Project Blue Book (1952–1969)
🏛️ U.S. Air Force · National Archives
The Air Force’s long-running study of UFO reports, which followed the shorter Project Sign (1947–48) and Project Grudge (1949). Its case files are now held by the National Archives.
Key points
- Blue Book logged 12,618 reports; 701 were left as “unidentified”.
- The Air Force said none of the reports showed a threat to national security or technology beyond what was known.
- It closed in December 1969, after the Condon Report said further study was unlikely to add to science.
- The declassified case files went to the National Archives and are available on microfilm and online.
Why it matters
Blue Book is the biggest official UFO case archive in the world, and the baseline for every later U.S. effort.
Read it yourself
The summary above is ours, written in plain English. Always check the original: the official files on this page go straight to the source, and each one has a backup copy saved by the Internet Archive in case the government page moves.
U.S. Air Force · National Archives. (1952). Project Blue Book (1952–1969). https://www.archives.gov/research/military/air-force/ufosRelated records
The Condon Report (1969)
University of Colorado for the U.S. Air Force
“Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects”: an Air Force-funded study led by physicist Edward Condon at the University of Colorado from 1966 to 1968.
National Archives UAP Records Collection (Record Group 615)
U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
The National Archives’ home for government UAP records, created under the 2024 defense law. Records are added as agencies transfer them.
CIA UFO records collection
Central Intelligence Agency
The CIA’s online reading-room collection of declassified UFO material: memos, panel papers and reports from the late 1940s onward. Roughly 900 pages first came out in 1978 after a Freedom of Information lawsuit.
FBI Vault: the Bureau’s UFO files
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The FBI’s public collection of its records on “flying discs” and unidentified flying objects, released under the Freedom of Information Act and posted in the FBI Vault reading room.