U.S. Air Force Documents on UFO Sightings are Public Records

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In 2015, official UFO documents and files once compiled and maintained in secrecy by the U.S. Air Force were released as public records. Dubbed the Project Blue Book Files (PBBF), the unveiled official government data provides a lot of information on UFO sightings and where they occur. For example, the government public records in California had more data than any other state. The PBBF runs the full gambit from eyewitness reports of light trails streaking across the sky to flying saucer sightings and is certainly a massive treasure trove of data for anyone interested in UFOs.

The aggregate volume of the declassified PBBF reportedly approaches 130,000 pages. The primary catalyst of this massive legally mandated public records disclosure is UFO enthusiast John Greenwald, who persisted for several decades in efforts to access (PBBF) pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). After finally receiving his long-desired information that was long overdue, Greenwald posted declassified PBBF records online.

Historical Backdrop of Project Blue Book

For longer than two decades, from 1947 to 1969, Wright-Patterson Air force Base in Ohio served as PBBF headquarters. Coordinated efforts via PBBF auspices enabled the Air Force to accumulate a gross tally of nearly 13,000 documented UFO sightings. Of that number, 701 alleged incidents remain "unidentified" to date.

A University of Colorado publication titled, "Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects" reported finding. "[N]o evidence ... that ... 'unidentified' [sightings] are extraterrestrial vehicles," based on an Air Force Fact Sheet about its clandestine UFO project. On December 17, 1969, Project Blue Book finally came to its official end.

Major point of contentious protracted controversy

Among many controversial aspects, a major focal point of contention over PBBF is its failure to provide any enlightenment whatsoever about more recently reported UFO sightings.

Besides that perceived major deficiency, even documents that are freely available have failed to quench intense curiosity and fascination of "X-Files" casual fans or conspiracy theorists. By way of reply to that unmet need for satisfaction, Greenwald opined, "People have this fascination when it comes to UFO's." He then noted that, "We can [speculate] that it's top secret, but we simply don't know [for sure]."

Searchable online PBBF database widely perceived and received as a disguised blessing

Official PBBFs have been publicly accessible on microfiches at Washington, DC-based National Archives. However, Greenwald's massive e-publication campaign marks the first time that the full set of PBBF documents has been freely accessible via searchable media anywhere in Virtual Reality.

PBBF is huge potential disappointment for paranormal phenomena buffs

One issue that UFO fanatics may find disappointing is difficulty finding any references to Roswell, NM in Greenwald's database. Cynics posit that U.S. military authorities discovered and then covered up credible evidence of an alien spaceship crash during the 1947 Roswell incident.

Per the U.S. Air force PBBF Fact Sheet, "the National Archives [cannot] locate any document in [project records] that addresses the alleged Roswell, NM incident in 1947." A possible token consolation prize for loyal UFO buffs is a few short occurrences of the Roswell location itself within PBBF. The project's records database also contains a few fuzzy photographs of light streaks in the sky taken at the Roswell site in 1949.

Final takeaways from long defunct federal UFO Project

In this writer's view, widespread contradictory theories, proffered logical explanations, official denials of deliberate efforts to mislead the public and stubborn withholding of legally mandated FOIA disclosures merely serve to prove a dreaded but undeniable fact of this life. Some mysteries are simply not mean to be solved, at least not during earthly existence.

Although a tough act to follow and hard pill to swallow, that harsh reality must be accepted on its own terms for what it is. On a far brighter flipside, though, we can take full solace in the fact that perpetual efforts to solve cryptic enigmas play a major part in making life meaningful.