Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio: Air Materiel Command issues final Project Grudge report

On August 10, 1949, the USAF Air Materiel Command issued its final 600-page report “Unidentified Flying Objects—Project Grudge” (Technical Report 102-AC-49/15-100), authored by Lt. Howard W. Smith and George W. Towles, with J. Allen Hynek's April analysis as an appendix. Of 237 cases, Hynek explained 32% astronomically; others were attributed to balloons, misidentifications, hoaxes or insufficient information, leaving 23% (55) as unknowns. The report concluded there was little evidence that UFOs were real or a security threat, explained sightings as misinterpretations, mild mass hysteria, hoaxes or psychopathology, and recommended press releases to dispel public apprehension. Appendix D by Scientific Advisory Board member George E. Valley discussed possible extraterrestrial visitations in view of atomic bombs and rockets. Project Grudge then entered a period of dormancy until July 1950, and the report remained classified Secret until August 1, 1952. The account follows the entry in George M. Eberhart's chronology UFOs and Intelligence (CUFOS) and the sources cited there; it is not an independent determination by From Beyond Space.