Hundreds of reports were reviewed. Some included unusual radar readings that were never confirmed.
The Air Force examined about 800 reports, and roughly one-fifth remained unexplained. In some cases, radar readings suggested extraordinary speeds, but the measurements were never confirmed.
The people who filed reports included military personnel, commercial pilots, and others with technical training.
The source does not explain why the measurements were not confirmed or which conventional explanations were considered.
In Boston in March 1952, Captain Edward Ruppelt presented a new US Air Force program to investigate reports of unidentified objects systematically.
Ruppelt said that about one-fifth of the roughly 800 earlier reports remained unexplained, even after the available data had been examined. Some described objects moving quickly and silently. In several cases, radar—a system that detects objects using radio waves—indicated speeds of thousands of kilometers per hour.
The reports came from military personnel, commercial pilots, and others with technical training. The Air Force reviewed them and tried to examine the evidence behind them, rather than relying only on the accounts of people who had seen something in the sky.
But the review did not resolve every case. About one in five remained unexplained. Some reports included clues that could be checked, including radar detections of objects. Even when such data were available, it was not always clear what they showed.
Ruppelt described reports of silent, fast-moving objects. In some cases, radar indicated speeds ranging from about 1,600 to about 5,600 kilometers per hour. Those were extraordinary figures, but they were never confirmed.
The Air Force therefore wanted to collect measurable data more systematically. That would make it possible to assess reports using data, rather than relying only on what witnesses said. The program Ruppelt presented was intended to establish such a method of investigation.
The source does not explain why the radar readings were not confirmed or specify which conventional explanations were considered. The Air Force found no clear evidence of what the objects were or where they came from.
The reported speeds never became an answer. How do you investigate something that appears to be moving so fast when the measurement itself has yet to be confirmed?