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ty ¢ 7 . “ ” Sree NEWS RELEASE Le \\ | //INO U€PARTMENT OF DEFENSE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS PLEASE NOTE DATE aie Washington 25, D. C. IMMEDIATE RELEASE - July 21, 1960 NO. 812-60 OXford 75131 FACT SHEET ATR FORCE UFO REPORT A total of 173 sightings of unidentified “flying objects < or aerial phenomena were reported to the USAF during the period 1 January to 30 June 1960. Of these 173 cases 139 have been analyzed and 34 are pending. Of the 139 cases analyzed 51 were categorized "Insufficient Evidence." Of these 51 cases 37 were so categorized because there were no additional witnesses. It is the Air Force policy to attempt to determine the probable cause of these sightings. However in keeping with good scientific practices they are categorized for statistical purposes as “insufficient evidence." To give full credit to these particular sightings would be comparable to accepting as fact the results of an experiment which was conducted only once. During this same period for 1959 the number of sightings reported to the Air Force was 175. Due to the fact that several reports usually reach the Air Force after the end of a period, it is safe to assume that the 1 Jan - 30 June period of 1960 will slightly exceed that of 1959. However, the 173 cases for the first half of 1960 represents a slight decrease from the 189 cases re- ported to the Air Force for the period 1 July through 31 December 1959. During the period of this report there were hi cases reported from foreign countries. The majority of these sightings took place in the Pacific and Far Hast area. It is apparent that the public is taking the reporting of unidentified aerial phenomena more seriously. During this reporting period there was only one instance of an actual hoax. The months of April and June 1960 show a fairly large percentage of astro- nomical sightings. These large percentages can be attributed to the excessive meteor activity in April and to the proximity of Jupiter in June. Its near- ness resulted in an apparent brightness greater than that of a star of -2.0 magnitude and the planet also appeared unusually large. When categorizing sightings of unidentified aerial phenomena the Air Force attempts to do so primarily by association to a responsible object. If the planet Venus was determined to have been the subject of a report. the case is categorized ‘as’ an astronomical sighting. It should be noted that in most instances the condition under which an object is seen is the real cause of the sighting and not the object itself. -An ‘example of this would be a star or planet seen low on the horizon with the associated refraction and diffraction patterns. This brings to point ‘the secondary method of, categorizing sightings. In some instences the evidence in a case will indicate ‘the probable cause as a Terection aiifoved Hor Rett ePRDUMEMIZE VERE REP HEGRE ORS ODTOOTADHA pee MORE