The Ohio UFO from Project Michigan

(Approximate, the flight actually crossed Lake Erie.)

Secrecy, UFOs and Secret Military Projects

On June 22, 1955 a UFO flew over a major metropolitan city and was witnessed by thousands, reported by many as a flying saucer. The object posed a danger to air traffic, and Air Force planes were scrambled to intercept it. In truth, it was a military experiment that got out of control.

The next day, United Press news service carried a short illustrated story:

A big plastic balloon flowed across Cleveland and Eastern Ohio Wednesday and set off a wave of flying saucer reports from citizens. Two men are in it. The University of Michigan later reported that the balloon was a science project. It carried a crew of two men and was equipped with a radio transmitter, A helicopter caught this picture of the balloon over Middleburgh Heights, Ohio.

(A much clearer copy of the press photo can be found at HistoricImages. ) 

The Daily World, June 23, 1955

The UFO was a bust, an IFO or Identified Flying Object, but there was an air of mystery about the scientific experiment behind it. United Press also released a more detailed story that was carried in papers across the USA under various titles such as: 

Balloon From Mars

‘Flying Disc' Explained

Balloon Starts Saucer Reports

'Men from Mars' Worry Ohioans

‘Saucer' Is Just Balloon

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (U.P) — A mysterious balloon that startled and frightened northern Ohio residents and caused a rash of reports about "flying saucers' and "spacemen" was en route today to its home base, the Willow Run research center near Detroit. The strange craft, carrying two men and scientific instruments, was identified by Michigan University officials as part of “a highly secret research program on battlefield surveillance."

The plastic, pear-shaped balloon was sighted first by a Ground Observer Corps member yesterday as it drifted over Cleveland. Later, Air Force officials here reported the craft landed near Hartford, O, in the afternoon. But not before frightened householders swamped newspapers and radio stations with calls about "flying saucers" and "men from Mars.

Air Force planes from Youngstown were dispatched to intercept the craft. The two passengers paid little attention to the planes and were just as noncommittal when the balloon landed near Hartford. They placed the deflated balloon and instruments into a station wagon that had been following the balloon's progress and headed for Detroit and the research center.

There's no Project Blue Book file on the incident, but further details on the landing and recovery were published in The Michigan Alumnus, July 9, 1955:

Project Michigan

The "flying saucer" incident threatened the secrecy of Project Michigan, but the associated goofiness of it also helped it get laughed off and forgotten. Fortunately for them, there were many secret military balloon projects that that had been mistaken for UFOs, and they were only worth one day of news. Project Michigan was one of many Cold War military enterprises in the arms race against the Soviets for technological superiority.

While the exact nature of the balloon experiment is unknown, we now know a lot about the army project it was being conducted for. The Army Research and Development Newsmagazine, July 1964 described the program:

“Project Michigan, which is conducted for the Army by the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, is a continuing research program devoted to combat surveillance.” What they don't emphasize is this was aerial surveillance, radar development and also combat targeting apparatus.

Here's a photo of some of the US Army's players at the university from the Ann Arbor News, July 9, 1957:

MILITARY BRASS ASSEMBLES HERE: Attending sessions concerning the University's secret military research program, Project Michigan, are a number of top military leaders. From left to right are Dr. M. M. Flood, associate director of the University's Engineering Research Institute; Maj. Ben J. D. O'Connell, chief signal officer for the U. S. Army; Brig. Gen. F. W. Gibb, commanding general of CDEC (Combat Development Experimentation Center); Brig Gen. William H. Thames, commanding general of the U. S. Army Combat Surveillance Agency; Col. G. M. Wertz, deputy to the commanding general of the Surveillance Agency; and Dr. R. G. Folsom, director of the U-M Institute.

The report on Project Michigan made to the board of the University of Michigan,

The President's Report for 1957 - 1958, provides more details on the scope of its investigations under contract with the Army Signals Corps. 

Army Lineage Series: Military Intelligence by John Patrick Finnegan Lineages, Center of Military History United States Army Washington, D. C., 1998, provides a look at the overall project, and what was accomplished:

In 1953 the Army became involved in Project MICHIGAN, a research and development effort in which civilian scientific personnel explored the possibilities of using various types of manned aircraft, drones, balloons, and missiles carrying television and other sensors to allow surveillance and target location up to 200 miles behind enemy lines. The new technologies under development would have profound consequences for the structure of Army Intelligence in the years that followed.

