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The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects: Do the UFO's really exist?
The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects is a book by Edward J. Ruppelt which described the study of UFOs by United States Air Force from 1947 to 1955. Ruppelt was a United States Air Force officer best known for his involvement in Project Blue Book, a formal governmental study of unidentified flying objects. He is generally credited with coining the term "unidentified flying object." Because Ruppelt was the central axis of the government's investigation the book provides a unique insider look at how the government's efforts functioned.
468 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1956
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474 people want to read
About the author
Edward J. Ruppelt
14 books7 followersUnited States Air Force officer probably best known for his involvement in Project Blue Book, a formal governmental study of UFOs.
He is generally credited with coining the term "unidentified flying object", to replace the terms "flying saucer" and "flying disk" - which had become widely known - because the military thought them to be "misleading when applied to objects of every conceivable shape and performance.
He is generally credited with coining the term "unidentified flying object", to replace the terms "flying saucer" and "flying disk" - which had become widely known - because the military thought them to be "misleading when applied to objects of every conceivable shape and performance.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
December 14, 2011
The genuine granddaddy of all UFO books is also, after so many years (it was originally written in 1956), still one of best. But there are frustrating moments. As you read the book, you feel pulled in two directions. Captain Ruppelt's (Project Blue Book) voice is a compelling one, in part due to his seemingly objective voice. He attempts to investigate each incident thoroughly, despite severe limitations in budget and staff. Things zip through the air (lights, metallic objects), fighters scramble, confusion sets in. How can you study what you can't seem to catch?
The results are often labeled "unknown," but sometimes a UFO is nothing more that a weather balloon or a plane or a weird light thing that can be explained. These debunking efforts blend in well with the actual unknowns. Early on in the book however, Ruppelt lets the objective mask slip a bit whenever talk touches on possible contactees, like George Adamski. You can tell he has contempt for the notion, and this contempt really springs forth in the book's last pages and chapters. The reason for this, after googling around, was that a ghost writer was employed for the original 1956 effort, which probably watered down Ruppelt's on-page skepticism. If so, I'm glad he did, because the finished effort is a cult classic IMHO. A second edition came out in 1960 with an additional three chapters. In those chapters, Ruppelt concludes (shortly before his death at age 37) that UFOs are totally explainable, and he's confidant that science will continue to whittle away at the percentage of unknowns. It's like a different guy wrote the book. And looking back at that conclusion now, the notion that science would solve the problem of UFOs, and in a natural way, seems quaint now. Despite that, the book's descriptions of various UFO incidents are as fascinating as it gets. (Google up Operation Mainbrace & UFO and see what comes up.) The truth is out there, and despite Ruppelt's misgivings, this is as fine an attempt to grasp it as I've read.
Note: This book is available free via e-book on Kindle. The version I read is the 1960 effort.
The results are often labeled "unknown," but sometimes a UFO is nothing more that a weather balloon or a plane or a weird light thing that can be explained. These debunking efforts blend in well with the actual unknowns. Early on in the book however, Ruppelt lets the objective mask slip a bit whenever talk touches on possible contactees, like George Adamski. You can tell he has contempt for the notion, and this contempt really springs forth in the book's last pages and chapters. The reason for this, after googling around, was that a ghost writer was employed for the original 1956 effort, which probably watered down Ruppelt's on-page skepticism. If so, I'm glad he did, because the finished effort is a cult classic IMHO. A second edition came out in 1960 with an additional three chapters. In those chapters, Ruppelt concludes (shortly before his death at age 37) that UFOs are totally explainable, and he's confidant that science will continue to whittle away at the percentage of unknowns. It's like a different guy wrote the book. And looking back at that conclusion now, the notion that science would solve the problem of UFOs, and in a natural way, seems quaint now. Despite that, the book's descriptions of various UFO incidents are as fascinating as it gets. (Google up Operation Mainbrace & UFO and see what comes up.) The truth is out there, and despite Ruppelt's misgivings, this is as fine an attempt to grasp it as I've read.
Note: This book is available free via e-book on Kindle. The version I read is the 1960 effort.
April 20, 2016
Sometimes you encounter a book that you can't quite classify. A book that would never win any literary awards, yet which is so unique and illuminating and without peer in its subject field that reading it is profoundly satisfying and creates a cherished memory.
What Air Force Captain Edward J. Ruppelt's dryly titled 1956 UFO classic, The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects, proves to me is that you don't have to write a good book to write a great one.
His Report... is like an ugly, old, long-buried crust-covered well-water pump handle that has bubbled up through the soil to break through the surface of your backyard to reveal a tantalizing archaic treasure. At first, it looks like a dirty gnarly relic, but upon closer inspection that long-lost thing turns out to be made of solid 24-karat gold.
Before engaging it I had assumed there would be nothing in it that I didn't already know about UFOs. Because it was written so long ago, 60 years ago, by an author who was already dead by 1960, before even I was born, I imagined most of the vast array of books written since had long surpassed it or had scavenged it clean of its meat.
I was very wrong on all counts.
Ruppelt is so central to the history and study of UFOs that he was the guy who literally invented the term unidentified flying object (to differentiate any and all mysterious, hard to explain aerial phenomena from merely 'flying saucers,' which was the more limiting and popular term in vogue at the time). When Capt. Ruppelt was promoted to head the U.S. government's primary investigation of "flying saucers," the Air Force had become so frustrated by the subject and by the difficulty of studying it that they were ready to close the books on their earliest efforts, codenamed Project Sign and Project Grudge. During Ruppelt's tenure, Grudge was renamed Project Blue Book, and it was by that name that the program existed until its termination in 1969. Ruppelt headed it for barely more than two years, but in that period he brought a seriously objective attitude, scientific rigor and improved administrative efficiency to the task, during a time in which some of the most famous UFO cases of all time transpired (the Lubbock Lights, the Washington, D.C. flyover, etc.).
