The first day of the month set the tone, involving a classic case near Davis-Montham AFB, later investigated by Dr. James McDonald, in which an air intelligence officer, a B-36 crew, and an airman witnessed two shiny, round objects overtake their plane. The objects slowed down to match the plane’s speed and remained in formation with them for about twenty seconds. At that point, they made a very sharp no-radius turn away from the B-36, flew away a bit, then one of the objects stopped and hovered. Both objects were silent. The Blue Book team dismissed the case as “aircraft.” On the same day at George AFB in California, five independent witnesses saw a group of five daylight discs. The objects appeared to be very maneuverable, and seemed almost to collide, then break away. Blue Book labeled this as unidentified.11
Ruppelt also mentioned a remarkable UFO sighting in May by “one of the top people” in the CIA while he gave a lawn party at his home near Alexandria, Virginia. A silent object performed a nearly vertical climb, then dove straight down, leveled off, and zoomed away. “A number of notable personages” in attendance also saw it. They made some phone calls that night, and “the mention of their names on a telephone got quick results.” The news reached General Samford, who phoned ATIC chief Dunn. Dunn in turn told Ruppelt to get to Washington on the double. Ruppelt quickly arrived to interview the host and learn what he could, but the object remained unknown.12
On May 8, Air Force Secretary Thomas Finletter and his staff received a secret one-hour briefing on UFOs from Ruppelt and Lt. Col. R. J. Taylor, covering the five-year ATIC investigation. Not much is known about the meeting. According to Ruppelt, Finletter listened intently and asked several questions about specific sightings when the briefing was finished. His only other comment was, “You’re doing a fine job, Captain. It must be interesting. Thank you.” An interesting sidelight to the matter: Finletter’s special assistant, Joseph Bryan III. In a letter to Ruppelt in 1956, Bryan wrote that while he served under Finletter, he had tried “to have him prepare a statement for release when communication was established with a saucer.” According to Bryan, Finletter declined to do so. Bryan, supposedly a mere special assistant, was a CIA man who had directed the agency’s psychological warfare unit. (This was completely unknown until the 1970s but is well known now. The letter to Ruppelt was only published in 2000.) In 1960, Bryan joined the board of directors of NICAP, then the world’s major civilian UFO organization.13
The latter part of May had its share of intriguing UFO sightings and lame explanations. Consider the following event from Chorwon, Korea, on the last day of the month. Several U.S. soldiers saw a bright UFO that looked like a falling star, except that it stopped falling and began to climb again. It then moved northeast at about 150 mph, reversed course twice, then climbed at a forty-five-degree angle and faded from sight. One guard reported a pulsating sound from the object. An air intelligence information report stated that an F-94 attempted to intercept this object. The pilot described it as round, of unknown size, “brilliant white,” and leaving no exhaust. It undertook clearly evasive maneuvers and pulled away from the F-94 at thirty thousand feet. According to the intelligence report, “the object possessed a superior speed, superior climbing ability, and was able to turn equally as well as the F-94” Blue Book’s evaluation: ”balloon with flare.“14
THE PACE QUICKENS
May had been a busy month for Blue Book; the pace doubled in June. That month, Ruppelt’s staff received 149 sighting reports. He later described the month as “one big swirl of UFO reports.” The air force, he believed, was taking the UFO problem seriously, partly because of the good reports coming from Korea. By now, Ruppelt had four officers, two airmen, and two civilians on his permanent staff. In addition, a number of scientists, including Hynek, were working in a significant capacity for the team. In the Pentagon, Maj. Dewey Fournet was a full-time Blue Book liaison. In terms of staffing and prestige within the air force, Blue Book was at its peak. It appeared that, through the Blue Book office at ATIC, the air force was serious about studying the UFO problem. Even so, the Blue Book staff was overwhelmed with reports.15
