I'm hoping some of you out there can point me to any material that is currently in the public domain regarding the ufo study program at McDonnell Douglas.
Recently several bits of info have found their way into my ufo worldview that I find intriguing and was surprised to have found relatively little public discussion on thus far in my search.
The first bit of info I ever heard relating to this was an anecdote from Dr. Robert Wood that he worked on the ufo issue at Douglas Aircraft. From memory, the original tone of this anecdote suggested that he was kind of working on ufo stuff solo in his free time under tolerant management. More recently Dr. Wood has stated that in the 1960's he was the director of a formal ufo study program that had 15 staff and a budget of $500K($3.2M inflation adjusted).
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In this statement Dr. Wood makes it sound a bit as if he started this program in an environment where there had previously been little interest in the ufo question. However, another researcher has brought to my attention that there are signs of ufo study activity at McDonnell Douglas much earlier than the 1960's. Dr. Robert Baker testified that he did analysis work on both the Nick Mariana and Delbert Newhouse films "in 1954 when I was a consultant to Douglas Aircraft Co. in Santa Monica, Calif., serving as special assistant to Dr. W. B. Klemperer, director of Douglas' research staff."
There are other references to Dr. Klemperer being the director of a study of publications on unconventional propulsion schemes in this early to mid 1950's time period as well and that the study of the Mariana and Newhouse films fell within the scope of this study.
Now in 1966 you would be hard pressed to find two people more genuinely plugged into the ufo scene than Jacques Vallee and J. Allen Hynek. If you've read enough about Vallee and Hynek you will recall that they and the people in their circles always seemed to wonder if there was another study group somewhere. Presumably Hynek, the Blue Book scientist, should have known about any official ufo studies but apparently that is not the case.
From Vallee's Forbidden Science Vol. 1:
Chicago. Sunday 23 July 1966
"The observatory has received a letter from an aerospace engineer, the same man who was so secretive when he visited us last year. He is asking us to send him our "twenty best cases," a request already made recently by a mysterious group of scientists from Wright Field. Our files seem to be in high demand, but who are these people? Is this man working for some Intelligence agency? Or simply for the secret study McDonnell-Douglas is rumored to be starting? Does he think we're stupid? Bill has replied on our behalf in an evasive way."
So, in 1966 this McDonnell-Douglas program is just a rumor to Vallee and presumably, Hynek as well.
From Forbidden Science Vol 2:
10 December 1974
"Kit reluctantly confirmed there was a group of 15 engineers in the Midwest (I assumed it was McDonnell in St. Louis) secretly doing UFO research for CIA under cover of "aeronautical research." They're getting data through leaks from Cufos and other amateurs."
Eight years later Vallee gets confirmation of the rumor.
So, to review the bits and pieces:
-Dr. Baker analyzes Mariana and Newhouse films in 1954 at Douglas for a study run by Dr. Klemperer looking at publications on unconventional propulsion.
-Dr. Wood says he started and ran a program at MD in the 1960's that had 15 staff and a $500k budget. Apparently they hired Stan Friedman at one point.
-According to Kit Green this program is still running at least as late as December of 1974.
-Hynek seems unaware of this program while it was running although I am not clear on when he knew what.
It also might be worth reminding the reader that Dr. Wood and Mr. Friedman went on to spend a lot of time monkeying w/ the MJ-12 stuff. John Schuessler, one of the founders of MUFON, also came out of McDonnell Douglas although I am not clear if he ever had any involvement with Dr. Wood's program there.
My knowledge on ufo lore is spotty in places but I really can't recall this specific program at McDonnell Douglas being discussed in any detail. I'm not sure if this was tossed around on ufoupdates in the past.
So, if anyone more knowledgeable than I can fill in some of the missing pieces here that would be great.
-Exactly how long did this program run?
-What did they do?
-Who was involved?
-What did they learn?
-Was this a formally classified program or just low-key?
-Was Hynek really completely unaware of it's existence until 1974?
-What has been publicly stated by Dr. Wood or others regarding work at McDonnell-Douglas on the ufo study? What documentation is in the public domain?
Somehow I thought this story would have already been rabidly discussed and dissected by ufo historians elsewhere but I haven't found much thus far. Any pointers to relevant info would be appreciated.
If there isn't much public info on this then I think it would make a killer show to do some new investigation and get Dr. Wood on the program to talk solely about what went on at McDonnell Douglas.
