PROJECT 1947




Tremonton, Utah, and Great Falls, Montana films

By Jan L. Aldrich      


July 2, 1952; Tremonton, Utah

While driving near Tremonton, Utah, Navy photographer Warrant Officer Delbert C. Newhouse and his wife, saw a group of 12-14 shiny silver objects milling around in the sky.  Newhouse stopped and filmed extensive footage of the objects with his 16mm camera.  He and his wife both reported seeing some of the objects at relatively close range and they were shaped like one plate inverted atop another.  When the film was returned to Newhouse following Navy and Air Force analysis, the frames showing the discs in close-up had been deleted.
UFO Evidence, Pages 88, 112

Great Falls Montana film, see article in UFO Historical Revue.

Tom Tulien and I interviewed Fredrick Durant, the recorder of the CIA Robertson Panel.  He said the Panel was a sleepy affair until the Tremonton and Great Falls films were shown.  The scientists became very agitated and demanded to see both the Montana and Utah films over and over again.  Some climbed up on desks for a better view point.  After the Robertson panel Durant kept the Tremonton and Great Falls films at the CIA.  When the Condon committee was initiated, Durant turned the films over to the committee.

The Air Force explanations for the Utah film: sea gulls and for Great Falls Montana: jets from the Alaska National Guard engaged in training.  The witnesses did not agree. 

UFO historian Loren Gross went to Utah and affirmed how sea gulls he witnessed bore similarities to the objects in the film.  Some years later I was in Utah and witnessed sea gulls in flight.  They looked like the objects in film to me also. Newhouse said before he had his camera ready the UFOs were closer and the nearest one looked like the shape of two saucers, one inverted over the other.

The McLean-Bunch Film

On November 16, 1952, five glowing objects were seen to the north of Landrum, South Carolina, and filmed using an 8mm movie camera.  The four witnesses were J.D. McLean and David S. Bunch, along with their respective spouses.  The UFO was also seen by a control tower employee using binoculars.  He “reported the disc tilted up sharply before it climbed out of sight.”  Keyhoe, Flying Saucers from Outer Space, pp. 3-4.

Air Force explanation: Sundog.  This is thought highly unlikely as the sun was setting at the time and the image of the sundog does not maneuver around the sky and change rapidly in angular elevation.