Project Sign → Project Grudge → Project Blue Book = Weather Balloon?

If Roswell was simply a weather balloon, why was Project Sign established just months after the Roswell Incident - in December 1947, by the United States Air Force? This project involved military personnel, scientists, and intelligence officers who were all tasked with researching UFO reports and sightings1. The most notable of these personnel was Captain Edward J Ruppelt, who was also later the head in charge of Project Blue Book. (Blue Book post coming in just a few weeks!) This team tried to explain sightings through normal and conventional means - however, several of these events remained unexplainable.  Some of the more interesting cases that Project Sign found to be as unknown in 1948 were seen in the “Chiles-Whitted Encounter”2 on July 24th, the “Gorman Dogfight”3 on October 1st, and the “Mantell UFO Event”4 on January 7th. Each of these Project Sign Cases remains unexplainable to this day, and each comes with its own high weirdness involved. 

Drawing of craft by Pilots found on : History Channel’s 2019 Project Blue Book episode “Operation Paperclip”

In the Chiles-Whitted Encounter, Captain Clarence S. Chiles and First Officer John B. Whitted reported a fast-moving, cigar-shaped object with windows that passed close to their Eastern Air Lines Douglas DC-3 passenger plane high above Montgomery Alabama. According to these pilots the craft, "looked like a wingless aircraft...it seemed to have two rows of windows through which glowed a very bright light, as brilliant as a magnesium flare.” (Menzell, 109)5 

Image source : Wyoming History Day(2), Institute of Museum and Library Services

The “Gorman Dogfight” occurred  October 1st, 1942, when Lieutenant George F. Gorman, a pilot with the North Dakota Air National Guard, reported engaging in a high-speed aerial pursuit over Fargo, North Dakota with a lighted, fast-moving object that he referred to as a “flying disk”. The occurrence was prefaced by  a planned cross-country flight with several other National Guard Pilots. Once arriving at Fargo’s Hector Airport, the other pilots landed as planned, but Gorman decided it was too beautiful a night to be on the ground - so, taking advantage of the clear night sky, he stayed in the air and flew around a bit. It was shortly after 9pm when Gorman noticed an unknown craft in the otherwise empty night sky. He contracted air control who said that he and one other plane were the only craft currently in the air. After contacting the other pilot, they both confirmed seeing the same blinking lights to the West. A twenty-minute chase then ensued, as Gorman3 pursued the unidentified object, and it constantly remained just out of reach - using maneuvers and speed that even his P-51 Mustang could not keep up with. 

Image Source : American Military History - Locals in Simpson County, Kentucky gather at the crash site of Thomas Mantell's F-51 Mustang. (Simpson County Historical Society)

Perhaps the most famous and important of the incidents during the time of Project Sign, however, was the “Mantell UFO case”4 of January 1948. Mantell was a pilot with the Kentucky Air National Guard and is often cited as one of the early cases of a pilot pursuing a UFO with severely tragic results. His encounter on January 7th began with he and his team participating in a routine training flight. When reports of a UFO sighting came to local authorities, he and his team pursued this craft. While the rest of the pilots backed off just in time, Captain Mantell followed the craft to too high an altitude and is said to have passed out from lack of oxygen. He reached 25,000 feet4 above Franklin, Kentucky, before his ultimate demise - but not before reporting back that the object he was chasing was metallic and massive in size.

These three incidents came together to prove to some of the men of Project Sign that UFOs were indeed a real threat that needed to be investigated more thoroughly. Soon after the incidents, the Project Sign supposedly released a 1948 classified document “Estimate of the Situation”6 that allegedly concluded that some of these UFO sightings were likely extraterrestrial in origin. As expected though, this conclusion was incredibly controversial, and this document was never been officially released and is still highly classified. Over the next year following the creation of this document, Project Sign had a turnover of power as well as a name change.

