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·
. In the analysis a
_ vestigation of the radar and-~isual
,..sightings described,
e are some yardsticks whil have been
: established from exper cnce and trends to measure' d attempt to
de termine the source of UFO•s .
Some of these are general in nature
r and ar e subject to ·cr:i.ange· as l')ew scientific and factual inf·ormation
i s r eceived.
I t should be remembered that any object viewed from a
grea t distance appears to be round .
Nearly all the sightings r eportecl
ar e de scribed as round and would tend to indicate that most of the
objects ·are at a grea.ter ·.d.1s-tahce from the observer .than is gen~r ally
estima t ed,
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Another misconception centers about photographs of unident ified
flying objects. At best ·tl!le. majority of photographs have proven
non-conclusive as evidence· to this program ,mainl y_due _to type camera s
used. • Also, 'it might be ·mehti'c1ned that because still photogr aphs·.can
be so easil y faked, either by using a mock-up or model against a
l egitimate background~ or ·by retouching the negat,ive , they are worth­
l e ss a s eyidence .
I nnumerable objects, f ~om ashtrays to wash basins,
have been photogr·aphed wh+1e sailing thrpugh :the air.
Many su·ch
photoB have been publ i~he~ ·wi thout revealing the true identity ·of the
objects.
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More attention is given to moving picture s of unidentified fly­
ing objects since tHey ar e more difficult to retouch.
However, only
a very f ew movie - type fil ms have been received by the Air Force and
they r eveal only pinpoints of light moving across the sky. · The Air
Force has been unable to identify the source -of the se lights because
the image s are too small to analyze properly.
Since ownership of
the se films remains with the persons taking them, the Air Force is
now in a position to give them out.
The difficulty of evaluating •rep.orts of all · types is ba sed
l ar gely upon the lack of basic da t a surrounding the sightings. The
drop in sightings during 1953 is l argely due to the increased accuracy
and the compl e teness of r eports being r ece ived.
To be of value , a
r eport should include such basic da t a as size , shape , composition,
speed, altitude, direction, and the maneuver pattern of the obj ects .
Without such inf ormation, it is almost impossible to establish the .
identi ty of the object sighted.
In addition, a r ecent study has shown
a direct correlation between the number of sightings r eported and the
publicity given to
1'saucers" by the na tion's press.
The Air Force took a further step in early 1953 by procur~ng
Videen cameras for the purpose of photogr aphing this phenomena ~ These
camer a s we re distributed to various military installa tions . This type
0amer a has two lenses , one of which t akes an ordinary photograph, and
the other has a di ffraction gr a ting wh1ph sepa r a t es l i ght int o its
component pa rts.
This aids in de t er mining the composition of t he ob­
j ect phot ogr aphed.
A small number of photogr aphs have been r eceived
from t his camer a ; however, only light spots of no de t ail have been
i ndicated in the photos t o da t e.
As mor e photogr aphs ar e taken by
the se obser vers , it is be lieved tha t a great deal of t he myst ery wi ll
be lifted from the progr am.
The Ai r For ce would like to state t ha t no evidence ha s been
r ece ived which woul d t end to i ndicate t ha t the Uni t ed Stat e s is being
Qbserved by machi ne s from outer spa ce or a for eign government, No
objec t or particle of an unknown substance ha s been r eceived and
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