McDonnell Douglas close-encounter database (1978)
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 7
| Date | 5 January 1978 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Secrecy & cover-up (topic), Government programs (topic) |
| People | Jacques Vallée, Robert M. Wood, Christopher "Kit" Green |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 83 |
| Year | 1978 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1978 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 6 |
In his published journals, Jacques Vallée records that on 5 January 1978 an employee of McDonnell Douglas Astronautics telephoned him to say he was compiling a database of close-encounter UFO cases "on a private basis". Vallée doubted that the company had no corporate interest and suspected it had a well-funded secret project with CIA backing.[1][2]
Vallée's journal entries
The 1978 call was one of several McDonnell Douglas references in Vallée's journals. In March 1974 he noted that Robert Wood of McDonnell Douglas attended a joint meeting of the AIAA's UFO subcommittee and J. Allen Hynek's Center for UFO Studies. On 10 December 1974 he wrote that CIA scientist Kit Green had reluctantly confirmed a group of 15 engineers in the Midwest secretly doing UFO research under cover of aeronautical work, which Vallée assumed meant McDonnell in St. Louis. In October 1978 he wrote that McDonnell Douglas was continuing a "quiet but well funded study" with engineer John Schuessler, apparently looking for exotic alloys.[1]
Wood's study
McDonnell Douglas's documented interest dates to 1966, when Wood, an engineer, proposed studying how UFOs might travel. Management approved a small "Advanced Projects" effort that employed nuclear physicist Stanton Friedman to review the UFO literature, physicist Joseph Brown for laboratory work, a private detective to interview witnesses and others. It tested whether strong magnetic fields could affect the speed of light, interviewed witnesses, proposed a "Project Skylite" to an interested intelligence agency in 1970, and spent about $500,000 in total before closing. Wood described the project in the MUFON Journal in 2008, and company documents from the period survive.[1]
Assessment
No company or government documents confirm a funded UFO project at McDonnell Douglas in 1978; the claim of a secret project was Vallée's own suspicion, not something the caller told him. Vallée's journals are a first-hand record of what he was told, and their value lies in showing a pattern of such conversations over many years.[1][2][3]
People and topics
- McDonnell Douglas — The aerospace company that ran several quiet studies of UFOs and propulsion.
- Jacques Vallée — Computer scientist and astronomer, author of the Forbidden Science journals and a central figure in UFO research.
- Unidentified anomalous phenomena — The U.S. government's current term for unidentified objects in the air, in space and underwater.
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
- Robert M. Wood — McDonnell Douglas engineer who ran an in-house UFO study and later promoted the MJ-12 documents.
- Central Intelligence Agency — The U.S. foreign intelligence agency, which has followed UFO reports since the 1940s.
- Christopher "Kit" Green — CIA physician and analyst who became a long-time contact of Jacques Vallée and studied UAP-related injuries.
On the Timeline
- Ohio crash with survivor claim (1978) (1978) — An Air Force officer reportedly heard of a crash with two dead and one live occupant near Ohio.
- NASA physical evidence policy (1978) (17 January 1978) — A NASA memo describes a program to analyze physical UAP evidence.
See every 1978 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- "Aerospace companies and UFOs — 2", UFOs Scientific Research (Jan 2010) · ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com · archived copy
- "Forbidden Science: journals of Jacques Vallée", Anomaly Archives · anomalyarchives.org · archived copy
- Jacques Vallée — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Forbidden Science series — Anomalist Books · anomalistbooks.com · archived copy
- Review of Forbidden Science 6 — SFCrowsnest · sfcrowsnest.info · archived copy
- Forbidden Science Dispatches — Tanner Boyle (journal summaries) · tannerfboyle.substack.com · archived copy
Further reading
- Jacques Vallée — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- UFO documents — CIA Reading Room · cia.gov · 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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