The Flying Saucer Conspiracy

The third UFOlogy book by Major Donald E. Keyhoe (USMC Ret.) The Flying Saucer Conspiracy (1955) begins with a Foreword stating that since he wrote his previous book in 1953, sightings of the so-called Unidentified Flying Objects had multiplied throughout the world.

Here in the United States, the official investigation has been greatly intensified.  Scores of prominent scientists and engineers are now working behind the scenes, helping to evaluate the facts.

Most of the public is unaware of these developments, for since December, 1953, the Air Force has refused to release any official reports of flying-saucer encounters.

He mentioned that in relation to the censorship, "Most of the officers and officials I have encountered are simply obeying orders."  He explained further:

Nor do I attribute unpatriotic motives to the "silence group" members who originate these orders.  Undoubtedly they are actuated by a high motive—the need, as they see it, to protect the public from possible hysteria.


The thousands of UFO reports by veteran observers prove beyond question that the saucers are machines from outer space.


If the public is not informed of all the facts, fear of the unknown may prevail.


In The Flying Saucer Conspiracy I have covered, as far as possible, the important developments of the past two years.  I have received help from more than 300 sources: pilots, scientists, radar experts, airport tower operators, flying-saucer investigators, and many others, both here and abroad.

In addition to reporting about new UFO sightings in the book, Keyhoe chronicled the reaction to his previous book among government officials.  Keyhoe had learned more about his own circumstances and now differentiated government workers as belonging to two separate groups in relation to UFO secrecy — "the censor-fighters" and "the silence group."

. . . in August, 1952, the censors temporarily lost control, after mass sightings in July had caused wide alarm.  Under a new policy, set by General Samford, I was invited to the Pentagon and offered the most baffling UFO reports in Air Force Intelligence files—cases pointing clearly to the interplanetary answer.  From August until late February, 1953, these intelligence reports, ranging from "Secret" to "Restricted," were declassified specifically for my use.  I did not know, at that time, that I was the only unofficial investigator to see these reports.

Besides General Samford and the Directorate officers, the release of this material to me was known by the Commander of ATIC and by Captain Edward J. Ruppelt, head of Project Bluebook, the agency coordinating all UFO reports.


Near the end of this period a fierce battle had developed between the censor-fighters and the silence group.  Unaware that I had the key cases, the dethroned censors struggled to regain control before the facts could leak out.

Finally an unnamed "spokesman" . . . focused an attack on my Utah picture claims.

After providing an account of "backstage attacks" against him by the silence group and explaining his rebuttals, Keyhoe recounted how he issued a telegram to Air Force Secretary Talbott and General Sory Smith, with copies sent to the press wire services.  The telegram presented statements about the Air Force analysis from a canceled press release concerning the Utah film.  The press release had been leaked to him by an officer who disagreed with the silence group.  Keyhoe noted, "I could get into serious trouble if I gave it to the papers—it was still classified 'Secret.'  But I might risk it to prove I was telling the truth."

Considering the data presented in his second book and the bureaucratic Air Force conspiracy, Keyhoe appraised: "Had it not been for Chop, the other Air Force censor-fighters—and Ruppelt's refusal to attack the book—I would probably have been crucified."

Keyhoe recalled how he had learned about JANAP 146 and AFR 200-2, two orders censoring flying saucer reports.  He explained:

Known as JANAP 146 (Joint-Army-Navy-Air Publication), this order sets up a top-priority radio system for the most urgent Intelligence reports.  Pilots are directed to report Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO's) immediately from all parts of the world, using this emergency system—and to keep these sightings secret.

Under Section III any pilot who reveals an official UFO report can be imprisoned for one to ten years and fined up to 10,000 dollars.  (Title 18, U. S. Code, 793.)

Keyhoe commented about AFR 200-2:

Under Paragraph 9, ironically called "Release of Facts," it was provided that only hoaxes, practical jokes, and erroneous UFO reports can be given to the press.

All genuine UFO reports received by the Air Force must be kept from the public.  These include thousands of verified sightings from military pilots, radarmen, guided-missile trackers, and other trained observers under government control.

Under AFR 200-2, all confirmed flying saucer reports must be rushed to Intelligence by teletype or radio.  When possible, all tangible evidence must be flown immediately to ATIC (Air Technical Intelligence Center) at Dayton.   Such evidence includes:

1. Parts of flying saucers—actual or "suspected."

2. Photos of radarscopes showing "saucer" maneuvers and speeds.

3. Genuine pictures of flying saucers.

To conceal flying-saucer discoveries, AFR 200-2 confines actual UFO investigation to three super-secret groups:

The Directorate of Air Force Intelligence at the Pentagon; the 4602d Air Intelligence Service Squadron, which has special investigators at all Air Defense bases; the ATIC (Air Technical Intelligence Center) at Dayton, Ohio.

Even top-ranking Air Force officers are warned not to probe beyond the first stage—securing UFO reports for the three groups.

Because JANAP 146 and AFR 200-2, hundreds of new, dramatic encounters have been kept undercover.

Some reports, of course, are bound to leak out, especially when saucers are sighted near cities.  But even when local papers run front-page stories, the UFO censors often deny the reports or quickly explain them away.

Keyhoe also reported about a UFO order of the Navy: "Issued by the Potomac River Naval Command, it was entitled PRNC 3820.1—Code 03."  Book appendices included typed reproductions of documents JANAP 146(B), PRNC 3820.1 and AFR 200-2.

Among a variety of UFO sighting incidents described in The Flying Saucer Conspiracy, one associate of Keyhoe emerged as a frequent supporter — radio and television news commentator Frank Edwards.  Keyhoe noted that on the same day that the American Aviation Daily "came out with a planted Air Force story pooh-poohing the saucers," Edwards reported about an incident where 14 flying discs were sighted 15,000 feet over York, Pennsylvania and briefly pursued by jet fighters.