Because Ruppelt was the central axis of the government's investigation we get a unique insider look at how the government's efforts functioned. We also get a sense of a very harried man, thrust into controversy within an agency engaged in a schizophrenic war with itself about how to confront a subject with broad and potentially frightening implications during a time when the United States had a clear territorial and technological enemy, the Soviet Union, and was faced with possibly an even more profoundly uncontrollable force.
The book might be better titled, The Report on How the United States Government Panicked Over Unidentified Flying Objects. Thus, Ruppelt calls the book, accurately, "the complete account of the Air Force's struggle with the flying saucer," and it is that aptly defined struggle that he so beautifully and fascinatingly recounts in this sweeping magnum opus.
Ruppelt's writing style, I have to admit, flummoxed me a bit at first, but once I understood his voice I became engaged. There's nothing inherently wrong with his style, but the hanging prepositions and the sudden segues at times halted me in the early stages of the reading. The book neither reads like a dry report nor like a work of novelistic flourish. It is something in between. It is clunky and jagged and thrashes about like a stubborn animal, but that, it seems is the nature of a subject that is so enigmatic and unwilling to easily give up its secrets.
What I began to hear, as I read, was the voice of a mid-20th-century American man's man, an experienced World War II vet with a serious sense of, to use an old phrase, "stick-to-it-iveness", with a balancing sense of wry, slightly jaded bemusement -- tempered by his war experience -- at the follies of the world and the politics of the military. There are times when you love Ruppelt for his unexpected moments of knowing humor and his jabs at military bureaucracy. Ruppelt is a military square with a wiseacre bent, and his use of World War II-era vernacular is charming.
The man had a thankless job. People who believed that UFOS were from outer space were never satisfied with his work, and people who thought all UFOS were natural or human-devised phenomena were not happy either. In cases where Ruppelt's team had ruled out any rational explanation, they simply classified a UFO case as "unknown," never taking it to the next step of saying for certain that a UFO was alien. That, he argued, was in no way provable.
Whatever you may think of that position is almost irrelevant to the real value of this book. What's fascinating is the inner workings of the government; how it engaged sophisticated tests, methods, technologies and experts to the task at hand, and Ruppelt lays all these out with a precision and in painstaking detail that is fascinating. The book is also historically valuable because the original records of many of the cases Ruppelt discusses were literally trashed. Ruppelt represented a living memory of records that no longer existed.
I've long contended that the real history of America is what has gone on, and what still goes on, in corporate board rooms and in CEO offices, and in secret government enclaves, where the real decisions that deeply affect the entire populace occur; actions and decisions that are, for all intents and purposes, completely undocumented and completely unknown apart from their broad effects -- the system that results from these decisions, and who has the money and who does not. This gap in our real knowledge doesn't seem to interest or even shock very many people, because reality is boring, or, perhaps, too depressing to motivate us out of our self-imposed collective stupor.
What Ruppelt's book does is open the door to one corner of that world; something no one else has done. And when someone takes the time and the trouble to document a part of our history that no one else has and sets it down for posterity, that earns my special respect.
The book is not without controversy, though, and that is mainly due to the issuance of a second edition in 1960 that added three new chapters in which Ruppelt, for all intents and purposes, contradicts much of what he said in the original edition and thoroughly debunks all UFOS. Conspiracy theories abound in UFO circles as to why he did this, the most prominent assertion being that Ruppelt -- who was literally on his deathbed at the time, about to succumb to his second heart attack -- was strong-armed by the government into repudiating his work and the legitimacy of UFOs. The newer sections, however, don't invalidate the earlier version, but they do add enigma to a subject that is deeply steeped in same.
The book is a masterpiece, in spite of itself.
(KevinR@Ky 2016)
What Air Force Captain Edward J. Ruppelt's dryly titled 1956 UFO classic, The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects, proves to me is that you don't have to write a good book to write a great one.
His Report... is like an ugly, old, long-buried crust-covered well-water pump handle that has bubbled up through the soil to break through the surface of your backyard to reveal a tantalizing archaic treasure. At first, it looks like a dirty gnarly relic, but upon closer inspection that long-lost thing turns out to be made of solid 24-karat gold.
Before engaging it I had assumed there would be nothing in it that I didn't already know about UFOs. Because it was written so long ago, 60 years ago, by an author who was already dead by 1960, before even I was born, I imagined most of the vast array of books written since had long surpassed it or had scavenged it clean of its meat.
I was very wrong on all counts.
Ruppelt is so central to the history and study of UFOs that he was the guy who literally invented the term unidentified flying object (to differentiate any and all mysterious, hard to explain aerial phenomena from merely 'flying saucers,' which was the more limiting and popular term in vogue at the time). When Capt. Ruppelt was promoted to head the U.S. government's primary investigation of "flying saucers," the Air Force had become so frustrated by the subject and by the difficulty of studying it that they were ready to close the books on their earliest efforts, codenamed Project Sign and Project Grudge. During Ruppelt's tenure, Grudge was renamed Project Blue Book, and it was by that name that the program existed until its termination in 1969. Ruppelt headed it for barely more than two years, but in that period he brought a seriously objective attitude, scientific rigor and improved administrative efficiency to the task, during a time in which some of the most famous UFO cases of all time transpired (the Lubbock Lights, the Washington, D.C. flyover, etc.).
Because Ruppelt was the central axis of the government's investigation we get a unique insider look at how the government's efforts functioned. We also get a sense of a very harried man, thrust into controversy within an agency engaged in a schizophrenic war with itself about how to confront a subject with broad and potentially frightening implications during a time when the United States had a clear territorial and technological enemy, the Soviet Union, and was faced with possibly an even more profoundly uncontrollable force.
The book might be better titled, The Report on How the United States Government Panicked Over Unidentified Flying Objects. Thus, Ruppelt calls the book, accurately, "the complete account of the Air Force's struggle with the flying saucer," and it is that aptly defined struggle that he so beautifully and fascinatingly recounts in this sweeping magnum opus.
Ruppelt's writing style, I have to admit, flummoxed me a bit at first, but once I understood his voice I became engaged. There's nothing inherently wrong with his style, but the hanging prepositions and the sudden segues at times halted me in the early stages of the reading. The book neither reads like a dry report nor like a work of novelistic flourish. It is something in between. It is clunky and jagged and thrashes about like a stubborn animal, but that, it seems is the nature of a subject that is so enigmatic and unwilling to easily give up its secrets.
