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Captain Edward J. Ruppelt : Summer Of The Saucers

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Hall, Michael D., and Wendy Connors. CAPTAIN EDWARD J. RUPPELT: SUMMER OF THE SAUCERS--1952. The authors, 2000. Large-format softbound, xxiv, 285pp, bibliography & references, index, photo-illustrated. Edward Ruppelt served as project chief for USAF investigation into UFO phenomena from Novermber 1951 through September, 1953, a tenure which would take him (and us) smack through the center of the most intense UFO wave yet recorded in the U.S., and would make the terms UFO and "Blue Book" a part of American language and history. Michael Hall and Wendy Connors have written not only a biography which commemorates Ruppelt's skill, patriotism, devotion to duty and scientific rigor under conditions in which many a lesser talent would have failed, but a history of the 1952 saucer wave which in itself is nothing less than marvelous. With full access to Ruppelt's private papers and unedited writings, and reinforced by personal interviews with many persons who knew and served with Ruppelt, the authors bring an already fascinating period to vivid life here. It is to be eternally regretted that ufology has suffered so much degradation as it has over especially the last 10 or 12 years. But 50 years ago we lived in simpler and more trusting times. And it is to that era that ufologists are now returning, relieved to escape the oppressiveness of contemporary ufology for a time in which contamination of the data is minimal, while the hope of reward (in terms of understanding the origin of UFOs remains undiminished. SUMMER OF THE SAUCERS is the best of the new "time capsule" UFO books, and a loving tribute to a kind of American hero who rates a premier and central monument in ufology's Hall of Fame.

The years 1947 to 1953 were the golden age of UFO research. Within that long-ago time frame, our military and intelligence agencies did not yet have in place the "watertight" policies that researchers today must contend with. UFO or "flying disk" research was not yet treated with derision by the majority of media, and researchers like Donald Keyhoe, with his many military contacts, brought to light cases involving military encounters that today the public would never hear about.

After several previous UFO projects initiated by the U.S. Air Force, the Blue Book program took shape and form under a young Air Force officer by the name of Edward J. Ruppelt. In retrospect, the Blue Book project is considered by most modern-day researchers to have been nothing more than a public whitewash by the Air Force during the 1950s and '60s, yet at its inception, Ruppelt's Blue Book was a genuine investigation that attempted to get to the bottom of the saucer controversy. Captain Edward J. Ruppelt: Summer of the Saucers-1952 takes the reader directly into the middle of this fascinating milieu.

The year 1952 was a "flap year" for UFO sightings, arguably the most astounding of the last century. Authors Hall and Connors researched the fact that between March and September of 1952, American newspapers across the country reported that more than 30,000 individual sightings of UFOs had taken place. This did not reflect what was happening in the rest of the world! The magnitude of the summer of 1952 "invasion" has never again been duplicated.

Edward J. Ruppelt was known as a dedicated Air Force officer. A decorated World War II combat veteran of the Army Air Force, he returned to school after the war and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering in 1950. Married and expecting his first child, Ruppelt was recalled to active duty with the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950. In early 1951, Ruppelt was assigned to Intelligence at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

If you're interested in the subject of UFOs, you need to be aware of what was transpiring during this extremely important period, for this is when the groundwork was laid for military and intelligence activities connected with UFOs. For example, the first known military project to examine the flying disk reports was known to the public as "Project Saucer." The project's real name, however, was "Sign," and under Project Sign the "Estimate of the Situation" was drafted and completed. Though its existence was originally denied by the USAF, the "Estimate" is now legendary in UFO research circles. It allegedly stated that some UFOs could possibly be of interplanetary origin. After General Hoyt S. Vandenberg refused to accept this report, almost overnight the subject of UFOs became politically "incorrect," if not downright taboo. Project Sign and the "pro" proponents were "out" and the new project "Grudge" and the anti-UFO reality faction were in. The cases that were "investigated" under Grudge were laughable, but changes were coming. They came in the form of Ruppelt and the new Blue Book.

One reason that Ruppelt: Summer Of The Saucers is such a fascinating read is that authors Hall and Connor give an almost minute-by-minute account of the most famous UFO case of all, the overflights above Washington, D.C. In hindsight, these sightings were the "straw that broke the camel's back." As the days leading up to July 19, 1952 show, reports of unknown aerial objects were filling the offices of Blue Book. The project had neither the budget nor staff to handle such an influx of data, and analyses of the reports that have been located today show that many of the more important sightings did not even make it into the Blue Book files. When the sightings over the nation's capitol began, Ruppelt was out of town. In fact, he may not have been aware of the overflights until the following Monday or Tuesday. Over all, Blue Book's coverage of this event was abysmal.

Looking at the situation in the late 1940s through the 1960s from the military's perspective, a strain of schizophrenia is clearly apparent. If the reader is familiar with any of the books written by Donald Keyhoe during the 1950s, that author made this point time and again. Here, Hall and Connors imprint it in stone. In some ways, Project Blue Book seems, to this reviewer, to have been set up to fail. While highly motivated and dedicated, Ed Ruppelt was a junior officer thrust into a job with limited resources and at times questionable backing.

Today, it seems beyond belief that the American military, with the horrible memories of Pearl Harbor very fresh in their collective minds, could have denied that "something" was flying around in American skies with impunity, while seemingly under intelligent control. Yet there was a faction in the military and the CIA that apparently held no interest in the origin or purpose of these devices. They were more interested in shaping public perception (read: propagandizing the public) to ignore these objects, using lies and deceit to cover up these events on a worldwide basis. Later, the Robertson Panel, under the auspices of the CIA, would "formalize" these tactics of debunking, lying, propagandizing, and in some cases destroying the reputations of citizens who dared to buck the "company line." Not much seems to have changed in the last 50 years.

