National Bureau of Standards 1943 UFO claim
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 8
| Date | 1969 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Government programs (topic), Congress & law (topic) |
| People | Jacques Vallée, Hugh Dryden |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 72 |
| Year | 1969 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1969 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 6 |
In his published journals, Forbidden Science (covering 1957–1969), Jacques Vallée recorded hearing from a former engineer with U.S. intelligence in Germany that the National Bureau of Standards had investigated UFOs under "Professor Dryden" as early as 1943, alongside research on German jet aircraft.[1]
The claim
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As quoted by researcher Keith Basterfield, Vallée wrote that he kept hearing of old secret government projects that were not documented anywhere. The engineer said the investigators already knew that UFOs could interfere with internal combustion engines at a distance and suspected electrostatic effects.[1]
Hugh Dryden
The "Professor Dryden" was presumably Hugh L. Dryden, an aerodynamicist at the National Bureau of Standards who later led research at NACA and became deputy administrator of NASA. In 1957 he told a House appropriations committee, together with James Doolittle, that flying saucers did not exist.[1][2]
Wartime research
Basterfield checked the detailed history UFOs and Government and found that physicist David Griggs had looked into "foo fighter" reports during the Second World War and knew of engine interference cases, but found no mention of a National Bureau of Standards study in 1943.[1]
Assessment
No records of such a study have been found, and the account is second-hand.[1]
People and topics
- 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.
- Forbidden Science — Jacques Vallée's published journals.
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
- Hugh Dryden — Aerodynamicist and NASA deputy administrator named in a claim about 1943 UFO studies.
- NASA — The U.S. civilian space agency, created in 1958.
On the Timeline
- Condon Report (15 November 1968) — The Air Force-funded Condon Report concludes that UAP study has added nothing to science.
- Chilean destroyer encounter (1969) (24 October 1969) — A Chilean informant says a navy destroyer was approached by six objects, one larger than the ship.
See every 1969 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- Keith Basterfield, "Secret studies", UFOs – scientific research (March 2013) · ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com · archived copy
- Hugh Latimer Dryden — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Forbidden Science — the journals of Jacques Vallée (Anomaly Archives) · anomalyarchives.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
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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