What I began to hear, as I read, was the voice of a mid-20th-century American man's man, an experienced World War II vet with a serious sense of, to use an old phrase, "stick-to-it-iveness", with a balancing sense of wry, slightly jaded bemusement -- tempered by his war experience -- at the follies of the world and the politics of the military. There are times when you love Ruppelt for his unexpected moments of knowing humor and his jabs at military bureaucracy. Ruppelt is a military square with a wiseacre bent, and his use of World War II-era vernacular is charming.
The man had a thankless job. People who believed that UFOS were from outer space were never satisfied with his work, and people who thought all UFOS were natural or human-devised phenomena were not happy either. In cases where Ruppelt's team had ruled out any rational explanation, they simply classified a UFO case as "unknown," never taking it to the next step of saying for certain that a UFO was alien. That, he argued, was in no way provable.
Whatever you may think of that position is almost irrelevant to the real value of this book. What's fascinating is the inner workings of the government; how it engaged sophisticated tests, methods, technologies and experts to the task at hand, and Ruppelt lays all these out with a precision and in painstaking detail that is fascinating. The book is also historically valuable because the original records of many of the cases Ruppelt discusses were literally trashed. Ruppelt represented a living memory of records that no longer existed.
I've long contended that the real history of America is what has gone on, and what still goes on, in corporate board rooms and in CEO offices, and in secret government enclaves, where the real decisions that deeply affect the entire populace occur; actions and decisions that are, for all intents and purposes, completely undocumented and completely unknown apart from their broad effects -- the system that results from these decisions, and who has the money and who does not. This gap in our real knowledge doesn't seem to interest or even shock very many people, because reality is boring, or, perhaps, too depressing to motivate us out of our self-imposed collective stupor.
What Ruppelt's book does is open the door to one corner of that world; something no one else has done. And when someone takes the time and the trouble to document a part of our history that no one else has and sets it down for posterity, that earns my special respect.
The book is not without controversy, though, and that is mainly due to the issuance of a second edition in 1960 that added three new chapters in which Ruppelt, for all intents and purposes, contradicts much of what he said in the original edition and thoroughly debunks all UFOS. Conspiracy theories abound in UFO circles as to why he did this, the most prominent assertion being that Ruppelt -- who was literally on his deathbed at the time, about to succumb to his second heart attack -- was strong-armed by the government into repudiating his work and the legitimacy of UFOs. The newer sections, however, don't invalidate the earlier version, but they do add enigma to a subject that is deeply steeped in same.
The book is a masterpiece, in spite of itself.
(KevinR@Ky 2016)
September 16, 2013
This is a most unusual book.
Originally published in 1956 by the former director of Project Bluebook, the U.S. Air Force’s controversial investigation into Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO), the first seventeen chapters make the case that the Air Force too easily dismissed UFO reports and that many sightings could not be so easily debunked. The last three chapters, written four years later for a second printing, then dismisses the UFO phenomena as little more than popular myth.
The author, Edward J. Ruppelt, was a decorated WWII bombardier who was recalled to active duty during the Korean War. Attached to Air Force technical intelligence, he was assigned to Project Grudge, a predecessor to Bluebook. He took over the “You-Fo” desk when the Air Force was forced to pay better attention to the phenomena. During his time as Bluebook director, Ruppelt said he was frustrated that the Air Force publicly dismissed most UFO sightings as weather balloons, misidentified aircraft or clouds, or hoaxes while behind closed doors there was serious concern that the UFOs might actually be interplanetary spacecraft.
As much as 20 percent of UFO sightings remained “unknown” during Ruppelt’s time on Bluebook, and some had incredible evidence. More than once military jets engaged in high speed dogfights with UFOs, twisting and turning through the sky (weather balloons can’t maneuver). Ruppelt led many well-known scientists in research projects into the phenomena. One study looking at UFO maneuvers determined the craft were intelligently controlled – by whom they couldn’t determine – but no high-ranking Air Force officer would sign his name to the report, so it never saw daylight. Ruppelt also criticized the news media for being too eager to accept Air Force explanations for sightings.
Ruppelt never made a claim as to what the “unknown” sightings were or if they were manned by aliens from another planet. He concluded the first edition by saying “only time will tell” what the answer is.
Four years later, however, he added three more chapters to the book that appeared to take a less open-minded view. Whereas in the earlier chapters, Ruppelt championed “trained observers” – military and commercial pilots, radar operators, and scientists – who came forward to report UFO sightings, in the later chapters he dismissed the idea that such people should be called trained observers. Ruppelt essentially concluded that all UFO sightings could be identified, using as an example a sighting of his own—which he never mentioned in the first edition of the book. In conclusion, Ruppelt dismisses UFOs as a “Space Age Myth.”
What makes this book even more unusual is that the second edition, published in 1960, retained the 1956 publication date and copyright, as if trying to make readers think the last three chapters were always part of the book (even though Ruppelt admits in Chapter 18 that four years have passed.) Ufologists suggest Ruppelt was forced by the Air Force to add the last three chapters, but we will never know because shortly after the 1960 publication Ruppelt was dead of a heart attack at age 37.
You couldn’t find a better plot twist than that on an episode of The X-files.
March 24, 2015
By age ten I was getting into UFOs. There were stories about them in the papers and in such mainstream publications as Life and Look magazines. Books about them occupied more than a shelf at the Park Ridge Public Library and were prominently displayed on the revolving bookstands at the drugstores both at home in Illinois and at Knack's near grandmother's place in Michigan. I read what I could find, including C.G. Jung's bit, the most unusual of the lot, and maybe two of the unbelievable Adamski books as well as a critique of Adamski.
Of the early UFO writers my favorites were Ruppelt and Keyhoe. Captain Ruppelt was most impressive as he had actually headed the Air Force investigation of the phenomenon for over two years and at that time I tended to believe the military. Ruppelt admitted that a quarter of the cases were inexplicable unless something like extraterrestrial visitation was allowed as an explanatory hypothesis.
Later, after the Richardson Panel and the Condon Report, the government discontinued public study of the UFO phenomena, claiming there was nothing to it. I, too, fell away from the subject by high school. Only later, under the influence of a friend who wrote for UFO Magazine, did I start reading more of the material. Now, while not subscribing to any particular theory, I again take the UFO phenomenon seriously.
Of the early UFO writers my favorites were Ruppelt and Keyhoe. Captain Ruppelt was most impressive as he had actually headed the Air Force investigation of the phenomenon for over two years and at that time I tended to believe the military. Ruppelt admitted that a quarter of the cases were inexplicable unless something like extraterrestrial visitation was allowed as an explanatory hypothesis.
Later, after the Richardson Panel and the Condon Report, the government discontinued public study of the UFO phenomena, claiming there was nothing to it. I, too, fell away from the subject by high school. Only later, under the influence of a friend who wrote for UFO Magazine, did I start reading more of the material. Now, while not subscribing to any particular theory, I again take the UFO phenomenon seriously.
December 16, 2023
Ruppelt led the US military's Project Bluebook investigation into the UFOs in the early '50s and here he goes into a number of specific cases in considerable detail as well as examining the overall picture. I felt that he had exactly the right approach in being sceptical but open-minded and he was obviously an intelligent, thoughtful and thorough man with a nice line in dry humour. It's surprising to see how serious the military were about the subject at a certain time, while the lengths that Ruppelt and his colleagues went to in an attempt to solve the mystery are impressive. Ruppelt concludes the first edition by saying that a small but significant proportion of the cases he investigated could not be explained.
Curiously, the second edition (published 1960) has three extra chapters tacked onto the end in which he states that, since the publication of the first edition in 1956, he has reached the conclusion that all UFO cases are the result of explainable natural phenomena. Did he genuinely change his mind or did he have his arm twisted? I doubt we'll ever know for sure, but the fact that he died aged only 37 (shortly after the publication of the second edition) from a supposed heart attack sounds like good fuel for a conspiracy theory.
This seemed to me an essential book for anyone with an interest in this topic (although, actually, I don't see how anyone could fail to be interested in it!).
I listened to the Librivox audio version available free on Youtube and very nicely read by Roger Melin.
Curiously, the second edition (published 1960) has three extra chapters tacked onto the end in which he states that, since the publication of the first edition in 1956, he has reached the conclusion that all UFO cases are the result of explainable natural phenomena. Did he genuinely change his mind or did he have his arm twisted? I doubt we'll ever know for sure, but the fact that he died aged only 37 (shortly after the publication of the second edition) from a supposed heart attack sounds like good fuel for a conspiracy theory.
This seemed to me an essential book for anyone with an interest in this topic (although, actually, I don't see how anyone could fail to be interested in it!).
I listened to the Librivox audio version available free on Youtube and very nicely read by Roger Melin.
June 29, 2022
I have a great interest in the ufo phenomenon from late 40’s to end of the 50’s. This book the original version i found to be a good read. Concentrating mainly on project blue book. Written by the officer in charge of the project in the early part of the 50’s. It gives a great insight in to why they never actually reported the existence of UFO’s. I hear many people laughing but really unless you study the subject in depth you are never going to understand why so many people believe this is a reality. And as so many people say “I know what I saw” so from someone who has seen, this book is a good read understanding the investigation of Project Blue book and why they arrived at the conclusion that they did.
December 11, 2020
Lots of Statistics and ‘Good’ Information, But No Definite Conclusion
Rather than allowing popular opinion or even mainstream media to decide whether Unidentified Flying Objects or UFOs are legitimate, I chose to go straight to as close to the top of the ‘food chain,’ so to speak, as possible in order to learn the scuttle on this subject. And the fact that the United States Air Force’s Projects Sign, Grudge and then Blue Book were tasked, starting in the late 1940s, with determining whether these ‘unknowns,’ as they were called, existed and whether or not they were genuinely a threat to the National Security of the United States, should be enough to convince most individuals that the subject of UFOs may be quite a bit more serious than we’ve been led to believe.
Capt. Edward J. Ruppelt served as the director of the US Air Force’s Project Blue Book during two different periods, the first from March of 1952 until February of 1953 and then again from July, 1953 until May of 1954. This is significant. Blue Book, as it was also known, was responsible for investigating Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) – a term which Ruppelt claims to have coined – and was preceded by both Projects Sign and Grudge, and originally by the tongue-in-cheek moniker “Project Saucer.”
As of 2020 the History Channel began airing the second season of Project Blue Book from the perspective of the astrophysicist and astronomer, the late Professor J. Allen Hynek, which highlights several significant cases – a handful of the approximately 23% of the more than 13,000 cases investigated by Blue Book.
While at first blush it may appear that Ruppelt and his Merry Men at Blue Book were not interested in helping out the public by identifying (or even trying to identify) the anomalous activity in the skies over the United States in the early 1950s, this didn’t really seem to be the case. At least based on Ruppelt’s own words.
However, just because Ruppelt was military, does not mean he was telling the truth, either. In spite of what many believe, being military is not necessarily synonymous with truth telling. After all, the ‘need to know’ and ‘compartmentalization’ functions of the military/government often preclude telling the truth. Some might say ‘of necessity.’
Which is not necessarily to say that Ruppelt wasn’t telling the truth. But like Hynek, he was a complicated man (in spite of what others may have thought about him) and his allegiance – while primarily to the military/government – may have ultimately bowed to the Public who were looking to Blue Book for answers on the reality and nature of Unidentified Flying Objects or UFOs. Possibly.
Oh, what a tangled web they did weave….
One would think that because of Ruppelt’s position in Project Blue Book, that there would at least be some measure of certainty regarding whether a UFO siting was legitimate or otherwise. ‘Taint necessarily so. In spite of military Wikia’s claim that he was ‘open minded’ regarding UFOs, based on the numerous comments made in this book by Ruppelt, it was obvious from the beginning of his time with Blue Book, that US Air Force Capt. Edward J. Ruppelt was negatively disposed towards any UFO sitings coming into Blue Book. In other words, as far as he was concerned, they were all hoaxes, swamp gas or Venus, and each case seemed to already be damned before it had actually been evaluated. At least, that’s the first impression.
