US: Air Force issues final UFO fact sheet

On February 6, 1962 the US Air Force issued its final information sheet on UFOs, number 179-62. This marked the end of the regular fact sheets; press releases were to be used in future instead. The decision reflects a change in communications strategy, while Project Blue Book continued.

Background

The event came during a period of intensive UFO investigation. In 1962 there were 474 reported sightings, 15 of them unexplained. The Air Force had stressed in earlier reports that UFOs posed no threat.

Sources and Reporting

The item appeared in the Boston Globe on February 7, 1962 (p. 21) under a reassuring headline. Further mentions appeared in UFO Investigator (vol. 2, no. 3, Jan./Feb. 1962, p. 4) and in UFOEv (p. 108).

Significance

This publication marks the shift to more direct media contact. It shows the continuing official approach of treating UFO reports as terrestrial phenomena, without offering specific new data.