who typed up copies. Ted also used these summaries to compare information with Air Force press releases, news stories and other sources.
Status: These summaries were later included in the Project Grudge final report reproduced by the Fund for UFO Research.
August 17, 1951, Dayton Ohio
Otto Bock, a German Scientist recruited during Project Paperclip observed a UFO through a telescope. He worked at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. He reported his observation to WPAFB and wrote a letter to Major Keyhoe. When Keyhoe brought his material to Ted Bloecher, Ted insisted he file the letter in the NICAP files.
Status: Bock’s letter is reproduced among the Project 1947 1951 reports page.
Although reported to WPAFB this case file does not appear in Project Blue Book files.
Circa January 5, 1953
Keyhoe’s report to TRUE magazine on his interview with Major Dewey Fournet after he left the USAF. Fournet left the Service with a brief case of unclassified UFO material, some of which was entitled “Operation Interloper.”
Fournet did discuss with Keyhoe the “Intelligence Motion Study” in general non-classified terms. About 10 days later Fournet present his findings to the CIA sponsored Robertson Panel. Later the CIA did release some fragments of this Study as result of FOIA court case.
They also discussed Keyhoe’s Radar article in TRUE magazine of December 1952:
Fournet did not explain to Keyhoe that he had been tasked with making all Air Force publications on UFOs to be consistent while integrating the Navy MERINT system into JANAP 146. Keyhoe said that the “silent group” initiated Air Force Regulation 200-2 and JANAP 146. Fournet could not correct Keyhoe’s impression due to the fact his mission to align all UFO directives was TOP SECRET at that time. Keyhoe should have realized something like that when Air Force Letter 200-5 indicated that it expired after one year and would be replaced by October 1953. JANAP 146 had been in force since 1951. (The Canadian references were not added until the mid-1950s.) Keyhoe probably was unaware of this.
Fournet did not finish his task of aligning UFO instructions before he was released from the Service. Capt. Harry Smith, Fournet’s replacement completed the task. Fournet suggested that Harry Smith might cooperate with Keyhoe. Such cooperation never materialized.
Status: Keyhoe kept an “onion skin” copy of his report to TRUE magazine regarding his interview with Fournet. Richard Hall found the document at Keyhoe’s residence after his passing.
November 23, 1953, Kinross Michigan F-89 attempted UFO interception and subsequent loss of jet
An F-89C Scorpion jet crew was on a UFO intercept mission over Lake Superior, Michigan. Nobody denies that was the reason for the vectoring of the aircraft to that particular airspace. Radar returns tracking the aircraft and the UFO reportedly "merged" on the screen, and the F-89 and its two-man crew were never found.
Keyhoe had several sources throughout the government including Capt. Bob White, the Pentagon Spokesman on UFOs. Later, Keyhoe had two? sources in Pentagon Air Force Intelligence. It shouldn't be surprising that Keyhoe’s version of this event in his book The Flying Saucer Conspiracy is like a direct retelling of the unit histories of the Fighter/Interception and Radar Squadrons. The late Robert Todd submitted a Freedom of Information request for the the unit histories and, as noted, the microfilmed copies confirmed Keyhoe's version of events.
There's no denying Keyhoe had powerful and well-informed sources aiding him.
In 1993 the official USAF 23 November, 1953, F-89C “aircraft mishap report” was released via a Freedom of Information request revealing some critical omissions in the supplied radar data. Both Brad Sparks and the late Joel Carpenter noted that there are indications that the “unknown” had been identified and was no longer considered to be a “UFO” before contact with the F-89 was lost. The “merging” of radar blips does not necessarily indicate that both aircraft became physically entangled. One aircraft could have moved to a position directly behind the other giving the appearance on the radarscope that they had intersected.
Sources: http://www.nicap.org/531123kinrossdir.htm
Keyhoe: The Flying Saucer Conspiracy, Chapter 1,
Richard Hall, The UFO Evidence, sections VIII and IX
Status: See the above Url for discussions.