NICAP's "The Year of the UFO" (April)

While several interesting reports are highlighted in the April calendar, the April 8, 1956 reference to an airliner over Schenectady, NY, also known as the Raymond Ryan case, is very important. Despite flying passengers on a commercial airliner, Capt. Ryan and First Officer William Neff were apparently instructed by authorities to pursue a UFO -- a clear violation of federal and air safety rules, no matter how one looks at it.. Though the facts of this astonishing case became muddied quickly by those same authorities, NICAP had the pilot's admission recorded on tape and filed safely away. If you aren't familiar with this case, enter the name Raymond Ryan in the NICAP search engine (link to NICAP is shown above on this page) and read several intriguing accounts right at your fingertips.

Gerald Ford, UFOs & Colorado University

In light of the previous "NICAP'S Year of the UFO" post where I referenced the Michigan "marsh gas" furor, it is worth remembering that Gerald Ford, then a Michigan congressman and House minority leader, demanded a government UFO inquiry. His persistence eventually led to the infamous University of Colorado UFO project headed up by the late Dr. Edward U. Condon. When Look Magazine eventually published a disturbing article by author John G. Fuller exposing dishonesty and an internal memo stating that the "study" should have a negative result, no matter the evidence, Ford expressed his anger. Here's a letter I received after writing him about the Look Magazine revelations. How interesting that, once people such as Ford and Jimmy Carter become President of the U.S., they are never again vocal about UFOs -- as they were prior to assuming high office.

NICAP's "The Year of the UFO" (March)

The month of March echoes across the archives of UFO history particularly because March of 1966 gave us the famous "swamp gas" sightings near Dexter, Michigan. However, as anybody familiar with the work of UFO researcher Wendy Connors should know, Dr. J. Allen Hynek never attributed some of the sightings to swamp gas -- his words were marsh gas. Connors (see a link above to her Faded Discs project) has the audio recording to prove it and has played the words on Errol Bruce-Knapp's "Strange Days...Indeed!" radio program (see Virtually Strange Network link above).

This month in 1966 also showered the USA with a wave of interesting UFO reports from Oklahoma, Michigan, New Hampshire and other states, aptly noted in the calendar. Other March incidents mentioned here from various years involve objects following cars, tracked on radar and photographed by apparently solid witnesses.
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NICAP's "The Year of the UFO" (February)

February's listings spotlight more documented UFO incidents from the NICAP files, as well as a prelude to the Colorado UFO project.

NICAP's "The Year of the UFO" (January)

I'm not certain, but the organization NICAP was probably the first to generate a monthy calendar format spotlighting important events in UFO history. In 1972 every NICAP member received with each bimonthly issue of The UFO Investigator a fold-in page containing a month of UFO history on each side (January on one side and February on the reverse, for example). Page colors changed with each mailing.

During June, I intend to post all 12 months of "The Year of the UFO," the obscure, yet captivating, NICAP feature, and even after 35 years of storage these old copies are in good condition for scanning.

January, as you can see, boasts both familiar and lesser known UFO memorabilia. For instance, Capt. Thomas Mantell died in January during his pursuit of something (UFO? Balloon?), in 1950 True Magazine published an important article by Maj. Donald E. Keyhoe (USMC, ret.), the famous Wallops Island UFO incident occurred in 1965 and, if only we could forget, the "Condon Report" -- the government-financed UFO study tainted by scandal -- saw release in January of 1969.

One of the best features of these monthlies, aside from marking important occasions, is that in many cases the reader can go to the NICAP web site (see link list above) search engine, or other sources, to retrieve detailed information just by typing in key words and dates.

Continue to check back, as months may not be posted on consecutive days here, though the series will be completed by June's end.