Motion picture footage of two bright objects crossing the sky over Great Falls, Montana, in 1950, and the second of the two films analysed in PURSUE Release 05 record DOW-UAP-D098. As with the Tremonton Film 1952, the document names neither the town nor the cameraman; it refers only to “Montana, 1950”, entering the study through a U.S. Air Force memorandum of 24 November 1952.
The Naval Photographic Interpretation Center read the entire Montana film densitometrically, against a partial reading of the Utah film, and plotted it using terrestrial objects in frame as the control. The report treats the Montana measurements as the more reliable of the two for that reason. From 322 measurements it computed velocities of 1374 and 361 mph for the left object and 1117 and 189 mph for the right, with accelerations up to 639 g and decelerations up to 651 g.
The analysts noted that the acceleration values fell in approximate multiples of 12.5 and flagged this as possibly significant, with no study conducted to determine whether it was. The film’s presence in the 1953 report is the reason the two cases are analysed together in the same document, and the report’s conclusions cover both.
The Air Force’s Flying Discs File 1952 in PURSUE Release 06 files a copy of a 1950 report to the Office of Special Investigations on the Great Falls film, and a form of 14 November 1952 saying an attempt would be made to have the Navy analyse it together with the Tremonton Film 1952.
Connections
PURSUE · Naval Photographic Interpretation Center · Tremonton Film 1952 · Project Blue Book · Robertson Panel · Flying Discs File 1952