That night Frank Edwards threw a jab at the silence group.  After reporting the formation at York, he threw a sardonic question at the Pentagon, quoting the official explanations which had been given to the American Aviation Daily:

"Balloons, meteors, reflection, mirages, temperature inversions, birds, weather phenomena—which of these were the saucers at York, gentlemen?  What were your jets chasing over Pennsylvania—birds, mirages, or just plain hallucinations?"

Keyhoe chronicled the circumstances related to him by Frank Edwards about the end of his radio show in August 1954.  The duo had been collaborating in preparation for an upcoming broadcast when Edwards telephoned him to inform him of the disturbing series of events.

"Don, it's happened," he said.  "I've been muzzled."

"Muzzled?  You mean the Air Force—"

"I don't know.  George Meany told me I'd have to have a censor at my elbow every minute."

"They must have found out about the special broadcast."

"You're probably right, though there were some other angles too.  The Air Force isn't the only agency that wanted me silenced."

"Did Meany mention the saucers specifically?"

"Absolutely.  He told me I was not even to mention them, except to quote press wire reports.  Even then I couldn't comment on them."

"But the press wire stories have almost died out!"

"That's what I told Meany.  He said, 'Never mind, that's an order, and there will be a censor at your elbow to see that you carry it out.'"

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to resign—that's all I can do.  They knew that when they pulled this censor trick."

But though he was temporarily silenced, Frank had not abandoned hopes for his special broadcast.

"I'm talking it over next week with another network," he told me.

Then a strange thing happened.  The Pentagon offered Frank a mysterious hush-hush job.

"On what?" I asked him.

"All they would tell me was that it was terrifically important.  They said I'd be helping to prepare the public for something.  I know," he said, "it sounds like the saucers, but would they actually get me off the air and then give me this?  I'd be of bigger help to them on the network."

"It sounds like a trap," I said.

"I'll soon know.  I'm to call this general back tomorrow."

It was two days before I heard from him again.

"I just got back from New York.  That network backed down on the flying-saucer deal.  I think they were told to, because at first they were all for it."

"What about the Pentagon offer?"

"I think it was an attempt to gag me," Frank said shortly.  "This general told me I'd have to sign a two-year contract.  During that time I couldn't broadcast or publish a word on any subject without their permission."

Before he hung up, Frank added: "You better watch your step, Don.  Those guys are playing for keeps."

Later, Keyhoe reported: "After he left Mutual, Frank had built up an independent weekly program, which he had taped for distribution to radio stations all over the country."  In Keyhoe's following book published in 1960, Edwards would be quoted as  reminding him: ". . . in all these years, there's been no sign of an attack on the world . . . If they'd [Air Force] stop chasing the 'saucers' they might find out they're friendly."

Beyond flying saucers, Flying Saucer Conspiracy includes accounts of mysterious occurrences that aroused Keyhoe's conjectures, including: astronomers' observations of anomalies of the surfaces of the moon and Mars, rumors of unknown Earth satellites identified as "natural, not artificial" in an AP article; strange blasts or "sky quakes" in different parts of the country and in England; radar reports of otherwise "invisible" UFO formations; seemingly UFO-related "angel's hair" incidents hypothesized by one source as having been "caused by ionization from the saucers' discharge and the action of the G-field upon it"; incidents of birds dying by tens of thousands in 1954; "space-creature"/"hairy dwarf" accounts from abroad; fireballs and unidentified missiles; and an unusual cloud formation seen over the city of Marseilles, France.

Keyhoe considered potential flying saucer connections with mysterious airplane disasters and disappearances.  Some of these accounts remind the reader that 'unidentified flying objects' encompass circumstances beyond so-called 'flying saucer' events.  Keyhoe's consideration of the rumors of unknown Earth satellites also encompassed cynical potentialities.

To the UFO censors the discovery of the space base was far more ominous than most of the flying-disc reports.  Most of the saucers were considered to be harmless.  But the American people had been warned, officially, of a satellite's destructive power.

One of the first warnings came in 1948, when Defense Secretary James Forrestal announced the Earth Satellite Vehicle Program.  The Pentagon then also confirmed a Nazi scheme for a deadly "sky platform."  Revealed in Germany after World War II, the base was based on designs by Professor Herman Oberth, a world authority on space-travel plans.*


(*Professor Oberth, Rumanian-born, author of The Rocket Into Interplanetary Space, is now working in this country under contract with the United States government.)

One obvious influence to Keyhoe's consistently wary frame of mind concerning UFO/flying saucer possibilities is the indoctrination endemic to military training.  Keyhoe had been a Marine Corps pilot.  He also expressed his hope that there would be no threat posed by flying saucers —

But I still clung to the idea that Arthur Clark had expressed: that advanced space races would be wise and tolerant beings who long ago had abandoned all conflict.  Perhaps it was idealistic.  After all, what did we really know about the mysterious creatures who controlled the flying saucers?

From today's vantage point when more UFO data than ever before is available for researchers on the Internet, I believe that contributing to Keyhoe's dilemma in reaching any conclusions about flying saucer events was his unwillingness to investigate and consider the cases of the flying saucer contactees.  As I have hoped to show in previous blog articles, a discriminating researcher has much to learn from these cases that could have also become sources of contemplation for Keyhoe.

Considering his suspicions that the UFO phenomena could  threaten human society, Keyhoe nonetheless consistently supported the alternative to UFO secrecy by advocating honesty and transparency — an orientation that from my perspective is the foundation for an advantageous moral philosophy incorporating 'the golden rule' extolled in all of the world's spiritual wisdom traditions.  In Christianity the rule is expressed in one way as: "And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise."