[BLANK] radar-visual unidentified-object report — February 1961

On or during February 1961, at or near [BLANK], the source reports the following sequence: WILCOX Institute, Ohio Eta of Tau Beta Pi Box 3336, Institute of Technology Unidentified Flying Objects - UFO's As a term in military parlance, means any air-borne object, usually aircraft, which fails to identify itself to, or to be identified by, trained ground or air-borne visual or radar crews. Lacking scientific or technical training, a witness may ascribe unwarranted properties and origin to the UFO. "UFO" is frequently used interchangeably with "flying saucer," a term coined in 1947 as a result of a reported sighting by a civilian pilot, Kenneth Arnold, of a series of disc-like objects which reportedly glowed about the mountain ridges in the vicinity of Mt. This prototype sighting was followed by a wave of reports of unidentified objects of various types (colors, shapes, maneuvers) by observers in various parts of the U.S.A. and in other countries also. If one notes that many reported sightings are not made through official channels, but to newspapers and to civilian groups interested in the phenomena of UFO's, it can be estimated that the rate of observations may be as high as two or three a day in this country, over a period of a dozen years. The official Air Force tally of reported sightings follows: 1947 70 1948 143 1949 186 1950 169 1951 151 1952 1501 1953 429 1954 442 1955 404 1956 778 1957 1178 1958 590 1959 364 1960 463 Total 6790 The steady stream of reports has been the cause of concern to the Air Force and detailed investigations have been made to discover the stimuli that give rise to such reports. The Air Force objectives have been to determine (1) whether the reported UFO's constituted a threat to the nation, (2) whether the phenomena had any intrinsic scientific value, and(3) the role UFO's may play as a factor in the sky surveillance program. It is readily admitted that this small residue as reported defies logical explanation. It is for the psychologist and the sociologist more than for the physical scientist to comment on the widespread emotional appeal of this concept, and the persistent attempts to link reported UFO sightings with visitations from space in the face of the continued lack of scientific evidence for such. It is amply evident that UFO's and "flying saucers" exist as reports. This has led to the serious quip that "a flying saucer is any aerial sighting or air of secrecy imposed in the early years of UFO reports), had an electrifying effect on the imagination and emotions of a surprising fraction of the population.