Captain Edward J. Ruppelt: Summer Of The Saucers-1952 is a fascinating book and one that I highly recommend to the informed readership. As an important piece of history, covering perhaps the most important time in UFO research, this book details what was occurring behind the scenes at Air Force and intelligence agency headquarters, and with the officers and men who had a thumb on the UFO phenomenon. Hall and Connors have done a wonderful job of research on this project and I am grateful that they have. Not since Rich Dolan's UFOs and the National Security State has any other book convinced me to continue to "watch the skies!" -Don Ecker

I have always enjoyed reading books that look at the UFO Phenomenon from a "historical" perspective. I was, therefore, looking forward with great anticipation to reading Wendy Connors and Michael David Hall's "Summer of the Saucers". The book claims to be both an account of the great UFO flap of 1952 (the greatest year of UFO sightings in American history) and a biography of Captain Edward J. Ruppelt, the legendary supervisor of the US Air Force's Project Blue Book. Blue Book was the code name for the US government's official investigation of the UFO phenomenon. Although the Project spent most of its twenty-year existence (1949-1969) debunking UFO sightings, Ruppelt did preside over a "golden age" from 1951-1953 when Project Blue Book took UFO sightings seriously and investigated them in an objective and fair manner. Ruppelt managed to investigate some of the most famous UFO sightings in history - the famed "Lubbock Lights" in Texas, the UFO home movies shot in Utah and Montana, and the great "invasion of Washington" in July 1952 when UFOs were seen above the nation's capital and were picked up on radar at two airports in Washington. Although Ruppelt's story and the 1952 sightings provide the basis for a great book, "Summer of the Saucers" sadly isn't it. The book has the feel of being a hastily put together, self-published effort. The editing is poor - there are numerous spelling errors, the photos are often grainy and difficult to discern, and the author's writing style is simplistic and about on the level of a high-school senior's research paper. Letters from Ruppelt's relatives are simply printed verbatim in the text, without any commentary or analysis from the authors - and the letters often take up several entire pages. Ruppelt himself was certainly a leading figure in ufology, but the book relentlessly praises him and offers few real insights into his career or his feelings about the UFO phenomenon. As a biography, "Summer of the Saucers" is simplistic and shallow; as a study of the greatest UFO flap in American history, it provides some newly declassified government files but little else that is new or original. For a serious student of ufology the book may be worth buying just for the new material it provides, but for those who have enjoyed reading the works of J. Allen Hynek, Jerome Clark, and Kevin Randle, this book will almost certainly be a disappointment. In fact, the best book written about the early fifties and ufology remains Ruppelt's own memoir, "The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects" - I would recommend reading it over this latest "biography".

This is definitely a worthwhile book for someone with an interest in the early history of the UFO era, and the authors have done a solid job of ferreting out all of the available information about Ruppelt (including tracking down living relatives). He was certainly one of the key figures of early ufology -- but he died at age 37 and had disassociated himself from UFOs before he died, so a book-length treatment of his life requires an in-depth look at a fairly short period of time. This is precisely what this book is. If you don't fancy yourself as a UFO historian, you are likely to find it a bit dull and would be better served by Ruppelt's and Donald Keyhoe's own books. If you do fancy yourself as a UFO historian, you will find it a very worthwhile addition to your library. Just be forewarned that the book is more about Ruppelt and his associates than about UFO sightings per se. I give it 4 stars rather than 5 on the basis of the production values rather than the content. It has the feeling of a self-published effort, and there are numerous typos. My understanding is that the initial printing is only about 750 copies, so it's likely to appreciate in value. The bottom line is: Buy it if you are sincerely interested in the early history of the UFO era (as you should be if you are interested in the current state of the phenomenon), but don't expect to be riveted to your seat as you might be with Ruppelt's and Keyhoe's own books.

It was shortly after 7am, when the phone rang awakening me from my sound sleep...but the news simply couldn't wait! A friend and fellow UFO enthusiast jarred me from my slumber with the words...It's out! It's out! I asked what, still dazed and confused? The Ruppelt Book, he exclaimed! It took me a moment, but then I too felt the exhuberence fill me as I realized, the release of the long awaited factual account of one of the most noted names in UFO-government investigations, was about to be placed before the eyes of the world to behold...and I wasn't disappointed!

Captain Edward J. Ruppelt, Summer of the Saucers-1952 by Michael David Hall and Wendy Ann Connors provides detailed accounts and information presented in a fascinating journeyman's handiwork of chronicled documents and spellbinding historical perspectives seldom seen before. With much of the information previously rubber stamped "TOP SECRET", this offering leaves no stone unturned. Based upon countless hours of untiring research, this "dynamic duo of diligence" has sought out every conceiveable biographical detail from family member accounts and countless government Freedom Of Information Act requests, allowing us, the readership to profit fully from this plethora of true vintage history.

While good books come and go, great books are timeless, and just like the previous Hall/Connor compilations, this no doubt will stand the test of time. Roughly 250 pages take readers from start to finish on a fact finding mission deep within the minds of some of our country's most noted names in UFO Investigations. We as readers now get the opportunity to go behind the scenes to see just what went into the first efforts of the U.S. governments attempts (and later counter-attempts) to accurately map those little green...(and grey) beings, visiting us from outer space.

The reader is further privied, almost blow by blow, to the events that center around the unprecented number of UFO sightings during 1952...a year that will live in ufological "infamy". Every page is filled with the building realization that perhaps we really are not alone...and more than just the "sighters" know it! I highly recommend this book to UFO Historians, Historian "wanna-be's", and even the average Joe, just hankering for knowledge about those blinding disks moving at lightening speeds. Definitely a Five Star cornucopia of insight into the man, "the legend"...Captian Edward J. Ruppelt.