Summary
Ruppelt served as Project Blue Book's chief investigator during its most active and credible period, coined the term 'UFO,' and after leaving the Air Force wrote a remarkably candid account of the program's findings and internal politics. His 1956 book remains the most authoritative insider account of official UAP investigation ever published - one that grew more skeptical in a 1959 appendix under circumstances that remain disputed among researchers.
Roles
- -U.S. Air Force Captain
- -Chief, Project Blue Book (1951-1953)
- -Author - The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects (1956)
Organizations
Education
- -B.S., Iowa State University (aeronautical engineering)
Early Career
- -Served as WWII bomber crew member; flew B-29 combat missions in the Pacific
- -Returned to Iowa State post-war on the GI Bill to complete his engineering degree
- -Joined Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) at Wright-Patterson AFB in 1951
Related Documented Cases
New Mexico Green Fireball Phenomenon (1948-1952)
Tier 11948-1952 (sustained phenomenon); initial reports 1948 · Jemez Mountains, Los Alamos, Sandia Base, New Mexico
Washington D.C. UFO Flap
Tier 1July 19-20 and July 26-27, 1952 · Washington D.C. / Washington National Airport / Andrews AFB
Lubbock Lights
Tier 2August 25 - September 1951 · Lubbock, Texas
1948 USAF European UAP Investigation
Tier 2November 1948 · Multiple locations across Western Europe, Netherlands, occupied Germany