target on the scope, and it was a UFO because it was traveling much too slowly to be an airplane. Then the radar operators saw the F-86 approach, climb, and make a shallow dive toward the UFO. At first the F-86 had closed in on the UFO, but then the UFO had speeded up just enough to maintain a comfortable lead. This went on for two or three minutes; then it had moved off the scope at a terrific speed. The radar site had tried to call him, the ground station told the F-86 pilot, but they couldn’t raise him so the message had to be relayed through the tower.
Rack up two more points for the UFO—another unknown and another confirmed believer.
Two or three weeks after the meeting of the panel of scientists in Washington I received word that Project Blue Book would follow the recommendations that the panel had made. I was to start implementing the plan right away. Our proposal for setting up instruments had gone to the Pentagon weeks before, so that was already taken care of. We needed more people, so I drew up a new organizational cable that called for more investigators and analysts and sent it through to ATIC’s personnel section.
About this time in the history of the UFO the first of a series of snags came up. The scientists had strongly recommended that we hold nothing back—give the public everything. Accordingly, when the press got wind of the Tremonton Movie, which up until this time had been a closely guarded secret, I agreed to release it for the newsmen to see. I wrote a press release which was O.K.’d by General Garland, then the chief of ATIC, and sent it to the Pentagon. It told what the panel had said about the movies, “until proved otherwise there is no reason why the UFO’s couldn’t have been sea gulls.” Then the release went on to say that we weren’t sure exactly what the UFO’s were, the sea gull theory was only an opinion. When the Pentagon got the draft of the release they screamed. “No!” No movie for the press and no press release. The sea gull theory was too weak, and we had a new publicity policy as of now—don’t say anything.
This policy, incidentally, is still in effect. The January 7, 1955, issue of the Air Force Information Services Letter said, in essence, people in the Air Force are talking too much about UFO’s—shut up. The old theory that if you ignore them they’ll go away is again being followed.