Unclassified Project Sign Documents - Wright Patterson Air Force Base, February 1949

The newly named Project Grudge was officially established on August 27, 1948, and was run by Captain Charles P. Hardin - who came at UFO reports with an even more skeptical eye. Under Hardin's leadership, Project Grudge continued to investigate and analyze UFO reports - however, the project gained a reputation for its dismissive attitude toward UFO sightings, often explaining them away as conventional phenomena7. Where Project Sign was using real research and investigative techniques to find the truth behind these incidents - Project Grudge adopted a more skeptical and debunking approach to UFO reports. The transition occurred for several reasons, including changes in leadership, skepticism about the extraterrestrial hypothesis, and a desire to downplay the significance of UFO reports7. The project's personnel were instructed to explain away as many cases as possible, and the term unidentified was to be avoided whenever possible. This approach reflected a shift in the military's stance on UFOs and contributed to the criticism of the project. 

The Lubbock Lights, photographed here by Carl Hart Jr., seen flying in a V formation in 1951 when the Air Force considered them an unexplainable phenomenon. Lubbock-Avalanche Journal (8)

However, just because you use a more critical eye, does not make the phenomena go away. 

During the time of Project Grudge, there was an abundance of important sightings and incidents involving UFO. Though we will discuss these specific events further as we transition into the Eisenhower administration, the early 1950s saw an incredible amount of unexplainable action in the skies over the United States. So much so that this decade is often referred to as The Great Wave - and includes the Lubbock Lights of 1951, and the Washington Merry Go Round and Alaska UFO Radar Sightings of 1952 - as well as the creation of the ever-famous Project Blue Book with Captain Hardin still in the lead with his dismissive attitude.

Project Sign, followed by Project Grudge, followed by Project Blue Book…

…all because of a weather balloon?

And we have yet to even cover the suspected Majestic-12 Operation that seemed to interweave its way through all of these disclosed military projects. Come back next week where we will look into this intriguing conspiracy. 

Until then, keep your eyes to the skies. 👽

Information from this post can be found at the following links : 

(8) Addison, Brandi D. “Weird West Texas: Why Are There so Many UFO Sightings Reported in Our Region?” Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, 14 May 2023, www.lubbockonline.com/story/news/history/2023/05/11/weird-west-texas-ufo-sightings-on-the-south-plains-panhandle/70203696007/. 

(2) “Chiles-Whitted Time and Meteor Trajectory and [Current Encounters] Important Docs Vscomilations/ Chiles-Whitted.” American Heritage Center, Wyoming History Day, 2023, www.wyominghistoryday.org/theme-topics/collections/items/current-encounters-chiles-whitted-time-and-meteor-trajectory-and. 

(6) Contributors to Military Wiki. “Estimate of the Situation.” Military Wiki, Fandom, Inc., 2023, military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Estimate_of_the_Situation. 

(7) Haines, Gerald K. “CIA’s Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947-90.” Studies In Intelligence, vol. 01, no. 01, 1997, https://doi.org/https://sgp.fas.org/library/ciaufo.html. 

(3) Helm, Merry. “Gorman Dogfight.” Prairie Public Broadcasting, Apr. 2022, news.prairiepublic.org/show/dakota-datebook-archive/2022-04-25/gorman-dogfight. 

(5) Menzel, Donald (1963). The World of Flying Saucers: A Major Myth of the Space Age.

National Archives. “Project Blue Book - Unidentified Flying Objects.” National Archives and Records Administration, Military Records, 2020, www.archives.gov/research/military/air-force/ufos. 

(4) Pilgrim, Eric. “Questions Remain 75 Years after Mysterious Fort Knox UFO Incident, Downed Pilot.” DVIDS, www.dvidshub.net/news/436733/questions-remain-75-years-after-mysterious-fort-knox-ufo-incident-downed-pilot. Accessed 31 Jan. 2024. 

Stilwell, Blake. “The First Air Force Pilot to Die Chasing a UFO Was Actually Chasing a Secret Balloon.” Military.Com, 31 Oct. 2022, www.military.com/history/first-air-force-pilot-die-chasing-ufo-was-actually-chasing-secret-balloon.html. 

US Air Force. “Unidentified Flying objects and Air Force Project Blue Book.” Air Force, Defense Media Activity, 2023, www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/104590/unidentified-flying-objects-and-air-force-project-blue-book/.

(1) US Air Force, and Department of Defense. “Project Blue Book.” Executive Services Directorate, White House Military Office, 1 Feb. 1966, www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/FOID/Reading%20Room/UFOsandUAPs/proj_b1.pdf?ver=2017-05-22-113513-837.