1944 – The Foo Fighters
Both Allied and Axis pilots reported seeing strange balls of light and small metallic objects during World War II in both European and Pacific Theaters of War. This became known as the Foo Fighter mystery. An official report from Bomber Command's 115 Squadron at the British Public Record Office contains details of these sightings which occurred during a bombing raid.

In his book, “The Most Secret War,” Professor R.V. Jones writes, ““We had already seen scares arise during the war by the imaginations of men under strain interpreting fearfully observations which had a natural explanation. KGr 100 pilots had seen red lights over England . We had to deal with reports of Fifth Columnists letting off rockets; and our bomber crews had reported single-engine nightfighters with yellow lights in their noses over Germany at times when we knew that no single-engine nightfighters were flying.”

Pilots from both sides of the fighting and on opposite sides of the world having the same dillisions? We think not.

1946 – Ghost Rockets
Over a six-week period, from July 15 th through April 26 th , 1946 , over 1500 reports of “ghost rockets” were reported by citizens of Sweden and neighboring countries.

The morning after the first sighting, the Aftenposten, a Swedish newspaper, received numerous reports of a large dazzling star with a luminescent yellowish color flying fast, straight, and low between 10:50pm and 11:00pm .

Although some reports were explained by pilots, others were blamed on Soviet rocket and missile tests from Peenemunde . Overall, the phenomena was unexplained and caused a great scare during this time in Oslo and the surrounding areas.

1947 – Flying Discs
The first official reports of American sightings began in 1947, when a wave of “flying discs” was sighted in a formation of ovals over and weaving through the Cascade Mountains of Washington State. Pilot Kenneth Arnold reported their speed at 1700 mph, and over 1500 ground observers claimed to have had the same sighting at the same time and place.

Shortly thereafter, a crashed flying disc was discovered near Roswell , New Mexico . Army Air Forces claimed it was a weather balloon, but witnesses contradicted this claim and described the materials of the wreckage as unusually strong and light.

The first preliminary study of U.S. Army Air Forces Intelligence of the dozen flying disc sightings that year concluded, “Something is really flying around.”

1948 – Project Sign
Following the publicity of the 1947 sightings, Brig. Gen. George Schulgen completed a preliminary review of many UFO reports and concluded the flying discs were a real craft. He asked Lt. General Nathan F. Twining and his command, including intelligence and engineering divisions, to carry out a more exhaustive study.

This became Project Sign, the first official study done by the U.S. Government whose first undertaking was to investigate the death of Thomas Mantell, an Air National Guard fighter. Mantell was attempting to intercept a UFO which he described as "a metallic object ... it is of tremendous size." He died when his aircraft crashed near Franklin , Kentucky .

1949--Project Grudge
Project Sign was renamed with a more negative sounding title.

During this time period, although both UFO investigations under Project Grudge were explained and dismissed as credible, some 20% were still classified as “unknown.” Many Pentagon officials became disenchanted with Project Grudge constant dismissal of UFO reports and the project was discontinued.

This was considered the Dark Age of UFO investigation, as the government was reluctant to find evidence on the legitimacy of any reportings. Donald Keyhoe, a journalist for True Magazine , was the first to report in a major publication that the government is withholding information about alien craft.

1952 – Project Blue Book
Project Blue Book replaces Project Grudge until its termination in December of 1969. This 17-year-long series of studies, conducted by the United States Air Force, sought to determine whether UFOs were a threat to national security. Of the 12,618 reports collected, analyzed, and filed, most were explained as natural phenomena (clouds, stars, etc.), conventional aircraft, or hoaxes. A significant number though—701—were classified as unknown.

This was the last official investigation of UFOs conducted by the U.S. Government, and all of the reports are available to the public through the Freedom of Information Act with the names and personal information of the witnesses deleted. Critics claim that project Blue Book did dubious research or even tried to cover up UFO evidence. Some evidence suggests that the U.S. Government continued to collect and study reports secretively after the project has been discontinued.

In the same year, the second major sighting of UFOs occurred over Washington , D.C. The Air Force admitted these to be unexplained.

1953 – All Farce?
Sponsored by the CIA, a panel of scientists concludes that all UFO sightings are probably mistakes, while Harvard astronomer Donald Menzel becomes highly vocal against the study of UFOs.

Claiming to have traveled to other planets and interacted with spacemen, George Adamski gains publicity as a “contactee.”

1955 – Special Report #14
When the U.S. Air Force released Project Blue Book's Special Report #14, a massive and detailed statistical report of UFO reports, they claimed that it was conclusive that sightings bear no legitimacy. This claim contradicted their own statistics, where 22% of the reported sighting fell under the unanimous classification of “unknown.”

1957—The Levelland, Texas Sighting
The third widely-reported wave of UFO Sightings occurred in Levelland , Texas in November, 1957. Numerous motorists on various streets and highways in the area claimed seeing a large egg-shaped object emitting a blue glow sitting close to or on the road. This caused their automobiles to shut off; their automobiles resumed working normally when the egg-shaped object took off.

Many of the witnesses were very credible and prominent citizens, including Weir Clem, Levelland's sheriff, and Ray Jones, the town's fire chief. The U.S. Air Force concluded that an electrical storm was the cause for the sightings and auto failures. Those there at the time, though, along with major physicists and astronomers, disputed there was no such storm in the area when the sightings occurred.

1964—The Socurro, New Mexico Sighting
On April 24 th , 1964 , policeman Lonnie Zamora reported an UFO landing and taking off near Socorro , New Mexico . Zamora claimed he had been able to approach within 50 feet of the aircraft and saw two small humanoid crew members.

What differed in this incident is that physical evidence was left behind and subsequently examined by the materials engineering laboratory at New Mexico Tech. Students who saw the materials reported it being that which they've never seen before. The incident gained a lot of press and was the first to be labeled “unexplained” by Project Blue Book.

Also in 1964, NICAP's report, "The UFO Evidence," was the first scientifically-based study of UFOs. It selected and analyzed 750 cases with high "strangeness" and "credibility" ratings.

1966—The Southeastern Michigan Sighting
On March 14th through the 20 th in Southeastern Michigan Washtenaw County sheriff and police in neighboring areas reported disc-shaped objects making sharp turns, diving and climbing, and hovering at fantastical speeds. At one point, four UFOs were seen congregating in a straight-line formation. Project Blue Book explained this sighting as “swamp gas” over Lake Erie and caused long-term public ridicule of those purporting claims of the sighting.

The major UFO waves of the past few years created a public opinion that more investigations should be done to determine the credibility of the sightings. The U.S. Air Force suggests university study of UFOs, and the proposal is accepted by the University of Colorado , under Dr. E. U. Condon. Subsequent to the publishing of the university study, Condon was criticized for coming to a negative conclusion as to the validity of the sightings when his investigation overlooked the most concrete cases and instead analyzed the more superficial ones. Despite this, a sizeable portion of the examined cases were classified as “unknown”—contradicting Condon's conclusion.

The first highly publicized case of actual alien abduction occurred this year when Betty and Barney Hill, a New Hampshire couple, claimed they were abducted against their will by alien pilots of a flying saucer. Their story continues where they were brought inside the ship where medical examinations were conducted on them. The Hills only remembered the details of their abduction when under hypnosis as the aliens were able to partially block their memory of the event.

1967—Science 101
Wesleyan University offers “Science 101-Flying Saucers,” the first credit course on UFOs. Professor Thornton Page said the objective of the course is to make the student "who is hostile to science, interested in science.” Professor Page believes that extraterrestrials life might exist, and while not all UFO are evidence, they can't all be explained by clouds or meteors.

1968—UFO Symposium
House Science & Astronautics Committee holds a one-day UFO symposium. The scope of the discussion was narrow, focusing on an exchange of views by those present, rather than examining the USAF's handling of UFO investigations, or the details of the University of Colorado study.

The Blue Book reports become open to the public.

1969—End of Blue Book
Project Blue Book is terminated. The U.S. Air Force uses the University of Colorado 's negative report as basis.

1973—Abduction in Pascagoula
Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker, two fishermen from Pascagoula , Mississippi claimed to be abducted by aliens. This set off a new media frenzy that was unparalleled since the Roswell incident. 10 years later, Hickson wrote a book about his experience titled, “UFO Contact in Pascagoula .”

1978— Roswell Follow-Up
The witnesses to the 1947 Roswell crash are interviewed for the first time. Jesse Marcel, an ex-Intelligence officer who handled the wreckage said that the materials had highly unusual properties and “were not of this earth,” and definitely not from any kind of balloon. He added that the material shown publicly was a weather balloon which was substituted for the real debris. Retired Air Force Brigadeer-General Thomas Dubose confirmed this information when he testified.

1983—Study of Abductees
The Fund for UFO Research studies eight groups of “alien abductees” and reveals that none have any mental problems that might invalidate their claims.

1987—“Communion” and “Intruders”
Best-selling book “Communion,” by Whitley Streiber, and “Intruders,” by Budd Hopkins ignite world-wide interest in alien abductions.

1997—Worthy of Additional Studyworthy
At a Rockefeller-sponsored conference, scientists nervously conclude that UFOs are indeed worthy of study.

The CIA claims that the thousands of UFO reports were caused by secret spy planes that fly at high altitudes. These planes, though, could not be seen from the ground, discounting their claim.