The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🎬 Book or film
Contents 5
| Type | Book, film or media |
|---|---|
| On the Timeline | 2 events, 1952–1956 |
The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects is a 1956 book by Edward J. Ruppelt, a former U.S. Air Force captain who headed Project Grudge and Project Blue Book. Published by Doubleday, it gave the public its first inside account of the Air Force's UFO investigations and remains one of the most influential books on the subject.[1][2]
Contents
Ruppelt described how Blue Book sorted reports, including a file for "crackpot" letters, and contrasted public statements of disinterest with active investigation. The book covers:[1][2] - the 1947 "flying disc" wave, Kenneth Arnold's sighting and the Maury Island incident; - General Nathan Twining's memo of 23 September 1947, which treated the sightings as real and worth investigating; - the 1948–1949 Mantell, Chiles–Whitted and Gorman cases, the green fireballs of New Mexico and Project Twinkle; - Project Sign's "Estimate of the Situation", which Ruppelt said favoured an interplanetary explanation and was rejected by General Hoyt Vandenberg — the first public account of the document, of which no copy has ever surfaced; - Project Grudge from 1949, which Ruppelt said assumed from the start that UFOs could not exist; - the 1951 Lubbock Lights, Frank Scully's crashed-saucer book and the Aztec hoax; - the 1952 Washington, D.C., sightings and the Air Force's handling of the press; - a suggested link between some sightings and increases in atmospheric radiation.
Ruppelt declined to say what UFOs were, leaving both ordinary and extraterrestrial explanations open and predicting an answer within a few years.[1]
1960 edition
A second edition in 1960 added three chapters covering later sightings, the civilian group NICAP, and the claims of contactee George Adamski, whom Ruppelt compared to showman P. T. Barnum. In it Ruppelt said he was now "positive" that UFOs did not exist.[1][2]
Reception
A 1956 review praised Ruppelt's sober reporting. Historian Curtis Peebles called it the most significant book of its era, arguing that it should have ended talk of an Air Force cover-up but was instead used to support the idea. J. Allen Hynek later called it required reading for serious students of the subject. Ruppelt is often credited with popularising the term "UFO".[1]
On the UAP Timeline
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- Ruppelt held back before the Robertson Panel (9 December 1952) — An Air Force colonel stops Blue Book's Edward Ruppelt from sharing strong cases with the CIA before the Robertson Panel.
- Ruppelt's account of the Estimate of the Situation (February 1956) — Edward Ruppelt writes he once saw a top-secret 'Estimate of the Situation' on UAP.
References
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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