UFOs and Mixed Messages from the Military 

The public has often been assured that the military does not fly UFO-like craft, it's just that people often mistake aircraft or balloons for flying saucers. If not for the photograph and documentation of the balloon in flight, the sightings this incident generated might have spawned a classic UFO legend. Military secrecy leaves an information void, and inevitably fuels rumors and speculation.

The public has also often been assured that the military does not conduct experimental test flights over populated areas. The Project Michigan "flying saucer" incident is just one of many examples that proves that it happens.

. . .

Bonus:

Another balloon item from June 1955:

"Flying Saucers? Who looks at them when I'm aloft?"

Maidenform bra ad, June 26, 1955 from Parade magazine.

Saucer Scares, 1954: Real Things Seen in the Skies

There is no doubt that many balloons of all sorts contributed to reports of flying saucers. General Mills was launching scientific experiments since 1947, but weather balloons had been aloft in the skies since the 1890s. There were also balloons being flown by the US government of of a more secret sort. Before spy planes and satellites took over the job, balloons were used by military intelligence to collect data on our enemies, and even as a means to distribute propaganda leaflets.

Some of these balloon flights, covert or otherwise were reported by witnesses as unidentified flying objects.

The Times News (Idaho) ran a story on April 20, 1950:

Wyoming Ranch Hand Discovers- "Saucer" Unreal

Other papers used headlines for the same story such as: "Western Flying Disc Turns Out To Be A Balloon" and "Cowpuncher Finds 'Flying Saucer' Just Navy Balloon"

DOUGLAS. Wyo.. April 30 (UP)— A Wyoming cowpuncher thought he had latched onto a real flying saucer but learned the object was merely a balloon for measuring cosmic rays. Ranch Hand Everett Fletcher sighted the object In the sky 32 miles north of here and followed it to the ground. "It scared me," he said. "I thought it was an honest-Injun saucer.” Stamped on a nameplate was 'This scientific apparatus is the joint property of the US. Navy and the University of Minnesota.” A telephone call to Minneapolis  identified the ball as a  navy instrument apparently used for measuring cosmic rays."Don't open it," a navy officer warned. "Don't fool with the thing. Ship it here Immediately." The air force and other defense agencies have said repeatedly their investigations have found no evidence on the existence of so-called “flying saucers.” 

Saucer Scares: 1954

Holland Evening Sentinel, May 26, 1954 

Jefferson City, MO Daily Capital News June 2, 1954

,

 Mckinney Daily Courier Gazette June 3, 1954

The Army's Flying Saucers

The Yuma Sun July 3, 1954 carried a feature, "Test Weather Station Bureau Operates Around the Clock." As an aside, it mentioned that the Army  balloon launches were sometimes mistaken for flying saucers.

BALLOON OR FLYING SAUCER? — Many re­ports of flying saucers across the country have actually been these Army weather balloons, shown in closeup here with Pvt. Robert F. Kennedy (left) and Lt. John Schwartz. The two weathermen are inflating; the white six-foot rub­ber balloon which may go as high as 20 miles above the earth.  

READY TO FLY — All the  recording data goes up into the stratosphere in the little radio boxheld here by Pvt. John Schwartz (right). Pvt. Robert F. Kennedy and Sgt. Gerald Levy pre­pare to launch the balloon. (Meteorology photos: all U.S. Army photos by Pfc. Paul Caponigro).

Note: No, this was a different Robert F. Kennedy, not the politician, but the Army photographer Paul Caponigro became famous, when he turned to other subjects after leaving the service, and has made a success of it. https://pointlight.com.au/artists/paul-caponigro

THAR SHE BLOWS — Taking off on its 20-mile-high flight, the rubber weather balloon, filled with hydrogen, is released in the Research and Development area at Yuma Test Station. A radio transmitter hanging from the balloon keeps the ground crew informed of its where­abouts at all times.

Reports of Strange Craft from Outer Space 

Lowell Massachusetts had a population of 95,000 in 1954, and about 275 of their citizens made phone calls to the newspaper one August night to report an unidentified flying object.

Lowell, MA Lowell Sun, Aug 19, 1954

A voice of authority always helps to calm things down. Harry A. Bullis, General Mills' chairman of the board, was quoted to explain the strange things seen in the skies.

