DOW-UAP-D102, Project Blue Book File on Tremonton Film, Utah, 1952

This document records the Project Blue Book investigation and subsequent assessments of an incident near Tremonton, Utah, on July 2, 1952. Project Blue Book was a 1952-1969 U.S. Air Force program to investigate the nature and origin of unidentified flying objects (UFOs). The file describes the Air Force’s assessment of the principal witness, Delbert C. Newhouse, a U.S. Navy Warrant Officer specializing in photography, as honest and reliable, and as an expert with more than 1,000 hours of aerial-photography experience. Newhouse reported observing 12 to 14 reflective objects and recorded the event on color motion-picture film using a handheld Bell & Howell Auto Master camera. The file reflects an evolving Air Force assessment of the imagery over several years. Early documentation considered several possible explanations, including sunlight reflecting from birds or balloons, and a mirage effect, and did not identify the objects conclusively. Later assessments became more confident that the objects were seabirds reflecting sunlight, citing identifiable seabirds and similar films showing seabirds as bright points of light under comparable conditions. However, the film’s limited detail and lack of fixed reference points prevented reliable determination of the objects’ distance, size, altitude, or linear speed from the film alone. AARO Comment: The file contains conflicting references to the film format. Several documents describe a 35mm film, while contemporaneous submission documentation identifies the original as a 50-foot roll of processed 16mm Kodachrome color motion-picture film recorded with a handheld Bell & Howell Auto Master camera. Newhouse reported exposing approximately 30 feet of the roll during the incident and using the remaining film later that day to record unrelated mountain scenery in Idaho. Other records show that 35mm positive and negative duplicate blowups were produced from the original 16mm material. The file also indicates that the original film was duplicated for preservation, citing its deteriorating condition. The footage retained by the National Archives and Records Administration and presented in this collection as DOW-UAP-PR159 is a digitization of a 16mm print.

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FM~HQ~127TH PLT TNG WG LUKE AFB ARIZ •
TO JEPHQ/D/I HQ USAF WASH 25 DC /
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JEDEN/CG ENT AFB COLORADO SPRINGS COLO •
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SEVEN INCH BALL OF FLAME WITH EIGHT FOOT TRAIL SIGHTED• NO
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SOUND OR LIGHTS RESEMBLING KNOWN FLYING OBJ~crs.
(2) SIGHTED AT 0420 ON 2 JULY 1952 FOR 3 TO 4 MINUTES. •
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(3) VISUAL OVSERVATION FROM GROUND•
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(4) FROM 1717 NORTH 1ST AVE, PHOENIX, ARIZ• OBJECT APPEARED NORTHWEST,
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TRAVELED ARC TO SOUTHWEST• AGLE OF ELEVATION 40 DEGREES NORTHWEST, •
30 DEGREES WEST, 15 DEGREES SOUTHWEST• ESTIMATED DISTANCE SEVEN TO
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TE~N MILES•
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(5) OBSERVER MRS ARTHUR WOLF, WIFE OF ARMY ORDNANCE ·coLONEL·
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PAGE TWO JWPUK 03
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(6) WEATHER AT 0430 CEILING CLEAR: VISIBILITY 15 PLUS MILES: WIND
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4 KNOTS FROM NORTH•
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(. 9) PRESUME OBJECT MADE GROUND CONTACT SOUTHWEST OF PHOENIX•
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SEARCH HAS BEEN REQUESTED •
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(10) NO AIRCRAFT OR BALLONS REPORTED• POSSIBILITY OF CROP DUSTERS• •
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- CR C TRAILS ~:>BSERVED.~ .:,:. A CRAFT DIRDS BALLOONS 0~ OTHER
IDV.NTIFIABLE OBJECTS SEE. N lN AIR U1r:1EDIA,E .Y BEFORE, DURING» Oft
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16-63734-1 U.S GOVERNMENT PRINTING OfFICE: 1951-<>-927440
DECLASSIFIED Authority NND 923007

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DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE
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PAGE THREE OF 2.0 1i'
EYESlGllT • 10 • NO FILTERS TIILL 2 OR 3 HILES TO
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HA~JE NEVER SIGIITED UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS DEFORE" NEWHOUSE
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STATED THAT HE NEVER BELIEVED HE UOLlLD JOIN RAf1I{.S OF THOSE
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RE.P ORT ..NG. SUCH OBJECTS PRIOR TO THIS OBSERVfi1' Oi.~ CPO NEUOOUSE
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WER 1 ~ YEARS tJ 1TH SE!lVIC E A5 f\ Conn~s I Of·JED OFF It:ER DUR I . ri , G
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AERIAL PH0703IlAPH Nl.SSimiS tt llEUHOltJE f1LSO DOES COrlSlDER" Di 17 G1 Olit'TD
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DISPOSITION FORM
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FILE NO. SUBJECT
35nm. F.ilm and Analysis
o AFOIN,-2A2 FROM ATIC DATE 1 5 OCT 1952 COMMENT NO. 1
Att.n: Major Fournet, Capt Ruppelt/jos
65365/B263D/PD2B
l . "As per your request inclosed herein for your inspection is the 3~ film
from Tremonton, Utah, showing unidentified aerial objects.
2. Also inclosed is a photostatic copy of an analysis performed by the Photo
Reconnaissance Laboratory, Wright Field.
3. The 35mm roll is the original film and no duplicate has been made•
4. It is the opinion of ATIAA-5 that the film should be submitted to an orni­
thologist, perhaps at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, to obtain an opinion
as to whether the objects may not possibly be birds in flight.
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DECLASSIFIED Authority NND 923007



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