THINK ABOUTIT SUMMARY:

Project Grudge: The Air Force’s Campaign to Debunk UFOs

Project/Group Name:    Project Grudge (Initially referred to in the press as “Project Saucer”)

Mission:  To collect and analyze UFO reports with the specific objective of identifying a mundane explanation for every sighting, effectively debunking the phenomenon to prevent public alarm.

Date Started:  February 11, 1949 (Following the decommissioning of Project Sign).   Ended:  December 1951 (Succeeded by Project Blue Book).

Who or Whom Started It:  HQ Air Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

Part of what Government Agency:  United States Air Force (USAF).

Location:  Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio.

Special Features/Characteristics: 

• The “Debunking” Mandate: Unlike Project Sign, Grudge operated with a “disbeliever” bias, aiming to tag every report with a conventional explanation (e.g., weather balloons, birds, or mass hysteria).

• The 23% Mystery: Despite its mission to debunk, the final 1949 report still listed 23% of its 273 cases as “unidentified.”

• Green Fireballs Excluded: Observations of “green fireballs” in New Mexico by Dr. Lincoln La Paz were excluded from Grudge reports, as they were deemed a separate atmospheric or “independent” research matter.

Summary/Description:  Project Grudge was the administrative middle child of the Air Force’s public UFO studies. While Project Sign’s “Estimate of the Situation” suggested extraterrestrial origins, Grudge was established to walk back that conclusion. It focused on pedestrian sightings and was classified only up to SECRET, ensuring it remained separate from the TOP SECRET crash-retrieval data managed by Majestic-12. In 1951, under Captain Edward J. Ruppelt, it was briefly reorganized as “Grudge II” before being formally evolved into Project Blue Book.

Related to:  Project Sign, Project Blue Book, The Battelle Memorial Institute, and The Bolender Memo.

Source:  Declassified Secret Technical Report No. 102-AC 49/15-100 (August 1949); B.J. Booth.

Other Details:  The “Bolender Memo” of 1969 confirmed that reports affecting national security were never part of the Blue Book/Grudge system, but were handled via JANAP 146 or Air Force Manual 55-11—proving the existence of a “dual track” reporting system.

“Grudge was the desire to actually explain or put a tag on every single report… offering no new scientific theory as to what UFOs were.”

Project Grudge was formed when Project Sign was decommissioned officially on February 11, 1949. The name was about all that would change. Project Sign’s final report was classified “Secret.” At this time in history, there were a number of Air Force investigators who accepted the possibility of extraterrestrial intelligence. How else were these unexplainable objects getting to Earth from distant planets? These were considered the “dreamers;” those who had vision, and could accept facts without seeing actual physical proof. Another group of disbelievers had no vision or imagination. They would only accept the possibility that UFOs were real when they saw a saucer land on the White House lawn.

One small change from Sign to Grudge was the desire to actually explain or put a tag on every single report; not only a difficult task but totally without precedent. This would look good in a report, yet offer no new scientific theory as to what UFOs were.

One item of interest to the student of UFOs would be an article written by Sidney Shalett of the Saturday Evening Post about the Government’s research into UFOs. At the time, the name Project Grudge was not known to the public, and Shalett used the name “Project Saucer” instead. It has been said that Shalett penned the first public use of the term “UFO” in his article of April 30, 1949.

Grudge would fair no better than its predecessors, and closed down after about eight months. They issued a final report also, containing 273 UFO sighting reports. A whopping 23% of these were listed as “unidentified.”

Little was done for a time, until on September 11, 1951. A last gasp effort was organized by Captain Edward J. Ruppelt, who took over as head of Grudge. Shortly a month later, a new short lived effort was begun. Usually tagged Grudge II, about all that was new was office forms. The Battelle Memorial Institute, actually a think tank, was asked by the Government to take over the job of explaining UFO reports. They were to review all reports to date. In March of 1952, enter Project Blue Book, which would be the official UFO study group for the United States. Blue Book lasted until 1969.

B J Booth

Declassified on July 23, 1997, Project Grudge was originally released in August of 1949 as a SECRET Technical Report (NO 102-AC 49/15-100) by the headquarters of the Air Materiel Command, Wright Patterson AFB, Dayton Ohio.

Approved by Lt. Col. Hemstreet and Col. Watson, it is 406 pages long and covers a large number of UFO sightings along with investigation analysis, conclusions, and supplementary reports. Overall, it is just the basic background work on pedestrian UFO sightings by many credible military witnesses. No discussion of crashes, alien bodies, or the other TOP SECRET material found in more classified reports — just the way you would expect it.

The following extract (classified SECRET) is taken from the SUMMARY to the U.S. Air Force’s PROJECT GRUDGE TECHNICAL REPORT on UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS of August 1949. Prepared by Lt. H. W. Smith and Mr. G. W. Towles for the Commanding General Harold E. Watson, Colonel, USAF, Chief Intelligence Department, it states:

While there are approximately 375 incidents on record, only incidents Nos. 1 thru 244 are encompassed in this report. Of the later incidents, many have not yet been investigated, few have been completely tabulated, and none have been submitted to the consulting agencies. It is certain that better over-all results will be obtained in the analysis of the later reports, as these incidents generally have been more completely investigated.

Since 5 December 1948, a series of recurring phenomena described as “green fireballs” have been reported in the general vicinity of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Dr. Lincoln La Paz, noted meteoritic expert, has been directly, though unofficially, associated with the investigation of these sightings and has himself observed the phenomena. Dr. La Paz states he is convinced the green fireballs are not ordinary meteors. This group of incidents has little or nothing in common with other incidents on file with Project “Grudge”, therefore, these incidents are not considered in this report. The Scientific Advisory Committee was asked to investigate this matter and had advised that an independent investigation be conducted in the field of atmospheric research.

Upon eliminating several additional incidents due to vagueness and duplication, there remain 228 incidents, which are considered in this report. Thirty of these could not be explained, because there was found to be insufficient evidence on which to base a conclusion.

It is important to stress that Project Grudge was one of three acknowledged U.S. Air Force projects dealing with UFO investigations – the other two being Sign and Blue Book. Between 1948 (the year that saw the creation of Project Sign) and 1969 (the year in which Project Blue Book was officially terminated), 12,618 UFO reports were investigated by personnel assigned to these three projects. According to the Air Force, out of this total only 701 UFO reports remained unexplained; and that with respect to the remainder, “…there was no indication of a technology beyond our own scientific knowledge…” The Air Force further asserted (and continues to assert to this day) that no sighting “…could be considered an extra-terrestrial vehicle [and] throughout Project Blue Book there was never a shred of evidence to indicate a threat to our national security.”

How then do we reconcile these statements with the Majestic documents, the very demonstrable threats to national security posed by UFOs and cited in the documents, and the data pertaining to UFO crash-retrievals suggesting that at least some UFOs are alien spacecraft? It must be noted that the bulk of the data pertaining to projects Sign, Grudge and Blue Book was classified up to Secret level only. However, as the Majestic documents make abundantly clear, data pertaining to crash-retrievals was classified at Top Secret level and need-to-know clearance to access such information was strictly required. Furthermore, consider the following extracted from a 1969 USAF memorandum prepared by Brigadier General C.H. Bolender, the Air Force’s Deputy Director of Development: “[R]eports of unidentified flying objects which could affect the national security are made in accordance with JANAP 146 or Air Force Manual 55-11, and are not part of the Blue Book system.”

Project Grudge can be downloaded in the “Authentication” section under Documents Obtained from the National Archives.