Bakersfield Californian Oct. 5, 1954

Cedar Rapids Gazette Oct. 17, 1954

As aerospace technology advanced,  the dependence on balloons for scientific experiments  diminished. Likewise, satellites and planes eventually eliminated the need for so many spy balloons. 

Busted

What happened to those who had so dutifully worked to construct these magnificent balloons? Some must have been assigned to other duties, but undoubtedly some were out of a job.

. . .

For further reading on balloons as UFOs, and the associated controversy, see: 

Exotic Balloons and the UFO Phenomenon – An Intertwined Puzzle by Joel Carpenter.

UFOs, Weather Balloons and Witnesses

Weather balloons were nothing new in the 1940s, and had been flying since the 1890s without causing much trouble - until the flying saucer fever of the 1940s. 

(Photo by Metropolitan News, 1935)

Pilot R. J. McNown of Northwest Airlines, watching Betty Burt release the 10,000th balloon for the Weather Bureau at the Chicago Municipal Airport, while government meteorologist E. D. Knarr prepares to follow the balloon's flight through the Theodolite instrument. 

In March 1953, Captain Edward Ruppelt prepared "Project Blue Book Special Briefing For Air Command," a lecture on the status quo of the Air Force's UFO investigation.  It included balloons in a section discussing common generators of false saucer reports. Some sightings were indeed balloons, but an AF study showed that during two months of peak "saucer fever," only about 14.5% of balloons launched had generated UFO reports.  

Project Blue Book Special Briefing For Air Command (Fold3)

The following is a collection of news clippings from 1952-3. All these flying saucers reports were explained as balloons - before being reported to the Air Force.

Dubuque Telegraph Herald Oct. 24, 1952

Radiosonde balloon release. U.S. Army photo

What these stories can tell us is that these Identified Flying Objects-to be can sometimes generate some reports with some unearthly sounding characteristics.

Jefferson City News and Tribune Nov.16, 1952

Clovis News-Journal, Nov. 16, 1952

1952 Radiosonde launch. Bracknell, Berkshire UK

Morning Avalanche Jan. 28, 1953

Bakersfield Californian, Jan. 31, 1953

In a follow-up piece, we'll take a look at the reports and excitement from what was flying in 1954.

Saucer Scares, 1954: Real Things Seen in the Skies

Explosive Tendencies: Fireball or Flying Saucer? Oct. 17, 1952

1952 was the year that put flying saucers on the map, but it was so busy that many reports were never investigated by Project Blue Book. The morning of October 17, 1952, a brilliant flash was seen in the sky in parts of Louisiana and Mississippi, and reports from witnesses came in of a mysterious fireball zig-zagging in the air, or an exploding airplane, or an attacking flying saucer.

The event made news, especially in the two states where it had been seen. From the Mississippi coverage:

The Daily Herald (Biloxi, MS), Oct. 17, 1952

On the Louisiana side of the Mississippi River, about 30 miles north of Natchez. Miss.. Deputy Sheriff Rosy Massony of Tensas Parish said "an awful jar shook windows in St. Joseph and Waterproof." The Tensas Parish sheriff's office is in St. Joseph. "Some of our boys told us pots and pans were rattled in kitchen shelves" Massony said. Massony said others who said they saw the flash were two Negroes driving an early morning grocery truck near St. Joseph. They said they stopped the truck when it looked as if the fireball was heading toward them. Massony said they ducked under the dashboard. In New Orleans an airport porter declared "the flying saucer" chased him to the sea wall.

Meanwhile, the meteorite had the spotlight. Radio Station KALB at Alexandria. La., said it had received reports from over Louisiana of an explosion or flash. One person told the station that he heard an explosion that "sounded like the blowing of a safe," and another said there was a "blue vapor trail" at about 14,000 feet. Sounded a bit like flying saucer stuff! 

Coverage of the story varied, depending on the information each paper had at the time the story went to press or the editor's appetite for sensationalism. 

The Orange Leader October 17, 1952

October 17, 1952 The Monroe News-Star from Monroe, Louisiana

The earliest story to get a good handle of the facts was from Alexandria, Louisiana.

