Sightings, declassified records and video analysis.
An early Air Force program collected sightings amid fears of unknown aviation technology; its records preserve uncertainties as well as organizational decisions.
On January 7, 1948 Captain Thomas Mantell died after climbing to identify an aerial object. The investigation was more complicated than its early Venus explanation.
Changing announcements in July 1947 and a later records search produced two connected histories: a debris recovery and the growth of a legend.
A private pilot's June 1947 report became a landmark in press history, although what he saw was never securely identified.
