PROJECT 1947

Dr. Edward U. Condon, a man keenly interested in "flying saucers," visited 9th Aero facilities at Colorado Springs Jan. 13 in preparation for a special University of Colorado study of unidentified flying objects.

Dr. Condon is professor of physics and astrophysics at U of C, which has been contracted by the Air Force to conduct the independent UFO investigation.

Along with other members of his UFO study team and representatives from the USAF Office of Aerospace Research (OAR), Dr. Condon was given a briefing at Ent and an orientation tour of the Cheyenne Mountain complex.

In letters to Maj. Gen. Oris B. Johnson, 9th Aero commander, both Dr. Condon and Mr. J. Thomas Ratchford of OAR expressed appreciation for the information gained during their visit.  "The excellent briefing at Ent and the orientation visit to Cheyenne Mountain will be invaluable to the Condon committee in its admittedly difficult study of such an elusive subject as UFOs,” said Mr. Ratchford.

"Furthermore, the fine spirit of cooperation evidenced by all of your staff was helpful in demonstrating to the University of Colorado that operational commands such as yours can play an important role in furnishing the kind of information necessary for their study.”

The decision to ask the University of Colorado to make an independent investigation of UFOs was based on a recommendation made last year by the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, which was asked to evaluate the Air Force’s UFO investigation program known as Project Blue Book.

The advisory board committee felt that the Air Force program dealing with UFO sightings was well organized, but that the resources assigned to it (one officer, a sergeant and secretary) were "quite limited.”

The committee members agreed that after 19 years and more than 10,000 sightings recorded and classified, "there appears to be no verified and fully satisfactory evidence of any case that is clearly outside the framework of presently known science and technology."

However, they felt that analysis of new sightings could possibly provide some valuable additional knowledge.

The committee members also thought that some of the cases listed as "identified” by the Air Force were sightings where the evidence collected was too meager or too indefinite to permit positive listing in the identified category.  Because of this, they recommended that the Blue Book program be strengthened to provide opportunity for scientific investigation of selected sightings in more detail and depth than before.

Dr. Condon pointed out that the University of Colorado investigators "will be free to follow whatever lines of study they decide are most important, using whatever means of study their judgments indicates is most suitable."  He added that they also 'will be free to publish their findings without control of any kind by the Air Force.’

Previous UFO findings by the Air Force and other independent consultants can be summed up in five statements, according to the Library of Congress legislative reference service:

1. UFOs do not pose a threat to the nation;

2. UFOs do not represent developments or principles beyond present-day scientific knowledge;

3. There is no evidence of extraterrestrial vehicles under the control of an intelligent being;

4. There is no evidence of physical matter left behind by a reported UFO;

5. Some small fraction of total sightings remain "unidentified."

Of the 10,047 flying objects investigated by the Air Force from 1947 through 1965, most were identified officially as bright stars and planets, comets and meteors, satellites, balloons, aircraft and other known causes.  A number of other objects couldn’t be identified because of insufficient data, but only about 6.4 per cent were classified as "unidentified.”

Dr. Condon’s group is expected to report on its findings early next year.  They may reach the same conclusions as previous studies or may come up with something out of this world.  Meanwhile, the Air Force is keeping an open mind.

"The Air Force does not deny the possibility that some form of life may exist on other planets in the universe," according to the Project Blue Book information pamphlet.  "However, to date, the Air Force has neither received nor discovered any evidence which proves the existence and intra-space mobility of extraterrestrial life.  The Air Force continues to extend an open invitation to anyone who feels that he possesses any evidence of extraterrestrial vehicles operating within the earth’s near space envelope to submit his evidence for analysis."