But was that an accurate assessment? It’s possible (based on various passages herein) that he was well aware that some, if not all, of the ‘Unknown’ or truly ‘Unidentified’ sitings were genuine UFOs, possibly from somewhere off planet. But he had that same party line to toe that so many others – especially within the military specifically and government in general – were required to toe or else be removed from their positions or worse. ‘Worse’ you say? Oh, yes, definitely worse. It was well known that the military was not above threatening people to keep quiet about what they saw or even learned.
While, as stated according to Military Wikia.org, “Ruppelt himself was open-minded about UFOs, and his investigators were not known, as Grudge's were, for force-fitting explanations on cases," this does not seem to be the case if we take Dr. Hynek’s own words and recollections of the time he spent in Blue Book into account. Ruppelt’s open-mindedness didn’t necessarily shine through here. At least, it seems that way. Again, more confusion. Did they or didn’t they? Believe that UFOs actually existed and were a threat, that is?
Towards the end of Ruppelt’s account of his time with Project Blue Book, he was beginning to sound a little bit like Mulder: it seemed (to me, anyway) that he desperately wanted to believe. But he was prevented from telling the public what he REALLY knew; what was really going on in the skies over our country, if not the entire world.
And make no mistake, this was a global phenomenon, and it was a constant thing with between 10 to 30 or more reports per month being received by Blue Book since the beginning of all three Projects – Sign (a.k.a. ‘Project Saucer’), Grudge and Blue Book. And that included a phalanx of flying saucers ‘buzzing’ the White House in Washington, D.C. in July of 1952, also known as one of two ‘Big Flaps.’ (Note that the UFOs didn’t exactly land on the White House lawn, but I’d say the flyover was the next best thing!)
Additionally, while military personnel working under Ruppelt were likely not as free to speak their mind or handle an investigation in any manner they saw fit except by the US Air Force book, Blue or otherwise, Hynek wasn’t so easily malleable. That is, he didn’t seem to respond well to all the ‘force fitting’ in which Ruppelt supposedly didn’t engage.
However, this could be a total misperception of Ruppelt. After all, he WAS in the military, which required him to follow orders or suffer the consequences. Unfortunately, based on some of the scuttlebutt out there, it looks as though he pissed someone off by his likely overall inability to acquiesce to the various insane orders that prevented him and his team from divulging the truth of UFOs to the general public.
So is that why Capt. Edward J. Ruppelt “died of a heart attack” in 1960 at the age of 37? Who knows. I haven’t found anything yet to indicate that Ruppelt’s death was anything other than what it was stated as being: a legitimate heart attack. At the age of 37.
But still I wonder: what did he know and when did he know it?
Bottom line: if you’re looking for clear cut answers as to whether the US Air Force actually determined that the Earth was being visited by ‘flying saucers’ and/or Extraterrestrials, this book may not satisfy that need. While Ruppelt provided quite a bit of information on the various cases Project Blue Book processed, other than admitting that between 20 and 23% of the 13,000 or so cases which had been investigated were ‘unknown’ or ‘unidentified,’ and that everything else could be attributed to sitings of Venus, airplanes, meteors, hoaxes and/or weather balloons, he doesn’t say much else. In fact, it really sounds to me as though he was doing his best to say that there are no such thing as UFOs, and god forbid that there were any such thing as ‘little green (grey?) men.’
Full of defensive posturing, statistics and information, but not a lot of hard-core conclusions. The reason for this can be found in Professor J. Allen Hynek’s book, The Hynek UFO Report: the Authoritative Account of the Project Blue Book Cover-Up.
Rather than allowing popular opinion or even mainstream media to decide whether Unidentified Flying Objects or UFOs are legitimate, I chose to go straight to as close to the top of the ‘food chain,’ so to speak, as possible in order to learn the scuttle on this subject. And the fact that the United States Air Force’s Projects Sign, Grudge and then Blue Book were tasked, starting in the late 1940s, with determining whether these ‘unknowns,’ as they were called, existed and whether or not they were genuinely a threat to the National Security of the United States, should be enough to convince most individuals that the subject of UFOs may be quite a bit more serious than we’ve been led to believe.
Capt. Edward J. Ruppelt served as the director of the US Air Force’s Project Blue Book during two different periods, the first from March of 1952 until February of 1953 and then again from July, 1953 until May of 1954. This is significant. Blue Book, as it was also known, was responsible for investigating Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) – a term which Ruppelt claims to have coined – and was preceded by both Projects Sign and Grudge, and originally by the tongue-in-cheek moniker “Project Saucer.”
As of 2020 the History Channel began airing the second season of Project Blue Book from the perspective of the astrophysicist and astronomer, the late Professor J. Allen Hynek, which highlights several significant cases – a handful of the approximately 23% of the more than 13,000 cases investigated by Blue Book.
While at first blush it may appear that Ruppelt and his Merry Men at Blue Book were not interested in helping out the public by identifying (or even trying to identify) the anomalous activity in the skies over the United States in the early 1950s, this didn’t really seem to be the case. At least based on Ruppelt’s own words.
However, just because Ruppelt was military, does not mean he was telling the truth, either. In spite of what many believe, being military is not necessarily synonymous with truth telling. After all, the ‘need to know’ and ‘compartmentalization’ functions of the military/government often preclude telling the truth. Some might say ‘of necessity.’
Which is not necessarily to say that Ruppelt wasn’t telling the truth. But like Hynek, he was a complicated man (in spite of what others may have thought about him) and his allegiance – while primarily to the military/government – may have ultimately bowed to the Public who were looking to Blue Book for answers on the reality and nature of Unidentified Flying Objects or UFOs. Possibly.
Oh, what a tangled web they did weave….
