Air Materiel Command approves Kaplan's green fireball project with photo theodolites
On December 20, 1949, following consideration by the Defense Department's Research and Development Board, Air Materiel Command approved Joseph Kaplan's green fireball project, which was to set up Askania photo theodolites with diffraction grating cameras to record the fireballs' trajectories.
Background
Following consideration by the Defense Department's Research and Development Board, Joseph Kaplan's green fireball project was approved by Air Materiel Command (AMC) on December 20, 1949. The project included setting up Askania photo theodolites using diffraction grating cameras to 'provide trajectory data and photo records' of the fireballs. The decision is documented in memos on 'Light Phenomena' by Maj. Gen. Samuel R. Bentnall (December 9, 1949) and Col. B. G. Holzman (December 20, 1949) and discussed by Brad Sparks and Jerome Clark in the International UFO Reporter (1985). 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.