Project Blue Book File on Tremonton Film, Utah, 1952

Text

A machine read this text from the scan. When the text and the image disagree, the image is right.

UNCLASSIFIED

ITEM 2 AMC

FROM: CAPT E J RUPPELT ATIAE-5
TO: CAPT HARRY SMITH, AFOIN-2A2
SECURITY INFO: REFERENCE TELEPHONE
CALL FROM CAPT RUPPELT TO CAPT HARRY SMITH ON 2 FEB 53

REGARDING DATA FROM PRESS RELEASE ON
TREMONTON MOVIES. REQUEST FINAL OF
PRESS RELEASE BE FORARDED BY
TELECON TO ATIC FOR COORDINATION.

MOVIES WERE TAKEN SEVEN MILES NORTH OF
TREMONTON, UTAH, ON US HIGHWAY 30S
AT 1110 MST ON 2 JULY 52. CAMERA
USED WAS A BELL AND HOWELL AUTO MASTER
WITH THE THREE INCH TELEPHOTO LENS.

CAMERA WAS HAND-HELD. FIRST FEW FEET
OF FILM WERE TAKEN AT F-8; BALANCE
AT F-16. SIXTEEN FRAMES PER SECOND

WERE USED. MOVIES WERE TAKEN BY CHIEF PETTY
OFFICER DELBERT C NEWHOUSE, 177273 AVIATION
SUPPLY DEPOT, NAVAL SUPPLY CENTER, OAKLAND,
CALIF. NEWHOUSE WAS DRIVING FROM WASHINGTON,

DC TO PORTLAND, OREGON, ON THE MORNING
OF 2 JULY 52 WHEN HIS WIFE NOTICED A
GROUP OF OBJECTS IN THE SKY THAT SHE
COULD NOT IDENTIFY. SHE ASKED NEWHOUSE TO

STOP THE CAR AND LOOK. THERE WERE A
GROUP OF OBJECTS THAT BORE NO RELATION
TO ANYTHING HE HAD SEEN BEFORE.

HE STATED, MILLING ABOUT IN A ROUGH
FORMATION AND PROCEEDING IN AN APPARENT
WESTERLY DIRECTION. HE OPENED THE LUGGAGE
COMPARTMENT OF HIS CAR, GOT A MOVIE CAMERA
OUT OF HIS SUITCASE AND TOOK THE PICUTRES.

THERE WAS NO REFERENCE POINT IN THE SKY
SO IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE FOR HIM TO MAKE ANY
ESTIMATES AS TO SIZE, SPEED, OR DISTANCE.

TOWARD THE END OF HIS OBSERVATION
ONE OF THE OBJECTS REVERSED
COURSE AND PROCEEDED AWAY FROM

THE REST OF THE GROUP. HE HELD THE CAMERA
STILL AND ALLOWED THIS SINGLE
OBJECT TO PASS ACROSS THE FIELD OF

VIEW OF THE CAMERA PICKING IT UP
AGAIN LATER IN ITS TRAVEL. HE REPEATED
THIS FOR TWO OR THREE PASSES. BY THIS TIME

ALL THE OBJECT HAD DISAPPEARED.
THE MOVIES HAVE BEEN STUDIED BY THE
PHOTO RECONNAISSANCE LABORATOR, WRIGHT
AIR DEVELOPMENT CENTER, WRIGHT PATTERSON

AFB, OHIO, AND BY THE US NAVY PHOTO INTERPRETATION
CENTER, WASHINGTON, DC. SINCE THERE
WAS NO KNOWN OBJECT SUCH AS A CLOUD,

TREE, OR MOUNTAIN IN THE FILM, IT WAS
IMPOSSIBLE TO MAKE EVEN A ROUGH ESTIMATE
AS TO THE SPEED, DISTANCE, OR SIZE.

THE SIZE OF THE IMAGES ON THE MOVIE
FILM WERE TOO SMALL TO SHOW ANY
DETAILS. THE MOVIES HAVE BEEN STUDIED BY
PERSONS ENGAGED IN WORK WITH BALLOONS.
THESE BALLOONS ARE CALLED PILLOW
BALLOONS DUE TO THEIR SIMILARITY
RPTING FROM 3RD LINE BACK

PERSONS ENGAGED WORK WITH BALLOONS
AND THE APPEARANCE AND ACTION OF
THE OBJECT ARE SIMILAR TO THAT
OF PILLOW BALLOONS.

THESE BALLOONS ARE CALLED PILLOW
BALLOONS DUE TO THEIR SIMILARITY
TO A PILLOW. HUNDREDS OF THESE

BALLOONS WERE MADE AND FLOWN IN THE US AND
OVERSEAS DURING THE CRUSADE FOR FREEDOM.

ATTEMPTS TO TRACE THESE BALLOONS TO
DETERMINE WHETHER ANY LEFT OVER
FROM THE CRUSADE FOR FREEDOM COULD HAVE

BEEN LAUNCHED IN THE TREMONTON AREA
WERE NEGATIVE. ANOTHER STRONG POSSIBILITY
IS THAT THE OBJECTS WERE SEA GULLS

SOARING THERMAL AIR CURRENT. MOVIES
OF SEA GULLS TAKEN UNDER SIMILAR LIGHTING
CONDITIONS SHOWED THE SEA GULLS APPEARING

AS BRIGHT SPOTS OF LIGHT VERY SIMILAR TO THOSE
IN THE MOVIES. AT THE PRESENT TIME THE AIR

FORCE CONTEMPLATES NO FUTURE ACTION WILL BE
TAKEN TO IDENTIFY THE OBJECTS.

END ITEM 2 AMC

IT 15

5 Feb 53

INFORMATION

DOWNGRADED AT 8 YEAR INTERVALS;
DECLASSIFIED AFTER 12 YEARS.
DOD DIR 5200.10

DECLASSIFIED Authority NND 923007