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I can get no British naval or air officer to pass any comment on ufos.... One thing I can tell you: every time I mention the phenomenon, or speak of ufos to one particular naval officer-friend of mine, I come against a wall of silence. He turns the subject aside, and won’t say a word. I am sure the subject of ufos is definitely taboo in naval and air circles.

Wilkins himself wrote of “a conspiracy of silence” at this time among the press and world governments.¹⁵¹

Frank Edwards, out of a job at Mutual Broadcasting, tried to keep busy. On June 13, 1955, he traveled with a TV film producer to the navy department and asked for some unclassified navy pictures of rockets. This appeared to be no problem until the navy learned that Edwards intended to show them on television during a panel discussion on UFOs. Suddenly, the Navy informed Edwards it would not cooperate on any publicity connected with flying saucers.¹⁵²

Keyhoe remained the most visible and dangerous opponent of UFO secrecy. In the latter half of 1955, his third book on the subject, The Flying Saucer Conspiracy, appeared. Keyhoe maintained his knack for writing about all the things the military was trying to keep low-key. From over three hundred sources, he presented accurate descriptions of the UFO cover-up by analyzing such documents as JANAP 146 and AFR 200-2, the air force’s attempts to discredit him, as well as many well-researched and vividly described UFO encounters. As in the past, critical reviews were mixed. Jonathon Leonard of the New York Times called it a “repetitious and unconvincing attack on the major’s great enemy: the air force ‘silence group.”’ Library Journal, on the other hand, conceded that Keyhoe’s conclusions were “less fantastic than those of other writers in this field, and it must be admitted that the book makes fascinating reading.”¹⁵³

His book directly resulted in the publication of the Battelle Report, also known as Blue Book Special Report #14. The air force had declassified it in May, then waited until a press conference on October 25, 1955, to release it to the general public. The report dismissed UFOs as a significant scientific or national security problem and claimed that all but a few UFOs were explainable. Air Force Secretary Donald Quarles added that (1) no one had reason to believe flying saucers have flown over the U.S.; (2) the three percent unknowns for 1954 would be identifiable if more data were available; and (3) the air force had recently tested a new circular vertical takeoff jet, built by the AV Roe company in Canada, known as the AVRO disc. Quarles said this would probably cause UFO sightings in the future (it did not, as it was soon scrapped). He also stated that the report found “no evidence of the existence of the popularly termed ‘flying saucers.’” Quarles implied that the fictitious three percent unknown figure for 1954 applied for the 1947—1952 period—which it did not.

Like so many official reports before and since, the Battelle Report’s conclusions did not match its data. The report’s unexplained rate was 20 percent, which rose to 22 percent when removing cases lacking sufficient data. It also indicated that the better rated the witness, the better quality the sighting. Ruppelt’s opinion of the report was succinct: “worthless.” In his view, Blue Book had been founded not to solve the overall UFO problem, but to learn of new technological developments. “This is not a good study.” The major media, however, such as the New York Times, accepted Quarles without reservation and lauded the report as the final word on UFOs.¹⁵⁴

1955 SIGHTINGS: MORE HUMANOIDS

The lid may have been down, but UFOs continued to appear worldwide. Many of the reports are unofficial in that they are not Blue Book reports, some were not military related, and some—not investigated thoroughly—remain just stories. On January 1, 1955, a formation of five UFOs was seen over Lima, Peru, by many witnesses. The objects hovered over the city and gave off an intense silvery light. In San Sebastian, Spain, on January 5, a red circular object about ten feet wide was seen to land and take off again. On January 14, an unknown object hit the wing of a B-47 jet bomber in California; the plane landed safely. On February 2, a veteran airline pilot and copilot in Venezuela had a clear view of a UFO with lights and portholes. Their receiver went dead, and the object sped away. More green fireballs were observed over Texas on February 14.¹⁵⁵