Air Force Manual 190-4
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 4
| Date | 1 May 1956 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Secrecy & cover-up (topic), Congress & law (topic) |
| People | William Coleman |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 57 |
| Year | 1956 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1956 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 3 |
Air Force Manual 190-4 — A former Air Force spokesman says a manual governed all official statements about UFOs.
Air Force Manual 190-4, issued on 1 May 1956, set out Air Force information policy, including how public statements and publications had to be cleared for security and policy before release. Such manuals were standard tools for managing what the military told the public.
According to former Air Force spokesman Maj. William Coleman, as reported by NICAP in the early 1960s, the manual was used to review UFO-related material, including a 1960 book on UFOs that the Air Force had approved. Coleman later produced UFO-related media projects of his own and, in the 1970s, worked on the TV series Project U.F.O.
The manual's existence is documented in government catalogues. What is less clear is how it specifically applied to UFOs, which is known mainly from NICAP's reporting. Critics of Air Force policy cite it as part of a system, along with AFR 200-2 and JANAP 146, that controlled what the public could learn about sightings.
People and topics
- 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.
- William Coleman — Former Air Force spokesman linked to official UFO policy and the 1974 Emenegger documentary.
- NICAP — The leading U.S. civilian UFO group of the 1950s and 1960s.
- Air Force Regulation 200-2 — Air Force Regulation 200-2
- JANAP 146(C) — JANAP 146(C)
On the Timeline
- Allende letters and the Philadelphia Experiment (April 1956) — Morris Jessup receives letters claiming a secret Navy experiment at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.
- John Moss and Special Report 14 (1956) (5 July 1956) — Rep. John Moss asks why the unclassified Blue Book Special Report 14 isn't public.
See every 1956 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- AFM 190-4 (1 May 1956) catalog record — UNT Libraries · mocat.library.unt.edu · archived copy
- NICAP — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- cufos.org · cufos.org · archived copy
Further reading
- NICAP archive · nicap.org · 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.
No discussion yet.