Blue Book Special Report No. 14
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 7
| Date | 5 May 1955 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Crashes & retrievals (topic), Secrecy & cover-up (topic), Bases & Area 51 (topic) |
| People | J. Allen Hynek, Bruce Maccabee |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 54 |
| Year | 1955 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1955 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 9 |
Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14, dated 5 May 1955, was the largest statistical study of UFO reports the U.S. Air Force ever commissioned. Analysts at the Battelle Memorial Institute coded about 3,200 cases and found that about 22 per cent remained unidentified, but the report's summary concluded that it was highly improbable that any represented technology beyond present knowledge.[1][2]
The study
Captain Edward Ruppelt, head of Project Blue Book, met Battelle staff in late December 1951. Working under a secret contract later associated with the name Project Stork, analysts designed a standard reporting form and, from March 1952, coded about 30 characteristics of each case from 1947 to 1952 — such as shape, colour, speed and duration — onto IBM punched cards, along with ratings of each report's reliability. Two analysts had to agree for a case to be classed as known, but all four had to agree to call it unknown. The work was completed in 1954, after Ruppelt had left Blue Book.[1][3]
Results
- About 69 per cent of cases were identified, mostly as aircraft, balloons or astronomical objects; about 9 per cent had insufficient information; and about 22 per cent were unknowns.[1]
- The unknowns were not simply the poorest reports: 35 per cent of "excellent" cases were unknowns, against 18 per cent of the poorest.[1]
- The unknowns differed statistically from the identified cases on several features.[1]
Release and criticism
When the Air Force released the report in October 1955, its press release stated that only 3 per cent of cases were unexplained and that these would probably disappear with more data. Critics, including J. Allen Hynek and researcher Bruce Maccabee, argued that the report's conclusions conflicted with its own statistics, presented in some 240 charts and tables. The full report is freely available online.[1][2][4]
People and topics
- Project Blue Book — The Air Force's public UFO investigation from 1952 until its closure in December 1969.
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
- U.S. Air Force — The U.S. military service that ran the official UFO projects from 1947 to 1969.
- Battelle Memorial Institute — The Ohio research institute that analysed Air Force UFO reports.
- Project Stork — Battelle Memorial Institute's classified analysis of Air Force UFO reports from 1952.
- J. Allen Hynek — Astronomer and Air Force UFO consultant from 1948 to 1969 who later founded the Center for UFO Studies.
- Bruce Maccabee — Navy optical physicist and leading analyst of UFO photographs.
On the Timeline
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- Tompkins's secret space program claims (1 March 1955) — Tompkins also describes alleged secret underground bases tied to a hidden space program.
- Senator Russell's Soviet sighting (1955) (15 October 1955) — Sen. Richard Russell sees two discs in the Soviet Union; the CIA classifies the case.
See every 1955 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- Project Blue Book — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- "Project Blue Book Special Report 14 (May 5, 1955)", The Black Vault · theblackvault.com · archived copy
- Battelle Memorial Institute — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Patrick Gross, "Battelle and Special Report 14", UFOs at close sight · ufology.patrickgross.org · archived copy
- UFO studies and reports index — NOUFORS · noufors.com · archived copy
- academia.edu · academia.edu · archived copy
- sunrisepage.com · sunrisepage.com · archived copy
- sunrisepage.com · sunrisepage.com · archived copy
- osti.gov · osti.gov · archived copy
Further reading
- Wright-Patterson Air Force Base — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Hangar 18 (the legend and 1980 film) — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Pentacle memorandum — 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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