You mention that the fear of panic is not holding anyone’s tongue. That’s an extremely good point; I had not thought of it. On the second page, you indicate what you believe the Air Force wants of us, and I am very glad to have your opinion. In fact, you have answered quite directly the question that I have asked — you may remember that I came back to it a couple of times — at our meeting on Thursday evening, January 12.
Low then signed off, after suggesting that he and Condon would be in Washington, D.C. and they could “perhaps” get together.
This attitude (of getting rid of Blue Book as suggested by Hippler) that had been established in official communications for a long time. For example on April 1, 1960 (Yeah, the timing sucks):
I have tried to get Bluebook out of ATIC for 10 years… and do not agree that the loss of prestige to the UFO project is a disadvantage…
Francis Archer, a scientific advisor to Blue Book in a letter to Major General Dougher at the Pentagon…
And in 1962, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Friend, at the time chief of Project Blue Book wrote should be handed over to a civilian agency that would word its report in such a way as to allow the Air Force to drop its study.
Edward Trapnell, an assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force, when talking to Dr. Robert Calkins of the Brookings Institute said that they should find a civilian committee to study the problem and then have them conclude it the way the Air Force wanted. One of the stipulations was that the organization, whatever it might be, should say some positive things about the Air Force handling of the UFO investigation.
Now, I realize that reasonable men and women can disagree as to the interpretation of these letters. However, given the other documents from the Blue Book files, the Archer and Trapnell letters, for example, I see an attempt to end Blue Book with the sham of an “objective” scientific study. The course for Condon was laid before Condon and the boys in Colorado even entered the picture.
The language in both Hippler’s and Low’s letters can be seen as benign, but it can also suggest an attempt by Hippler to tell Low what they want to find and what recommendation they want. End the study of UFOs by the Air Force. Get the Air Force off the hook for UFO investigations. The other letters and documents prove that this is the case.
In fact, just three days after that letter was received, Condon delivered a lecture to scientists in Corning, New York telling them, “It is my inclination right now to recommend that the government get out of this business. My attitude right now is that there is nothing in it. But I am not supposed to reach a conclusion for another year.”
My point remains, the Condon Committee is bad science. Yes, it should be read, but it should be understood that it does not adequately answer the questions that it set out to answer. And when skeptics point to it as a scientific study, we should be prepared to point that it was not scientific. It was propaganda.
The Airship Solution
Since I have been accused of staying in the past when the solution for the UFO phenomenon rests in the present, I thought I’d point out that sometimes the past leads the way to the future. Back in 1896 and 1897 there was a wave of “UFO” sightings throughout this country (A 1912 airship seen here). Every aspect of the modern era was present from alien abduction to UFO crashes. There were cattle mutilations, contacts, claims of rides, and everything else. And just as in the modern era, there were lots of theories about what was really going on.
Many of those classic cases have been “solved.” Jerry Clark took care of the great Alexander Hamilton calf-napping. The Aurora, Texas UFO crash has been researched and researched and only recently was it the subject of another UFO TV documentary. When it was over, and the had excavated the well that was supposed to be the location of some of the mysterious wreckage we knew nothing more about the case. The only thing they found in the well was a snake.
There was on theory proposed in 1897 that makes sense to me. And it is one that could be applied to the modern era, if we take a look at our history and understand it.
The Des Moines Register in 1897 put forth another theory about the reliability, and the genesis of the airship, at least in Iowa. The reporters noted that the airship was mentioned in Cedar Rapids on April 14 and on the next night it was seen near Fairfield. It was also seen near Evanston, Illinois “worrying the Chicago papers greatly.” The most remarkable account of the airship came on April 15 near Pella, Iowa. According to the newspaper, “many people, among them the Western Union operator had seen the machine… if it was true, the Pella airship looked like a sea serpent, a balloon, a winged cigar, a pair of balloons hitched together with a car swung between them, a car with an aeroplane and three sails, and 19 or 20 other things.”
The Register article continued by reporting that the telephone in the Leader(another Iowa newspaper office) rang and the town of Stuart was “found to be clamoring for fame.” They had seen the airship. The story went out over the wire and the Western Union operator said that he could produce dozens of witnesses if anyone cared. He said that the airship had come from the southeast, was traveling about fifteen miles an hour and had a red light in front and a green one in the rear. The operator’s feelings were hurt when he was asked if it was an April Fool’s joke.
While the conversation between the newspaper reporters and the telegrapher was evolving into a heated argument, a report came in that the airship was now over Panora, Iowa. The Western Union operator there said that they had seen the airship over their own town coming from the direction of Stuart. It was now moving faster, but had the same appearance as it did in Stuart which the Register labeled as a “neat attempt at getting around the description.”
As the argument increased in intensity, the number of telegrams about the airship also increased. From Clinton, Iowa came a telegram saying the airship had flown over the town on April 10. Although the airship was reported to have been seen by several prominent and reputable citizens, the telegram was almost apologetic in its tone.
Immediately came a telegram from Ottumwa reporting they had seen the airship more than once. “An Eldon (Iowa) operator discovered the airship at 7:25 p.m. Ottumwa was prepared for its appearance. It was seen here by half the population. All agreed that it appeared as a red light moving up and down and traveling northwest. Albia caught sight of it at 8:10 and at 9 o’clock it was still visible… This was the third time that it has been seen in Albia.”
The Register reported, “The fact seems to be that the airship has been exploited beautifully by telegraphers along certain lines of the railroad. They managed it beautifully for awhile and never allowed it to travel too far too fast.” The reports were always well done showing a certain amount of genius. But the rest of the public began to take a hand and the airship reports got too numerous. Some would conflict and it became evident that someone would have to have a whole fleet of airships for all the sightings to be true.
What all this suggests is that the vast majority of the airship stories were hoaxes. Some originated by individuals such as Alexander Hamilton or the people in Cedar Rapids, others were initiated by the newspapers looking for something spectacular to report, and the last bunch were created by the telegraphers along the railroads who were bored late in the evening.
It is now clear that there was no great airship invention just before the turn of the last century. Heavier-than-air flight would become a reality in six years. Airplanes would soon begin flying across the country, then across the oceans, and finally around the world. Great airships would be built by the military to search for enemy subs, or to hover above battlefields so that generals could gather intelligence about enemy movements. Eventually there would even be airship flights across the Atlantic. These would end when the Hindenburg exploded in New Jersey in 1939.