Project Grudge was a short-lived project by the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...

(USAF) to investigate

unidentified flying object An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are Ide ...

s (UFOs). Grudge succeeded Project Sign in February, 1949, and was then followed by

Project Blue Book Project Blue Book was the code name for the systematic study of unidentified flying objects by the United States Air Force from March 1952 to its termination on December 17, 1969. The project, headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, O ...

. The project formally ended in December 1949, but continued in a minimal capacity until late 1951.

History

Project Grudge was intended to alleviate public anxiety over UFOs and persuade the public that UFOs constituted nothing unusual or extraordinary. UFO sightings were explained as balloons, conventional aircraft, planets, meteors, optical illusions, solar reflections, or even "large hailstones." Project officials recommended that the project be reduced in scope because the very existence of Air Force official interest encouraged people to believe in UFOs and contributed to a "war hysteria" atmosphere. On 27 December 1949, the Air Force announced the project's termination.

Conclusions

Project Grudge issued its only formal report in August 1949. The report's conclusions included: : ''A. There is no evidence that objects reported upon are the result of an advanced scientific foreign development; and, therefore they constitute no direct threat to the national security. In view of this, it is recommended that the investigation and study of reports of unidentified flying objects be reduced in scope.'' : ''B. All evidence and analyses indicate that reports of unidentified flying objects are the result of:'' :: ''1. Misinterpretation of various conventional objects.'' :: ''2. A mild form of mass-hysteria and war nerves. '' :: ''3. Individuals who fabricate such reports to perpetrate a hoax or to seek publicity. '' :: ''4. Psychopathological persons.'' The "Recommendations" section suggested that Air Force personnel receive basic instruction in astronomical phenomena.

Response

An article by Sidney Shallet appeared in two consecutive issues of the ''

Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely ...

'' (April 30 and May 7, 1949) and supported Project Grudge's assessment that UFO reports could be explained by mundane phenomena, and that

hoax A hoax is a widely publicized falsehood so fashioned as to invite reflexive, unthinking acceptance by the greatest number of people of the most varied social identities and of the highest possible social pretensions to gull its victims into pu ...

es and

crackpot Crackpot may refer to: * Crackpot, North Yorkshire, a village in the United Kingdom and home of Crackpot Cave * Crackpot Hall, a landmark ruin near Keld, North Yorkshire * a DC comics character, see Blasters (comics) * Crackpot (band), an Austr ...

s played a prominent role in popularizing UFOs. Astronomer and ufologist J. Allen Hynek criticized Project Grudge, claiming that the project was "less science and more of a public relations campaign". Project Grudge also received criticism from former intelligence officer

Edward J. Ruppelt Edward James Ruppelt (July 17, 1923 – September 15, 1960) was a United States Air Force officer probably best known for his involvement in Project Blue Book, a formal governmental study of unidentified flying objects (UFOs). He is generally ...

, who was "convinced of the alien nature of UFOs and how he has seen the military and the U.S. government trying to discredit the extraterrestrial hypothesis". Hynek and Ruppelt claimed that the project was "as far from an objective, scientific examination of the phenomenon as one could get".

History

Conclusions

Response

References

Further reading