Robert Wood's McDonnell Douglas study
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 8
| Date | 1967 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Government programs (topic), Propulsion & physics (topic) |
| People | Robert M. Wood |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 70 |
| Year | 1967 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1967 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 7 |
Robert M. Wood, a physicist and aerospace engineer who spent 43 years at Douglas Aircraft and McDonnell Douglas, said that in the late 1960s he persuaded company management to fund a small in-house study of UFO reports, to see whether gravity-based propulsion could explain their reported performance. It found no breakthrough.[1][2]
Wood's career
Wood earned a degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Colorado and a doctorate in physics from Cornell in 1953. He worked at Douglas Aircraft and the Aberdeen Proving Ground and then at Douglas and McDonnell Douglas from 1956 to 1993 in research and development management, including thermal protection for the Nike Zeus missile, radar discrimination and space station proposals, retiring on 8 October 1993.[1]
The study
According to Wood's later account in the MUFON UFO Journal in October 2008, the effort ran from about 1966 to 1970 and examined whether "gravity control" might explain UFOs. The group, nicknamed "BITBR" ("Boys in the Back Room"), spent a modest budget reviewing physics ideas and UFO case data and approached the University of Colorado's Condon Committee; Wood later wrote a 1993 article about that encounter. Informal company papers from around 1970, including a proposal called "Project Skylite", have been linked to the group.[1][2][3]
Context
Wood's study was one of several documented examples of aerospace companies quietly looking at UFOs. Jacques Vallée's journals record a UFO group at Douglas assessing Blue Book cases around 1955 and suggest McDonnell Douglas continued UFO research in 1974–1978, while Martin and other firms funded gravity research in the mid-1950s.[2]
Later life
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After retiring, Wood served on the boards of the Fund for UFO Research and MUFON and on the council of the Society for Scientific Exploration, and became one of the best-known advocates of the Majestic 12 documents, publishing and analysing them with his son Ryan. His McDonnell Douglas study shows corporate curiosity rather than any discovery.[1][4]
People and topics
- McDonnell Douglas — The aerospace company that ran several quiet studies of UFOs and propulsion.
- Robert M. Wood — McDonnell Douglas engineer who ran an in-house UFO study and later promoted the MJ-12 documents.
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
- Condon Report — Condon Report
- Anti-gravity — The idea of cancelling or controlling gravity for propulsion.
- Project Skylite — Project Skylite
- MJ-12 — Disputed documents describing a secret committee managing crashed saucers.
On the Timeline
- Yuma hangar photograph claim (1967) (1967) — A source says his brother photographed a saucer in a hangar in Yuma and then fled.
- Wheless memo on UFO impostors (1967) (1 March 1967) — An Air Force memo warns of men in uniform telling UAP witnesses to stay silent.
See every 1967 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- Patrick Gross, "Dr. Robert M. Wood", UFOs at close sight · ufologie.patrickgross.org · archived copy
- "More on aerospace companies and UFOs", UFOs Scientific Research (Nov 2010) · ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com · archived copy
- MUFON UFO Journal, October 2008 (PDF), The Black Vault · documents.theblackvault.com · archived copy
- Majestic 12 — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- majesticdocuments.com · majesticdocuments.com · archived copy
- documents.theblackvault.com · documents.theblackvault.com · archived copy
- remoteviewed.com · remoteviewed.com · archived copy
Further reading
- Project Blue Book — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Project Blue Book records — National Archives · archives.gov · archived copy
- Project Blue Book files — The Black Vault · theblackvault.com · archived copy
- J. Allen Hynek — 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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