First 13 Blue Book Sightings As most of you know Project Blue Book was run by the Air Force and supposedly it was to investigate UFO sightings, but its real purpose was to make excuses for what people saw. There were over 1,600 sightings reported and as the investigations went on the lead scientist began to see a problem. Some of the sightings had no explanation for them and he began to believe UFOs were alien devices. In the past I have talked about Blue Book sightings and decided to mention more of them today. Of those sightings 587 were unexplained. Below are the first thirteen sightings reported. The very first reported sighting happened on January 16, 1947. A pilot in a Mosquito fighter was flying over the North Sea near Holland. It was about 10:30 p.m. when he got a radar target. The target was unidentified. It was flying at 22,000 feet and either at about the same speed as the Mosquito or a little faster. It was determined it was heading in a straight direction towards Norfolk, England. In those days pilots were not used to seeing UFOs. 1947 seemed to be the start of the UFO flap. In April of that year at Richmond, Virginia, at 11 a.m. a meteorologist saw a disc shaped craft in the sky. It was a shiny silver color. He had been tracking a weather balloon when he saw the disc. He said the disc seemed larger than the balloon. On May 17, 1947 a field engineer stationed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma was in a field at between 8:30 and 9:00 p.m. when he saw something strange in the sky. It was a round object and flat. The color was described as frosty white. He estimated the object was about ten times wider than high and could have been about 140 feet wide. He estimated the height at around 10,000 to 18,000 feet and the speed to be about three times the maximum of a jet fighter plane. Just a note that means the object was traveling around 1,800 mph. It did make a noise according to the engineer and it was a swishing sound. The next sighting was close to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. The sighting was made on June 2, 1947. A pilot was flying his plane at about 1,400 feet when an object shaped like a mayonnaise jar which was only about 15 inches in length crossed in front of his plane. The estimated speed of the object was between 1,000 and 1,200 mph, far in advance of any plane at that time. The object had an exhaust which looked like a mixture of white and silver fire. The same object had been seen before. On June 12, 1947 at 6:15 p.m. a woman spotted two objects in the sky traveling in formation and very fast. She said they moved up and down twice and were flying quite high. Two days later on June 14, 1947, a pilot was with a young boy and they saw ten round and flat objects in formation at about 9,000 feet. The time was somewhere between 12:00 and 2:15 p.m. and the event was over Bakersfield, California. Their estimated speed was between 300 and 400 mph. They were traveling in a straight line. As they watched, seven of the objects turned and went in the other direction. On June 21, 1947 a woman in Spokane, Washington saw something strange in the sky at 11:00 a.m. She saw eight disc shaped objects which looked shiny silver colored and had slim bodies. She said they flew past her house at about 600 mph but it could have been slower. There is no way this civilian woman could really estimate their speed. She also said they were about 7,000 feet in altitude, another measurement she wouldn’t be familiar with. On June 24, 1947 in Mount Adams, Washington, a prospector from Portland, Oregon was on the mountain at about 5,000 feet. He saw 6 and maybe 7 fast moving objects in the sky. They were very bright on top and had long sharply pointed tails and one was waving back and forth. He estimated they were about 1,000 feet higher than he was. When he was asked how far away they were, he said about 10 miles. He had pulled out a small telescope and used it on them for a better view. As they flew by, the needle on his compass fluctuated. The next reported sighting was on June 28, 1947 in Rockfield, Wisconsin. A farmer and his sister were outside at 3:43 p.m. when they saw 7 to 10 flying saucers. They said they were traveling at high speed. On the same day at about 30 miles from Lake Mead, Nevada at 3:15 p.m. a pilot flying his F-51 fighter was at 6,000 feet. He saw a formation of 5 or 6 white circular 3 foot objects and the same height as his plane off his right wing. He estimated their speed at 285 mph. Again, on that day a sighting was made between 9:20 and 9:45 p.m. at Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama. 4 officers, including pilots saw a bright light travel toward them in a zigzag pattern. It produced bursts of high speed at times. When it reached them, it was directly overhead and then turned 90 degrees and went out of view. On June 29, 1947 at Des Moines, Iowa at about 3:45 p.m. a bus driver saw 4 objects flying in a single line. He said they were round and a dirty white color. He said they were an inverted saucer shape and between 175 to 250 feet in diameter. He said their altitude was about 1,200 feet. He also said the objects were traveling at about 300 mph. Another June 29 sighting took place at Las Cruces, New Mexico at about 1:15 p.m. A scientist and his wife along with a supervisor were in a car driving from Las Cruces to White Sands Proving Grounds also known as WSPG. They were driving at 60 mph when they saw a shiny silver disc or sphere. It appeared to be the same size as the sun in the sky. There was a vapor trail coming from it at one time. It was estimated to be at an altitude of 8,000 to 10,000 feet. As far as how fast it was traveling the witnesses only said it was going at high speed. You can see there was plenty going on in our skies 75 years ago and today is no different.
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