Air Force Regulation 200-2
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 7
| Date | 26 August 1953 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Secrecy & cover-up (topic), Government programs (topic), Congress & law (topic) |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 49 |
| Year | 1953 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1953 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 7 |
Air Force Regulation 200-2, "Unidentified Flying Objects Reporting", was the U.S. Air Force directive governing how UFOs were reported and investigated. Issued on 26 August 1953 and revised in August 1954, it gave field investigations to the 4602d Air Intelligence Service Squadron and restricted what the public could be told.[1][2]
Provisions
The regulation set out how Air Force bases should report UFOs. The 4602d Air Intelligence Service Squadron of Air Defense Command, based at Ent Air Force Base in Colorado, was given the job of preliminary and field investigations within the United States, while Project Blue Book at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base received and analysed the reports. The squadron's operations officer evaluated reports and supervised its investigators.[1][2][3]
Public information
The regulation controlled what the public could be told: bases could release information only when a sighting had been positively identified as a familiar object, while unexplained cases were not to be discussed publicly. The 1954 revision kept these restrictions.[1][4]
Criticism and later changes
Critics argue that AFR 200-2 shifted the most interesting cases away from Blue Book, whose small staff and limited budget made it more of a public-relations office, while the 4602d and higher intelligence offices handled field work. A February 1958 revision returned investigations to local base commanders. By the late 1960s UFO reporting was governed by a successor, Air Force Regulation 80-17, which was cancelled when Blue Book closed in 1969.[4][5][6]
People and topics
- Unidentified anomalous phenomena — The U.S. government's current term for unidentified objects in the air, in space and underwater.
- Project Blue Book — The Air Force's public UFO investigation from 1952 until its closure in December 1969.
- U.S. Air Force — The U.S. military service that ran the official UFO projects from 1947 to 1969.
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
- 4602d Air Intelligence Service Squadron — An Air Force unit that investigated UFO reports in the 1950s.
- Wright-Patterson Air Force Base — The Ohio air base that housed Project Blue Book and is linked to the Hangar 18 legend.
On the Timeline
- Kingman UFO crash (21 May 1953) — An engineer using the pseudonym Fritz Werner swears he investigated a crashed craft near Kingman, Arizona.
- Lockheed–Kelly Johnson sighting (1953) (18 December 1953) — Lockheed test crew members flying a Navy aircraft follow a flying saucer over the Pacific.
See every 1953 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- "Air Force Regulation 200-2" (1954), Wikisource · en.wikisource.org · archived copy
- "4602d AISS Unit History Sampler", NICAP · nicap.org · archived copy
- "4602d AISS Unit History Sampler" (part 4), NICAP · nicap.org · archived copy
- "UFO reporting procedures and regulations", The Black Vault · theblackvault.com · archived copy
- Endnotes on Air Force UFO investigation regulations, Minot B-52 UFO · minotb52ufo.com · archived copy
- "The Bolender Draft (Not Memo), Oct 20, 1969", NICAP · nicap.org · archived copy
- nicap.org · nicap.org · archived copy
Further reading
- Project Blue Book — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Project Blue Book records — National Archives · archives.gov · archived copy
- Project Blue Book files — The Black Vault · theblackvault.com · archived copy
- U.S. congressional hearings on UFOs — 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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