Richard F. Haines

Flying over Essex, England Royal Flying Corps pilot Lt. Morgan saw a row of lights, that he described as the windows on a railway carriage with the blinds drawn. Lt. Morgan then shot his pistol at the lights, which rose into "the heavens" and disappeared. Bert Acosta, a stunt flier with a "bad boy persona" for his risk taking behaviors in the air, saw six shiny manhole covers during a flight between Wichita and Colorado Springs. Over Salt Lake City in September of 1926, Colin Murphy, an Airmail pilot, was 'buzzed' by a cylinder without any wings or propeller that was quite large.

There were UFO sightings internationally, in places like Australia, Denmark, the United Kingdom, and China. UFOs were claimed to suddenly vanish from direct view, seemingly becoming transparent. Looking as though the flying machines were from a different time period, being hexagonal and flat. Lt. Colonel Peter Grunnet of the Royal Danish Air Force described feeling the presence of whatever was inside the flying machine and that feeling being hostile.

Descriptions of UFOs vary greatly, some claiming they are large and bright, some are translucent, some travel fast, others travel slow, some make noise, while some are silent. Since there are different descriptors associated with UFOs, some people had a hard time determining if what they had seen was something of this world or if it was extraterrestrial. UFO sightings could be described by their highly unusual formations, sounds, and large amounts of objects.

Roman (Ray) Sobinski, sighted a UFO while flying over Europe, after a bombing mission in 1942. Sobinski's plane fired shots at the "dull, shining copper" flying objects, and the bullets seemed to have no effect on the flying object.

Roman Sobinski was potentially one of the first pilots who fired on the unidentified flying object that he had witnessed in June of 1942. Sobinski's personal statement regarding this interaction was recorded for a program called "UFOs Anonymous"

During WWII, a United States Maritime cargo vessel, a cruiser, and a floatplane hit an invisible UFO. The cargo vessel was the MS Sea Witch, 26 witnesses on the Sea Witch witnessed an event that could not be explained. The only attempt to explain the incident was that aircraft appeared to fly into an invisible object, stopping and then falling into the ocean, near the Fiji Islands, as a ball of destroyed metal.

During the later portion of WWII UFO sightings were still occuring in numbers. Lights of bright orange, red, and green were spotted following along Bombers. On a particular overcast night on August 10, 1944, a spherical object with board wings was pacing the 50 planes on a strike. Some planes on strikes were known to disappear in a strange unexplained manner. Many sighting were done pilots during the WWII era, the sightings were all around the world, all times of the day, and by pilots and personnel from all around different countries.

The unidentified objects were described as properties of nature and therefore needed a scientific investigation. During WWII it was important to know what was in the air with the pilots and aircrafts. If there were unidentified flying objects, this led to concern as it was unknown there was the possibility it was an enemy vessel.

Richard Hall was the secretary for the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena. Having such a title he received many correspondents about individual's experiences with UFOs. Hall had replied to many of the letters that he received asking for more information, or asking for more information from a specific incident.

The National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) got many reports on Unidentified Flying Object(s) in 1945. The intake form included questions asked by the United States Air Force and other agencies, also other questions needed for a full evaluation by NICAP.

Air warfare was a major component in World War II. Germany and Japan depended on air warfare that was closely integrated with land and naval forces. Britain and the U.S. were able to build bombers that could give the ability to win air superiority over battlefields, aiding the ground troops. Since air warfare was such a large aspect, new developments in the assembly and manufacturing led to confusion and the idea of 'secret weapons'.

The term Foo Fighter was used by Allied aircrafts pilots during WWII to describe mysterious aerial phenomena, like UFOs, that were seen over European and Pacific areas of operations. As of November 1944 and forward, foo fighters were thought to be secret weapons employed by the Axis powers.

Lincoln Lapaz was an American astronomer from the University of New Mexico. He is best known for being a pioneer in the study of meteors. His interest in meteorites came from his work as a Technical Director, Operations Analysis Section, Second Air Force. During this time he investigated Japanese Fu-Go balloon bombs. During the late 1940s and early 1950s Lapaz, on behalf of the military, investigated UFO incidents, including the Roswell UFO incident and the N.M. green fireballs.

Copies of Project Blue Book documentation from microfilm at the National Archives (publication number T1206). These are copies are primarily from roll 1.

Kenneth Arnold was a well known and discussed "saucer-sighter". During June and July of 1947, Arnold stated seeing shiny, flat objects during one of his flights. His incident is commonly considered the 'first' sighting of a UFO, and he was the first to claim that these objects may not be from earth. Arnold did press series and as a response the Air Force released a statement stating "we have no idea what the objects are, if they actually exist". Being skeptic of the reports made by the "saucer-sighters" was not uncommon and many questions were raised regarding the incidences.

In 1950, Arnold self-published a 16-page booklet titled "The Flying Saucer As I Saw It."

From the Office of the Scientific Advisor, J.A. Hynek wrote an analysis of K. Arnold UFO sighting in 1947. Hynek was an American astronomer, professor, and ufologist. He is best known for his participation in three projects by the U.S. Air Force; Project Sign, Project Grudge, and Project Blue Book. He was among the first to conduct scientific analysis of reports and of trace evidence purportedly left by UFOs

Author of the article, Pierre Lagrange, was a French sociologist with a long-standing interest in the early history of UFO phenomenon.