Recently several bits of info have found their way into my ufo worldview that I find intriguing and was surprised to have found relatively little public discussion on thus far in my search.
The first bit of info I ever heard relating to this was an anecdote from Dr. Robert Wood that he worked on the ufo issue at Douglas Aircraft. From memory, the original tone of this anecdote suggested that he was kind of working on ufo stuff solo in his free time under tolerant management. More recently Dr. Wood has stated that in the 1960's he was the director of a formal ufo study program that had 15 staff and a budget of $500K($3.2M inflation adjusted).
<object height="344" width="425">
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/EgoyoHPU1pY&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></object>
In this statement Dr. Wood makes it sound a bit as if he started this program in an environment where there had previously been little interest in the ufo question. However, another researcher has brought to my attention that there are signs of ufo study activity at McDonnell Douglas much earlier than the 1960's. Dr. Robert Baker testified that he did analysis work on both the Nick Mariana and Delbert Newhouse films "in 1954 when I was a consultant to Douglas Aircraft Co. in Santa Monica, Calif., serving as special assistant to Dr. W. B. Klemperer, director of Douglas' research staff."
There are other references to Dr. Klemperer being the director of a study of publications on unconventional propulsion schemes in this early to mid 1950's time period as well and that the study of the Mariana and Newhouse films fell within the scope of this study.
Now in 1966 you would be hard pressed to find two people more genuinely plugged into the ufo scene than Jacques Vallee and J. Allen Hynek. If you've read enough about Vallee and Hynek you will recall that they and the people in their circles always seemed to wonder if there was another study group somewhere. Presumably Hynek, the Blue Book scientist, should have known about any official ufo studies but apparently that is not the case.
From Vallee's Forbidden Science Vol. 1:
Chicago. Sunday 23 July 1966
"The observatory has received a letter from an aerospace engineer, the same man who was so secretive when he visited us last year. He is asking us to send him our "twenty best cases," a request already made recently by a mysterious group of scientists from Wright Field. Our files seem to be in high demand, but who are these people? Is this man working for some Intelligence agency? Or simply for the secret study McDonnell-Douglas is rumored to be starting? Does he think we're stupid? Bill has replied on our behalf in an evasive way."
So, in 1966 this McDonnell-Douglas program is just a rumor to Vallee and presumably, Hynek as well.
From Forbidden Science Vol 2:
10 December 1974
"Kit reluctantly confirmed there was a group of 15 engineers in the Midwest (I assumed it was McDonnell in St. Louis) secretly doing UFO research for CIA under cover of "aeronautical research." They're getting data through leaks from Cufos and other amateurs."
Eight years later Vallee gets confirmation of the rumor.
So, to review the bits and pieces:
-Dr. Baker analyzes Mariana and Newhouse films in 1954 at Douglas for a study run by Dr. Klemperer looking at publications on unconventional propulsion.
-Dr. Wood says he started and ran a program at MD in the 1960's that had 15 staff and a $500k budget. Apparently they hired Stan Friedman at one point.
-According to Kit Green this program is still running at least as late as December of 1974.
-Hynek seems unaware of this program while it was running although I am not clear on when he knew what.
It also might be worth reminding the reader that Dr. Wood and Mr. Friedman went on to spend a lot of time monkeying w/ the MJ-12 stuff. John Schuessler, one of the founders of MUFON, also came out of McDonnell Douglas although I am not clear if he ever had any involvement with Dr. Wood's program there.
My knowledge on ufo lore is spotty in places but I really can't recall this specific program at McDonnell Douglas being discussed in any detail. I'm not sure if this was tossed around on ufoupdates in the past.
So, if anyone more knowledgeable than I can fill in some of the missing pieces here that would be great.
-Exactly how long did this program run?
-What did they do?
-Who was involved?
-What did they learn?
-Was this a formally classified program or just low-key?
-Was Hynek really completely unaware of it's existence until 1974?
-What has been publicly stated by Dr. Wood or others regarding work at McDonnell-Douglas on the ufo study? What documentation is in the public domain?
Somehow I thought this story would have already been rabidly discussed and dissected by ufo historians elsewhere but I haven't found much thus far. Any pointers to relevant info would be appreciated.
If there isn't much public info on this then I think it would make a killer show to do some new investigation and get Dr. Wood on the program to talk solely about what went on at McDonnell Douglas.