One would think that because of Ruppelt’s position in Project Blue Book, that there would at least be some measure of certainty regarding whether a UFO siting was legitimate or otherwise. ‘Taint necessarily so. In spite of military Wikia’s claim that he was ‘open minded’ regarding UFOs, based on the numerous comments made in this book by Ruppelt, it was obvious from the beginning of his time with Blue Book, that US Air Force Capt. Edward J. Ruppelt was negatively disposed towards any UFO sitings coming into Blue Book. In other words, as far as he was concerned, they were all hoaxes, swamp gas or Venus, and each case seemed to already be damned before it had actually been evaluated. At least, that’s the first impression.
But was that an accurate assessment? It’s possible (based on various passages herein) that he was well aware that some, if not all, of the ‘Unknown’ or truly ‘Unidentified’ sitings were genuine UFOs, possibly from somewhere off planet. But he had that same party line to toe that so many others – especially within the military specifically and government in general – were required to toe or else be removed from their positions or worse. ‘Worse’ you say? Oh, yes, definitely worse. It was well known that the military was not above threatening people to keep quiet about what they saw or even learned.
While, as stated according to Military Wikia.org, “Ruppelt himself was open-minded about UFOs, and his investigators were not known, as Grudge's were, for force-fitting explanations on cases," this does not seem to be the case if we take Dr. Hynek’s own words and recollections of the time he spent in Blue Book into account. Ruppelt’s open-mindedness didn’t necessarily shine through here. At least, it seems that way. Again, more confusion. Did they or didn’t they? Believe that UFOs actually existed and were a threat, that is?
Towards the end of Ruppelt’s account of his time with Project Blue Book, he was beginning to sound a little bit like Mulder: it seemed (to me, anyway) that he desperately wanted to believe. But he was prevented from telling the public what he REALLY knew; what was really going on in the skies over our country, if not the entire world.
And make no mistake, this was a global phenomenon, and it was a constant thing with between 10 to 30 or more reports per month being received by Blue Book since the beginning of all three Projects – Sign (a.k.a. ‘Project Saucer’), Grudge and Blue Book. And that included a phalanx of flying saucers ‘buzzing’ the White House in Washington, D.C. in July of 1952, also known as one of two ‘Big Flaps.’ (Note that the UFOs didn’t exactly land on the White House lawn, but I’d say the flyover was the next best thing!)
Additionally, while military personnel working under Ruppelt were likely not as free to speak their mind or handle an investigation in any manner they saw fit except by the US Air Force book, Blue or otherwise, Hynek wasn’t so easily malleable. That is, he didn’t seem to respond well to all the ‘force fitting’ in which Ruppelt supposedly didn’t engage.
However, this could be a total misperception of Ruppelt. After all, he WAS in the military, which required him to follow orders or suffer the consequences. Unfortunately, based on some of the scuttlebutt out there, it looks as though he pissed someone off by his likely overall inability to acquiesce to the various insane orders that prevented him and his team from divulging the truth of UFOs to the general public.
So is that why Capt. Edward J. Ruppelt “died of a heart attack” in 1960 at the age of 37? Who knows. I haven’t found anything yet to indicate that Ruppelt’s death was anything other than what it was stated as being: a legitimate heart attack. At the age of 37.
But still I wonder: what did he know and when did he know it?
Bottom line: if you’re looking for clear cut answers as to whether the US Air Force actually determined that the Earth was being visited by ‘flying saucers’ and/or Extraterrestrials, this book may not satisfy that need. While Ruppelt provided quite a bit of information on the various cases Project Blue Book processed, other than admitting that between 20 and 23% of the 13,000 or so cases which had been investigated were ‘unknown’ or ‘unidentified,’ and that everything else could be attributed to sitings of Venus, airplanes, meteors, hoaxes and/or weather balloons, he doesn’t say much else. In fact, it really sounds to me as though he was doing his best to say that there are no such thing as UFOs, and god forbid that there were any such thing as ‘little green (grey?) men.’
Full of defensive posturing, statistics and information, but not a lot of hard-core conclusions. The reason for this can be found in Professor J. Allen Hynek’s book, The Hynek UFO Report: the Authoritative Account of the Project Blue Book Cover-Up.
April 24, 2017
Half way through this, I was saddened that a job like Ruppelt's is no longer available to be had. Because leading a project like Project Blue Book would have been a blast. Despite the sure frustration of the subject matter, the late nights, lost weekends deep into the work and everything else that went with the job Ruppelt recalls, I still think this would be a great way to earn a living. This, especially back in the early days of the UFO phenomena, would have been even better. Today, the field is so filled with garbage, flawed reasoning and utter nonsense that it's near impossible to take it seriously. That is why Ruppelt's book remains a classic, must read. It takes us back to the very beginning, before the extreme nuttery.
One thing I was previously unaware of prior to reading this was that after the death of Mantell and several other “dog fights” with UFOs, tests were conducted where balloons were sent up and pilots directed to engage with them. And, it turned out the “dog fight” activity could be repeated. In other words, pilots could chase and pass large skyhook or weather balloons and the wind from their own aircraft would push the balloons around, making it look like they were actively engaging with and avoiding the jet fighters. This needs to be remembered when you hear stories of pilots “engaging” with UFOs. Not that all engagements are balloons. Ruppelt documents several cases where UFOs weren't moving around an airplane but actively turning and out pacing pursuing jet fighters. Radar and visual confirmations showed this activity. So although balloons can be mistaken having intelligent control, not all UFOs are balloons. And Ruppelt documents that many military personnel and scientists at the time were convinced the planet was being visited by flying saucers from outer space even though in public they'd pooh-pooh the idea.
Although in the second version of this book published in 1960, Ruppelt took a firm “No, flying saucers do not exist” attitude, there's a lot of good cases documented here that still make you wonder if his final conclusion is wrong. If anything, the cases make for good learning tools on the subject matter. My favorite was the case he labeled “the best” in Chapter Seventeen. That's the kind of case that keeps me in this game.
“The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects” is a must read for anyone in this field. It documents the early days, the golden era, of UFOs. In fact, I'd say it should be the very first book someone should read if they're just getting started with UFOs.