James Easton was a Scottish UFO skeptic that operated the "UFO Research List" ("UFORL") between 2001 to 2004 , which was basically for informed UFO sceptics to discuss various issues/cases.

Using Arnold's publications and a 1948 Fate magazine article, a UFO researcher traces events related to Arnold's UFO sighting.

Martin Shough is a Research Associate for National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena. He has authored or co-authored various books, many on UFOs, and other mysteries of the skies. One of his main works besides his photography is Aerial Phenomena Studies, nature is full of wonders, and the hunt for explanations is fascinating.

During an episode of Nightwatch Kim Arnold, Kenneth Arnold's daughter, was a guest and discussed her father's interactions and sightings of UFOs. The interview included the reveal of information that had not been shared before, like how Kenneth had actually had seven UFO sightings.

Copies of Project Blue Book documentation from microfilm at the National Archives (publication number T1206). These are copies from roll 2.

During the height of UFO sightings news articles were one of the main sources that people learned about the incidents. Stories were told in papers like Massachusetts paper, Atlanta Journal, Columbus Dispatch, Herald-Tribune, and many more.

Josef Hynek worked with Project Sign from 1947-1949. During this time he focused on various UFO sightings like Chiles-Whitted, which occurred near Montgomery, Alabama and Blackstone, Virginia on July 24, 1948.

Copies of Project Blue Book documentation that is available on microfilm (publication number T1206) at the National Archives. These are copies from roll 90.

David Keyhoe was an American Marine Corps naval aviator. In the 1950's he became well known as a UFO researcher, he thought that the U.S. government should do a more serious research into UFO matters, and release information to the public. He is commonly thought of as the leader in the field of ufology. There is a collection of Keyhoe's videos in the collections of the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin.

Edward Ruppelt was an United States Air Force officer, who was involved in Project Blue Book. He is generally credited with coining the term "unidentified flying object", replacing the previous terminology used, "flying saucer". Ruppelt had earned a Bachelor of Science in aeronautical engineering, which he used during his work with projects like Project Grudge and Project Blue Book

James McDonald was an American physicist, at the Institute for Atmospheric Physics and he was a professor of meteorology at the University of Arizona in Tucson. He supported the expansion of UFO studies and thought that UFOs represented an important unsolved mystery that needed more research.

Donald Menzel was on of the first theoretical astronomers and astrophysicists in the U.S. At the age of 16, Menzel enrolled in the University of Denver to study chemistry. He got a bachelor's degree in chemistry and a master's degree in chemistry and mathematics, later getting second master's in astronomy from Princeton University. Menzel was commissioned as a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy during WWII. Menzel was skeptic of UFOs and wrote three books to debunk UFOs.

The Chiles-Whitted UFO encounter occurred around 2:45 AM on July 24, 1948 near Montgomery Alabama. Two pilots Chiles and Whitted observed a glowing object pass by their plane before it appeared to go into the cloud and leave their sight. This incident is considered one of the three "classic" UFO incidents, that was convincing to the personnel of Project Sign that UFOs were real. In 1959 Project Blue Book formally stated that a meteor was the cause of the incident.

All of the email correspondents are involved in NARCAP and contributed to Project Sphere, which NARCAP published in 2010. The report comments on and provides recommendations to address the dangers to aviation posed by UAP.

Gorman dogfight was a widely publicized UFO incident which occured on October 1, 1948 near Fargo, North Dakota. George F. Gorman was a veteran fighter pilot of WWII. After the war he served as a second lieutenant in the North Dakota National Guard. During the time of the incident Gorman was participating in a cross-country flight with other National Guard pilots. Gorman pursued the object that he had spotted in the sky to determine what it was.

Records from U.S. Air Force's "Project Sign" relating to Gorman sighting. The copies can be difficult to read due to poor duplication.

Flying between Memphis and Little Rock Pilots Jack Adams and G.W. Anderson witnessed a UFO. They said that they knew it was a UFO due to the arrangement of lights, the lights followed the circular shape of the object and were bright. In a YouTube video, the two pilots draw what they had seen and give a brief description of the incident.

Flying is an aviation magazine published since 1927. This article from 1950 discusses UFO sighting by airline crews from 1947 to 1950. The article mentions Project Saucer which was renamed "Project Sign."

Under Executive Order 12356, passed in 1982, these Air Force records pertaining to UFO sightings were declassified. A Massachusetts member of the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) brings them to the attention of Richard Haines. The MUFON is a U.S. based non-profit organization of civilian volunteers who study reported UFO sightings. It claims to have more than 4,000 members world wide, being established in Quincy, Illinois on May 31, 1969.

Dramatized version of the Montiel case by QuestTV, an American channel that specializes in travel, historical, science, and adventure-focused documentary and reality series.

The first UFO sighting in Italy was in June of 1907 and the reported sightings continued through WWII. An account of the sightings from 1907 and 1944 in Italy are included in an email sent on March 14, 2002 from Alfredo Lissoni.

In February 1980, there was a UFO sighting over Nalchik Russia. Released from USSR: Media Report Multitude of UFO Sightings. Also included are newspaper articles regarding UFO sightings, all released in 1989.

On June 24th, 1947, Kenneth Arnold reported seeing a UFO near Mount Rainier, Washington. He was originally flying between Chehalis Washington and Yakima Washington. He claimed to see 9 UFOs, that were vivid blue-white flashes, very bright flashes. Included is an image depicted the scene as Arnold had witnessed it.