Thursday, March 15, 2018

Project Horse Fly and Operation Blue fly

Yes, I was working on something else and as I was looking through Project Blue Book administration files when I found something interesting. Not all that long ago, I mentioned a project called Horse Fly. You can read about it here:


and here:


Now, I have found, buried in a letter about the abysmal state of the Air Force
This is an actual Horse Fly. I selected it because
of its alien appearance and it sort of creeped
me out.
investigation, written by an Air Force officer who was horrified, another nugget of information about all this. The letter was about the creation of trained teams to head out to the scene of important UFO sightings. It is interesting that it was suggested that the teams be made up of officers and NCOs who don’t have regular opportunities to travel on temporary duty (TDY), that it was projected to cost about five grand, and that the funds be paid “…directly to the Aerial Phenomena Group…”

This wasn’t the interesting part of the document. That came in paragraph “d” on the fifth page out of six. It said:

To keep costs down, and at the same time to allow prompt movement to Air Force bases nearest the scene of critical sightings it is proposed that a project named “Horse Fly” (akin to “Blue Fly”) be established. Essentially this project will provide for priority movement of ATIC UFO investigators to nearest Air Force facilities using CRT aircraft and pilots. Crew and aircraft will stand by for investigations taking less than a day. Return flights will pick up investigators where more than one day is required.
Okay, the important thing here is not about Horse Fly but the reference to Blue Fly. Remember, the Air Force originally said that no such operation (Moon Dust and Blue Fly) had existed. Sure, we know the Air Force modified that response when documents were provided proving that Moon Dust and Blue Fly did exist. This latest bit of information reinforces the idea that Blue Fly existed, but also suggests that some of those officers at ATIC knew about it and that it had been deployed, contrary to Air Force statements.

The thing that this little bit of trivia suggests to me, is that contrary to the opinion that the Air Force didn’t really care about the UFO investigation, a theory underscored by Air Force statements and documentation, the opposite might be true. The Air Force didn’t want the civilians to know their real attitude because it would reinforce the idea that some UFOs might be of alien manufacture. The public face was, “We don’t believe in no Flying Saucers,” while the public face was, “We need to protect National Security and we need to take some of these reports seriously.”

Yes, this is quite a conclusion to draw from a single reference to Blue Fly without anything to describe Blue Fly. There was another document that does demonstrate the Air Force attitude, at least, in private. The document was originally classified as “Secret,” but it has long since been declassified. It said:

Some of the UFO organizations, such as NICAP, well know the deficiencies in the Air Force Program and take advantage of every opportunity to place us in a defensive position. In fact, it is understood that Captain Ruppelt, who was responsible for the ATIC part of the UFO investigation [please notice the term, “ATIC part,” which is suggestive of other, unidentified parts] from early 1951 until September 1953, is now affiliated with NICAP. In this organization alone ex-marine corps Major Kehoe [sic], a political adventurist, and Captain Ruppelt, an ex-ATIC specialist, represent a formidable team from which plenty of trouble can be expected in the future. Both appear to be in the business for the money involved. Comparable conditions involving eminent authorities of questionable intentions exist in other of the 49 [civilian] organizations.
The point is that NICAP worried them, and they realized that the competence of the Air Force investigation was being challenged by the civilians out there. The Air Force wanted a team, or rather as many as 20 two-man teams, to be available to travel to UFO hot spots. We end up with Moon Dust, Blue Fly and Horse Fly as part of that renewed effort to get at the truth… a truth that would be classified by regulation unless there was a mundane explanation for the sighting.


I just thought these facts were interesting. I thought the mention of Blue Fly in the same sentence as Horse Fly suggested something about the Air Force investigation. Maybe they were taking UFOs more seriously than we thought and that implies that they might have had some inside, classified information that worried them. Sure, this is speculation, but then it is speculation based on Air Force documentation.

7 comments:

purrlgurrl said...

This is all that stands out to me, ". . . suggested that the teams be made up of officers and NCOs who don’t have regular opportunities to travel on temporary duty (TDY) . . ."

Sounds just like a boondoggle.

couldbebetter said...

Of course the USAF had to make certain that if a public UFO report was made, the AF had to
have it investigated to insure that should there be a reason to debunk the report, that is
what would be done. For example, if a classified US technology was was reported, the AF
could not say, "yes, the UFO reported was a test of our new stealth fighter." So of course,
in such cases the AF had to give the public something to mislead in case some sensitive
details of classified technology was made public. Would genuine unknown technologies be
treated the same way? Well, anything involving national security would have to be protected
and that could include genuine alien craft, if such exist. Of course the AF could not admit
to alien craft being real as that would be classified. Could the AF lie to the public in order to protect classidied information? Of course. One example, the term "Blue Room" at
WPAFB. Sen. Barry Goldwater was careful never to use that term, even when replying to
a question regarding it. Obviously, a classified term and as such Goldwater could not even
use the term, let alone confirm what it was. This sets up a very nice "Catch-22" to insure
nothing officially is released on classified topics, aliens being one such subject.

Don said...

Kevin, what are the dates on these documents?

Best Regards,

Don

KRandle said...

Don -

Dates and other information available on the links I provided, including photographs of the documents themselves.

Don said...

Kevin, the document itself wasn't dated, but dates it references and also Exon's info, put it in 1958 and Boyd refers to "not later than 1 January 1959". I am unfamiliar with the projects (and thanks for discussing them), but your articles reminded me of the "Unidentified Flying Object Conference", internally dated "17 Feb 1959" (NARA-PBB87-652), which does not mention the "fly" projects, but does express some of the same issues.

Best Regards,

Don

Don said...

It is easier to read the document photographed in the blog of October 24, 2017 from PBB: NARA-PBB86-155 and 156.

Regards,

Don

KRandle said...

Don -

As you yourself noticed, there is a date for one of the documents which is December 17, 1958. The other document referenced (as are all of these particular documents) are part of the administration files for Project Blue Book. The second document has no date on it (other than the date of declassification) but it is part of an undated "Distribution Form" that is a suggestion about a revision to Air Force regulations. As I say, all these documents are in the Administration files, which are not necessarily in chronological order. It is a somewhat confusing mess.