The Louisiana Alexandria Daily Town Talk, October 17, 1952 - Page 1

Identify Mystery Light

Meteorite In Southern Sky Stirs Frenzy

Meteorite Excites Dixieland. A brilliant flash appeared in southern skies early today and authorities, here probably was caused by a meteorite. The bright light was seen by witnesses as far away as Shreveport, in the north- west, of Louisiana; and another report came from an air-line pilot who said he saw the flash while flying 50 miles north of Mobile, Ala. Buildings were reported lightly shaken at Natchez and Summitt, Miss. A long-distance operator in Jackson, called to ask if there were any reports of an explosion said the aerial explosion occurred about 4:10 a.m., approximately the same time buildings trembled in the two Mississippi cities. Persons saw the flash In Louisiana felt no concussion, however, and police said no sound was reported. 

Dr. Joseph F. Thompson, associate professor of astronomy and mathematics at Tulane University, said "the phenomenon probably caused by a meteorite" with "explosive tendencies." Dr. Thompson explained "burn up when they enter, the atmosphere and terrific heat stirs up inside the meteor core, When these gases certain temperature, their pressure can be enough to explode the meteor, causing terrific brightness." 

Local descriptions of the fireball varied from "it sounded like someone blowing a safe" to a report from Overton street where a woman reported she thought "the moon done slipped." C. Dupuy, of Poland, said a "light of great intensity" flashed over the area about 15 miles high. He said the light was so bright "I could have picked up a pin off the floor." Mrs. W. T. Franklin of Alexandria said she saw the trail of light near an explosion. The blast was followed by smoke-like colored rings, she reported. Other residents in the area reported seeing the flash and "colored smoke rings" in the sky after the fireball disappeared. Mr. and Mrs. Roy Caubarreaux, of Cocoville, between Marksville and Mansura, said they were awakened by the bright light. 

Epilogue

Once the facts were in, the excitement died down, but the story had a last gasp, as a treasure hunt for meteorites.

The Greenville, MS Delta Democrat-Times, Oct. 22, 1952

As with so many of the most interesting UFO cases featured here at The Saucers That Time Forgot, Project Blue Book has no file on this incident.

Unidentified Lights in the Ohio Sky, Sept. 1952

 "...deep red streaks which met with a scarlet flash." (Reconstruction)

1952 was an explosive year for UFOs, and the Air Force was unable to investigate all the reports. Here's one they missed from Ohio.

Points mentioned in the story, Lockbourne Air Force Base, Ashville and Circleville. Ohio.

Mrs. Gail Wolf and her sons spotted some strange lights in the sky over Lockbourne, Ohio. Previously she'd been skeptical of saucers, "most people are, until they see something like we did."

The Circleville Herald, Sept. 6, 1952.

 The news story prompted another independent witness to come forward with testimony a few days later.

The Circleville Herald, Sept. 11 1952.

The Air Base that Link Brown was referring to was the former Lockbourne Air Force Base near Columbus, OH, known today as Rickenbacker International Airport.

As with so many of the most interesting UFO cases featured here at The Saucers That Time Forgot, Project Blue Book has no file on this incident.

Multiple Witness UFO Sighting: Tucson Sept. 3, 1952.

Frame from AF film, Operation Moby Dick, 01/1952

Dateline: Tuscon Arizona, September 3, 1952.

A UFO appeared high over the city, a hovering, silvery reflective object seen by multiple witnesses, and was reported on live over a radio broadcast. This story is notable for the testimony by a "trained observer," USAF pilot instructor Don McCraven who described the UFO's phenomenal flight, speed and maneuvers in detail.

Tucson Daily Citizen, September 3, 1952.

May Appear as "Flying Saucers" 

1951 DoD photo.

On 11 October 1951, the Department of Defense sent out an official press photo on the 

USAF research project "Moby Dick,"stating that: 

The 50 to 110 diameter balloons will drift over the United States and altitudes of 10 to 20 miles for the purpose of transmitting data concerning the high altitude winds and will be clearly visible at 100,000 feet above the earth during clear days. The transmitter suspended 100 feet below the balloon will send out signals to direction-finding stations. The Air Force has warned that the "Moby Dick" balloons may appear as "flying saucers" during the early and late hours of the day because of the sun reflecting from the transparent coverings. Persons finding collapsed balloons will receive a reward for the return of the radio unit.

Weather balloons? It was a cover story. The Moby Dick project was being developed for a Cold War surveillance program. For more details, see The Cold War’s Classified Skyhook Program: A Participant’s Revelations by B.D. Gildenberg

As with so many of the most interesting UFO cases featured here at The Saucers That Time Forgot, Project Blue Book has no file on this incident.