Project Twinkle kept classified (1952)
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 9
| Date | 19 February 1952 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Nuclear & missile sites (topic), Secrecy & cover-up (topic), Government programs (topic) |
| People | Lincoln LaPaz |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 45 |
| Year | 1952 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1952 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 9 |
Project Twinkle was a U.S. Air Force effort, set up in 1950 under the Geophysics Research Division at Cambridge, Massachusetts, to photograph and measure the bright "green fireballs" and other lights being reported over New Mexico's most sensitive nuclear and missile sites. After its final report in November 1951, a February 1952 review recommended that the project not be declassified.[1][2]
Origins
From December 1948 green fireballs were reported over Los Alamos, Sandia and White Sands, often by scientists and security staff. Meteor expert Lincoln LaPaz argued they were not ordinary meteors. A secret conference at Los Alamos in February 1949, attended by physicists Joseph Kaplan and Edward Teller and Project Sign staff, could not identify them, and another was held on 14 October 1949. In early 1950 the Geophysics Research Division received a directive to investigate; LaPaz declined to lead the study, an observation post opened at Holloman Air Force Base on 21 February 1950, and a three-part program was confirmed that March.[1][2]
Observations
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Under a contract running from 1 April 1950, the firm Land-Air kept watch with two Askania tracking cameras at Vaughn, New Mexico, later moved to Holloman. The cameras recorded some activity but never achieved simultaneous sightings that would allow triangulation; on two occasions phenomena were seen after missile launches but the project staff were not alerted. In March 1951 Bell personnel reported 14 to 20 objects "not unlike a flock of geese". The camera contract expired on 31 March 1951.[1]
Final report
The final report, written by Louis Elterman and dated 27 November 1951, called the findings "essentially negative". It attributed many sightings to aircraft, balloons, smoke rockets, birds, planets and meteors, said even the green fireballs showed no sign of being anything but natural, and recommended no further spending. The project was placed on standby.[1]
Kept secret
According to later accounts, a follow-up report from the Air Force Directorate of Intelligence in February 1952 disagreed with the natural explanation, and the secretariat of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board advised that the project should not be declassified, largely because no scientific explanation had been found. Its records stayed classified until the 1970s.[2][3]
Legacy
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The episode remains of interest because the sightings clustered around atomic facilities and were reported by trained observers. In 2026 further records of the 1949 Los Alamos fireball discussions were declassified and released, prompting renewed coverage. The fireballs were never conclusively explained.[2][4]
People and topics
- U.S. Air Force — The U.S. military service that ran the official UFO projects from 1947 to 1969.
- Project Twinkle — A 1949–51 Air Force effort to photograph the green fireballs over New Mexico.
- Unidentified anomalous phenomena — The U.S. government's current term for unidentified objects in the air, in space and underwater.
- Los Alamos National Laboratory — The New Mexico laboratory where the atomic bomb was designed.
- Sandia National Laboratories — A U.S. nuclear weapons laboratory in Albuquerque.
- White Sands — The New Mexico missile test range.
- Lincoln LaPaz — Meteor expert who argued the 1948–49 green fireballs over New Mexico were not ordinary meteors.
On the Timeline
- Air Force officer's crash-retrieval remark (1952) (1952) — A source says an Air Force officer told an aerospace meeting he had been at a crash retrieval scene.
- Submarine encounters study (1952) (24 April 1952) — Air Force and Navy intelligence study nine undersea UAP encounters reported by U.S. submarines.
See every 1952 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- Project Twinkle final report (27 Nov 1951), Project 1947 · mail.project1947.com · archived copy
- Green fireballs — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Project Twinkle report (November 1951), UFO Scans · ufoscans.com · archived copy
- "UFO files: 1949 Los Alamos green fireball mystery declassified", Newsweek · newsweek.com · archived copy
- Los Alamos National Security Research Center on FOIA requests · lanl.gov · archived copy
- documents2.theblackvault.com · documents2.theblackvault.com · archived copy
- pbs.twimg.com · pbs.twimg.com · archived copy
- pbs.twimg.com · pbs.twimg.com · archived copy
- worldhistoryproject.org · worldhistoryproject.org · archived copy
Further reading
- Los Alamos National Laboratory — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Sandia National Laboratories — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- White Sands Missile Range — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Holloman Air Force Base — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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