One thing I was previously unaware of prior to reading this was that after the death of Mantell and several other “dog fights” with UFOs, tests were conducted where balloons were sent up and pilots directed to engage with them. And, it turned out the “dog fight” activity could be repeated. In other words, pilots could chase and pass large skyhook or weather balloons and the wind from their own aircraft would push the balloons around, making it look like they were actively engaging with and avoiding the jet fighters. This needs to be remembered when you hear stories of pilots “engaging” with UFOs. Not that all engagements are balloons. Ruppelt documents several cases where UFOs weren't moving around an airplane but actively turning and out pacing pursuing jet fighters. Radar and visual confirmations showed this activity. So although balloons can be mistaken having intelligent control, not all UFOs are balloons. And Ruppelt documents that many military personnel and scientists at the time were convinced the planet was being visited by flying saucers from outer space even though in public they'd pooh-pooh the idea.
Although in the second version of this book published in 1960, Ruppelt took a firm “No, flying saucers do not exist” attitude, there's a lot of good cases documented here that still make you wonder if his final conclusion is wrong. If anything, the cases make for good learning tools on the subject matter. My favorite was the case he labeled “the best” in Chapter Seventeen. That's the kind of case that keeps me in this game.
“The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects” is a must read for anyone in this field. It documents the early days, the golden era, of UFOs. In fact, I'd say it should be the very first book someone should read if they're just getting started with UFOs.
July 3, 2013
Captain Edward J. Ruppelt was the first director of Project Blue Book, and the man credited with coining the phrase UFO, Unidentified Flying Object. Anyone interested in the history of ufology should find this book fascinating, as it is a peek behind the curtain at the Air Force's initial attempts to investigate UFO's. The early days of Project Blue Book seemed to be off to a more open minded start than what had preceded with the USAF's Project Grudge. Blue Book eventually became an attempt to explain away all sightings in the opinion of many researchers. Capt. Ruppelt's tone had drastically changed by the end of the book. (It was written over several years.) He seems almost burnt out by dealing with so many sides of the UFO issue. He even includes a chapter where he really lays into the "Contactees", specifically relating a story of how he, personally, flew out to California to meet George Adamski incognito. What I found most interesting about this book was reading fresh opinions on cases that have become classic tales that have gone on to make up the history of ufology. My favorite investigation was the Aug. 1952 case of the Florida Scoutmaster, who claimed to be burned by a flying saucer. There were some interesting details included on how the investigation was handled. It was also a lot of fun to read the detailed account of the Washington D.C. flap of '52 from someone who was actually there at the time of the big press conference with General Sanford. I disagree with many of Capt. Ruppelt's findings and opinions, but still found this book enjoyable.
Want to read
August 19, 2025I found a copy of this at a library sale for $1.00, unfortunately missing the dust jacket (which were notoriously cheaply printed in this era). But the astounding thing is that it's inscribed on the FFEP by Ruppelt himself, to someone whose name I can't decipher.
As pointed out in other reviews, Ruppelt was the real deal. Even though Hynek became (justifiably) more famous over the years, Ruppelt was the original head of Project Blue Book. He had not been involved in the predecessor Projects Grudge and Sign, but brought a more professional and scientific outlook to the operation.
The astronomer J. Allen Hynek, whose name is now much better known, was the scientific consultant for Blue Book. But his name doesn't even appear in this book. Ruppelt indicates in some places that he cannot give names of some personnel due to security limitations. This is not just an excuse, since Blue Book was still in operation when he published this book, albeit led by a succession of military officers who ranged from apathetic to hostile to the concept of UFOs. (I'm pretty sure Hynek is indicated on p.210 as "an astronomer whose unpublished fight to get the UFO recognized is respected throughout scientific circles".)
This is full of stories of the most intriguing or best reports handed by Blue Book in its early days.
Wikipedia has a great article on the later history of Blue Book if you want to put Ruppelt's book in context.
As pointed out in other reviews, Ruppelt was the real deal. Even though Hynek became (justifiably) more famous over the years, Ruppelt was the original head of Project Blue Book. He had not been involved in the predecessor Projects Grudge and Sign, but brought a more professional and scientific outlook to the operation.
The astronomer J. Allen Hynek, whose name is now much better known, was the scientific consultant for Blue Book. But his name doesn't even appear in this book. Ruppelt indicates in some places that he cannot give names of some personnel due to security limitations. This is not just an excuse, since Blue Book was still in operation when he published this book, albeit led by a succession of military officers who ranged from apathetic to hostile to the concept of UFOs. (I'm pretty sure Hynek is indicated on p.210 as "an astronomer whose unpublished fight to get the UFO recognized is respected throughout scientific circles".)
This is full of stories of the most intriguing or best reports handed by Blue Book in its early days.
Wikipedia has a great article on the later history of Blue Book if you want to put Ruppelt's book in context.
December 28, 2018
It really reads more “one man’s oral history” than “report,” and it can be quite tedious times. That said, there’s some good stuff in it as it traces the rise and fall of Projects Sign, Twinkle, Grudge, and Bluebook.
It’s surprisingly lacking in report-like details until you get to Ruppelt presenting Project Bluebook’s findings to a defense/security panel in January of 1953, and then there’s only about two pages of those report details.
The tedium lies in the structure of the information, the repetition of some project info across chapters, and the descriptions of the UFO incidents from 1947 to 1953 all sounding alike after a hundred pages.
It’s not awful, it just needs an editor. It’s also more for true UFO fans.
It’s surprisingly lacking in report-like details until you get to Ruppelt presenting Project Bluebook’s findings to a defense/security panel in January of 1953, and then there’s only about two pages of those report details.
The tedium lies in the structure of the information, the repetition of some project info across chapters, and the descriptions of the UFO incidents from 1947 to 1953 all sounding alike after a hundred pages.
It’s not awful, it just needs an editor. It’s also more for true UFO fans.
