Where is Blue Book Report #13?
From: campbell@ufomind.com (Glenn Campbell, Las Vegas)
Date: Mon, 20 Apr 1998 11:34:22 -0800
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Project Grudge/Bluebook Special Report 13
by William E. Jones
MidOhio Research Associates, Inc. &
MUFON State Director for Ohio
After the U. S. Air Force released it's Project Blue Book Special Report
14 in October 1955, a couple of questions were raised that have not been
answered to this day. Over the years possible answers to these questions
have been given quasi-mythic status by some in the UFO reporting
community. As the story goes, from 1951 through 1953 the Air Force
prepared twelve (12) status reports about the progress of Project Grudge,
later named Project Blue Book. When the summary report was published, it
was numbered fourteen (14), raising the obvious questions, "Was there a
Report 13 and, if so, what happened to it?"
Over the years two major stories from people who have allegedly seen this
report have surfaced. UFO researcher Stanton Friedman has talked to
someone who claims to have seen the report. In Friedman's privately
printed report "A Scientific Approach to Flying Saucer Behavior," he
states, "I was told by a former Air Force enlisted man that he had seen a
copy of 13 in the classified files at a SAC base and that as of 1971 it
was still classified as TOP SECRET." Another UFO researcher by the name of
William S. English has claimed that he saw the report himself while
serving in the Air Force in England. He also claims that the report is Top
Secret, but then goes on to say that it contains many dark and sinister
stories, and confirms that UFOs are alien space craft. As expected,
neither of these stories is supported by confirming evidence.
In response to inquiries from Stanton Friedman and others, the Air Force
has replied that either Report 13 did not exist, or else it was written in
draft form and included in 14. Other researchers have conjectured the
number 13 was not used because it is an unlucky number.
One obvious point has not been made. The Air Force in fact did release
thirteen reports prior to the release of Special Report 14. Twelve of those
reports were labeled as "status reports" and one was labeled a "special
report." Project Grudge Status Report No. 1 is dated November 30, 1951.
Project Grudge Special Report No. 1 is dated December 28, 1951. (Based on
the available record, the designation of special report was not used again
by the Air Force until the release of Special Report 14, although it was
used once by Battelle or Dr. J. Allen Hynek, as noted below.) Project
Grudge Status Report No. 2 is dated December 31, 1951, three days after
the date on the special report. Ten additional status reports were issued
prior to the issuance of Special Report 14.
According to notations within the reports, the status reports were to be
issued monthly and would "contain a list of all incidents reported during
the month covered by the report." Further, they were to present the
"overall status of the project." Thus, the timing between the first and
second status reports was as scheduled, although this broke down later, in
that only twelve status reports were issued between November 30, 1951 and
September 30, 1953. Special reports, on the other hand, were to be
prepared "on outstanding incidents and in incidents where such a report is
requested by higher authority." Special Report No. 1 was prepared to
document two UFO sightings from the New Jersey area.
Another set of reports must be considered here. Battelle Memorial
Institute, a private research and development company in Columbus, Ohio
that conducts contract research for clients both government and
commercial, was a prime contractor to the U.S. Air Force for its Project
Blue Book. As such, Battelle conducted the research that resulted in
Special Report 14. In fact, in the 1950s and 60s Battelle was under a long
term contract to the Air Force for the purpose of assisting the Air
Technical Intelligence Center in evaluating Soviet and Chicom aerospace
technologies under a project named Project Stork, which was later named
Project White Stork. Back in those years, at the height of the Cold War,
the nature of the Battelle work was considered classified. Even the
project names were classified. Thus, the sensitivity of the UFO study when
it was authorized under the Stork contract is understandable. Not only was
Battelle probably reluctant to admit it was doing UFO research because of
concern for its image, but the subject matter of the overall contract was
also sensitive. Thus, there were two reasons for secrecy that had nothing
to do with the security classification or lack there-of of the UFO
subject. Because of contract requirements, Battelle issued reports of its
own that were separate from the Air Force series of reports.
When Project Blue Book closed down in 1969 many of it's records ultimately
ended up at the National Archives and Records Administration in
Washington, D.C. Six of seven known Battelle reports are on file there and
they are identified as "status reports." The terms used to note the
numbers of each are "first," "second," and so on, different from the terms
used to number the Air Force reports. The fourth report is not included in
the collection. A "special report" is also found in the collection and it
is not numbered. It was written by Dr. J. Allen Hynek and is entitled
"Special Report on Conferences With Astronomers on Unidentified Aerial
Objects." It is dated August 6, 1952. It is not clear whether the report
was issued by Battelle or by Dr. Hynek himself. Dr. Hynek who was a
professor of astronomy at the Ohio State University was also the astronomy
consultant to Project Blue Book. Reportedly his contracts with the Air
Force sometimes came through the Ohio State University Research Foundation
and sometimes through Battelle.
Thinking that someone who worked on these projects at Battelle might be
able to shed some light on the existence of Special Report 13, I contacted
a person who had been a manager on the Stork projects during the period of
interest. I called and asked him if he remembered the final Air Force
report on Blue Book. He did. When I referred to it as Number 14 and asked
him if he could remember if there was a 13, he replied that he didn't
remember the numbers of the reports. He said that Battelle's Projects
Stork and White Stork issued "Special Reports" on specific special
studies. He guessed that the Number 14 just happened to come up when the
UFO report was issued. Its numbering sequence would have had no connection
with the status report numbers. The only "Special Report" that he
remembers was the first, because he wrote it. It was a history of the
first five years of Project Stork.
Thinking that the matter could be easily settled if only the 13th Project
Stork Special Report could be found, I submitted a Freedom of Information
Act request for the first thirteen Battelle Special Reports to the
National Air Intelligence Center on August 8, 1995. As of the date of this
Ohio UFO Notebook, my request is still pending. In response to periodic
follow-up inquires the Air Force's Chief, Freedom of Information Act
Office, TSgt. Gery D. Huelseman, replies that his office is still
searching. Until the request produces differing results, it is my opinion
that there is no Special Report 13 that deals with UFOs. I think we will
discover it deals with some other aerospace subject, perhaps the
structural integrity of the wings on a MIG-15 fighter plane, or some other
such boring subject. Time will tell. If the Air Force locates the missing
Special Reports perhaps a UFO myth will be put out to pasture in the near
future.
Blue Book Source Material
"United States Air Force Projects Grudge and Blue Book Reports 1 - 12,"
published by the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena
(NICAP), Washington, D.C., 1968.
Maccabee, Dr. Bruce S., "Historical Introduction to Project Blue Book
Special Report #14," published by the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO
Studies, Chicago, IL, June 1994.
Berliner, Don, "The U.S. Air Force's Project Blue Book UFO Investigation,"
published by The Fund for UFO Research, Mount Rainier, MD, January 1996.
Randle, Kevin D, Project Blue Book Exposed, Marlowe & Company, New York,
1997
MORA mailing address: Box 162, 5837 Karric Square Drive, Dublin, Ohio 43016
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RELEVANCE OF THIS MESSAGE: Gov't UFO investigations
Index: Bluebook Third Party Analysis (#4)
Echo: Bill Jones (#3)
Created: Apr 20, 1998