March 4, 2024
Excellent book, I would say it is essential for the researcher, the author was responsible to organise the project blue book for three years, and took it seriously, he describes in details his investigations, and lay the problems with outstanding logic, in all cases the other intelligence manoeuvring some kind of device seems to be really obvious, but for our frustration the author tries to find any excuse to fit a weather balloon or the planet Venus in the picture, and that is really offending to the observers, obviously the result of this attitude refrained pilots to keep giving serious reports on this phenomena. Still it is has magnificent cases, and you can grasp the desperation of the Air Force on this, as they had to do hundreds of interceptions, scrambling fighters over and over.
October 21, 2012
When I saw that I could download this classic of Ufology for a pittance on my Nook, I was very excited. Edward Ruppelt was the head of the Air Force's UFO investigation, Project Blue Book, from 1951-1953. After leaving that post and retiring from the Air Force, he wrote a book reviewing his tenure. And it makes for very fine reading- I was particularly impressed by his fluid conversational style, it kind of makes we wish he'd written more before his untimely death from heart attack at age 37. Or, you know, lived more. You can read the rest of my review at http://chris-west.blogspot.com/2012/1...
March 22, 2013
I feel that everyone who has an interest in the study of UFOs should read this book for a good grounding.
Too often do you find books with the sensationalist stories of those who want to "force" people to believe in extraterrestrial spacecraft, and on the other hand, there are many books by those who close their minds and claim (without facts) that all UFOs are easily explained by conventional causes.
Ruppelt's book represents the sane middle where common sense and an open mind meet. The author certainly has the credentials to speak with authority. He writes in a way that retains your interest which is a rare gift when writing non-fiction.
Too often do you find books with the sensationalist stories of those who want to "force" people to believe in extraterrestrial spacecraft, and on the other hand, there are many books by those who close their minds and claim (without facts) that all UFOs are easily explained by conventional causes.
Ruppelt's book represents the sane middle where common sense and an open mind meet. The author certainly has the credentials to speak with authority. He writes in a way that retains your interest which is a rare gift when writing non-fiction.
October 15, 2022
Much more readable - and skeptical - than I expected. No doubt out of date by now but the same old reports still get trotted out without the respective investigation and explanation. Bewilders me how people pick up things that were debunked over half a century ago and uncritically spread them and form a world view from them. See also ancient aliens and spiritualism. I'm as much a fan of the mythos as any, moreso than many, and I'm not out to deny the existence of aliens and all that, but I'm also not about to use hoaxes and fictions as evidence to prove them. That said, there remain a percentage of reports that are yet to be explained, and that's where the hope should lie.
December 11, 2020
I thought this book was exceptional. So many UFO books are written with a bent toward the author's bias. This was done the opposite. I thought the author's conclusion was actually the opposite of what it was until the very end when they came out and stated it. He did a very professional job of offering the evidence to the reader first and not clouding it with his own ideas. Then at the very end after you have built your own conclusion on the data he gives you his opinion. Absolutely, beautifully professional.
January 9, 2024
I always enjoy reading history from the time period in which it occurred. COL Ruppelt’s account gives a real 1950s feel to the subject. His style is a blend of personal and professional military reporting.
He gives stats and individual accounts from many reported cases from his own time involved with Project Blue Book, the famous (in its time) Air Force investigation into the phenomenon. Serious consideration and balanced view of one of the most controversial subjects of the 20th and 21st centuries.
He gives stats and individual accounts from many reported cases from his own time involved with Project Blue Book, the famous (in its time) Air Force investigation into the phenomenon. Serious consideration and balanced view of one of the most controversial subjects of the 20th and 21st centuries.
February 13, 2023
This is a no-nonsense, no-frills, non-sensationalistic account of Project Grudge and Project Blue Book. Guaranteed to make one shake their head at the very human elements behind what the American public has sometimes regarded as a well-orchestrated conspiracy to hide "the truth" from the public. On the contrary, we've got a mix of well-intentioned public servants and self-serving, career-minded leaders, all of which culminate in a train wreck of a series of USAF programs.
April 6, 2008
Available for free download at http://www.spiritofmaat.com/ufo_toc.htm, which I heard about through a lecture on Sacred Geometry by Drunvalo Melchizedek.
I found this a fascinating attempt at neutrality by a former skeptic in the military who presents how many hundreds of cases of UFO sightings in the late 40s/early 50s he and his team of debunkers simply could not explain.
I found this a fascinating attempt at neutrality by a former skeptic in the military who presents how many hundreds of cases of UFO sightings in the late 40s/early 50s he and his team of debunkers simply could not explain.
April 15, 2022
Quick summary: Ruppelt looks over the evidence and decides UFOs are a bunch of bunk. The tipping point for him occurs when he realizes even the so-called objective experts can't be counted on to give reliable descriptions of what they see.
Available at Project Gutenberg:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17346
Available at Project Gutenberg:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17346
February 27, 2011
First hand report on UFO's by Edward J. Ruppelt leader of a Blue Book Project.
April 21, 2013
Interesting and free book on UFO activity in the US.
May 31, 2018
Just to say that I listened to the LibriVox audio version, brilliantly read by Roger Melin. Absolutely compelling. Highly recommended.
May 20, 2020
Very objectively written. The book doesn't give a definite answer, but presents cases where ... basically, they don't exist, yet they do exist, we just don't know what they are.
June 15, 2021
Fake news CIA disinfo book. AVOID!
July 2, 2021
Bottom line, most every sighting comes near Air Force bases. So……
June 8, 2022
Good but left me wanting more. Written from a military / logical / analytical view of the 1951-1954 Project Grunge (then Project Blue Book). Very good detail on many of the most viable reports.
nein
August 18, 202318/08/2023
Estava a ler este livro com o Miguel, estamos a 11%.
Desistimos mas eu gostava de lhe dar uma segunda chance um dia talvez.
“ For the air force the store started … ” foi onde ficamos
Estava a ler este livro com o Miguel, estamos a 11%.
Desistimos mas eu gostava de lhe dar uma segunda chance um dia talvez.
“ For the air force the store started … ” foi onde ficamos
June 16, 2024
Very interesting
This book was very informative about what the United States air force Had been thinking About UFOS in the beginning!
This book was very informative about what the United States air force Had been thinking About UFOS in the beginning!
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