UFO Mailing List Post: “Hector Quintanilla’s Unpublished Manuscript”

By Colm Kelleher, 5 February 2001
(UFO UpDates, Toronto, Canada)

The whole post:

“NIDS publishes previously unpublished manuscript by Project Blue Book’s Lt. Col. Hector Quintanilla. 

For the first time NIDS is electronically publishing a book manuscript written in 1975 by Lt. Col. Hector Quintanilla, the head of the USAF Project Blue Book. Project Blue Book was supposed to be an objective investigation and documentation of the UFO phenomenon carried out by the United States Air Force from March 1952 until December 1969.

NIDS’ purpose in making available this previously unpublished manuscript is twofold: (a) to demonstrate to the interested public, through the authors own unedited words, Lt. Col. Quintanilla’s attitudes, preconceptions and biases that dominated Project Blue Book and (b) to make available to historians and to the public the methodology and practices employed by the United States Air Force in investigating and cataloging the UFO phenomenon.

The manuscript covers the years of Quintanilla’s own involvement from July 1963-December1969 in Project Blue Book and also contains many valuable insights into the public and media reaction to the USAF funded study, from the perspective of the author. In particular, Lt. Col. Quintanilla’s descriptions of University of Arizona professor James McDonald’s pursuit of the UFO phenomena as well as Dr. J. Allen Hynek’s relationship with Project Blue Book are annotated for the public record in considerable, colorful and sometimes jaundiced detail.

The complete book, which is copyrighted to Karl Quintanilla, can be found on the NIDS web site at: http://www.nidsci.org. A separate forward to the book, written by Alex Chionetti and J. Antonio Huneeus will be added when it is received.”

http://www.ufoupdateslist.com/2001/feb/m05-007.shtml

NOTE: Hector Quintanilla was a Major, according to Project Blue Book documents.

(u2.lege.net image)

UFO Book Manuscript: “UFO’s: An Air Force Dilemma”

By Major Hector Quintanilla, Jr., U.S. Air Force 

(Internet Archive, San Francisco, California)

Source: National Institute for Discovery Science, Las Vegas, Nevada

The book manuscript (copyrighted 1974) was written in 1975, according to NIDS:

https://archive.org/stream/ufos-an-air-force-dilemma/quintanilla_djvu.txt

The late Hector Quintanilla, Jr. was the last chief officer of Project Blue Book (1963-1970), the U.S. Air Force’s investigation into the UFO phenomenon.

NOTE: Hector Quintanilla was a Major, according to Project Blue Book documents.

The late Major Hector Quintanilla, Jr., U.S. Air Force,

Chief Officer of Project Blue Book (1963-1969)

(ovnis-usa.com photo)

UFO Book:
“UFOs: An Air Force Dilemma”
by Major Hector Quintanilla, U.S. Air Force (Ret.), 1975
(UFO Casebook, Belton, Texas)

The late Major Hector Quintanilla, Jr. was the last chief officer of Project Blue Book (1963-1969), the U.S. Air Force’s investigation into the UFO phenomenon:

http://www.ufocasebook.com/pdf/afdilemma.pdf

The document includes a preface to the book by the now defunct National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS) and an article by Alex Chionetti.














The late Major Hector Quintanilla, Jr., U.S. Air Force
(ovnis-usa.com photo)

U.S. Government UFO Document (UFO Paper):
“The Investigation of UFO’s” 
by Hector Quintanilla, Jr.
(Central Intelligence Agency, Washington, D.C.)

Major Hector Quintanilla, Jr. was the last chief officer of Project Blue Book, the U.S. Air Force’s investigation into the UFO phenomenon:

https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol10no4/html/v10i4a07p_0001.htm
















The late Major Hector Quintanilla, Jr., U.S. Air Force 
(theufochronicles.com photo)

UFO Case Directory (Close Encounters): “Portage County UFO Chase April 17, 1966 Ravenna, Ohio”

(NICAP.org)

The whole UFO case report:

“Brad Sparks:

April 17, 1966; Portage County, Ohio, bet. Atwater and Randolph, Ohio, to Pittsburgh, Penna.

5-6:10 a.m. (EST). E of Akron Deputy Sheriff Dale F. Spaur and associate Wilbur Neff saw a 30-45 ft metallic object approach over the treetops from the woods, bathing the witnesses and the whole area in light while making a transformer-like hum, then headed E and they gave chase in the patrol car at speeds up to 105 mph for 85 miles. Officer Wayne Huston about 35 miles to the ESE saw the object he described as ice cream cone-shaped, point downwards, approach from the W and pass overhead at about 800-900 ft height with paur and Neff in pursuit to the SE and he joined them near Unity, Ohio, with the object about 1/2 to 3/4 mile ahead of them, reaching the Penna. state line at 5:35. They lost sight of object at Brady Run Park regained it in Bridgeport, Penna. At about this time officers Lonnie Johnson and Ray Esterly in Salem, Ohio, saw 3 jet fighters [two F-102’s] attempting to intercept a bright object at about 10,000-20,000 ft about 25° elevation to the E for about 2 mins. In Conway, Penna., at 6 a.m. they met with officer Frank Panzarella who had been watching the object for 10 mins to the E or SE which he described as 25-35 ft half-football-shaped object at about 1,000 ft height (or 1,500-2,000 ft according to the others), when it stopped in the NE towards Harmony, Penna, then rose. They watched as the object climbed to about 3,500 ft to the left of and level with the quarter moon in the ESE (which was at about azimuth 116° elevation 14° and 11% illuminated at 6:00 a.m.) and Venus (at 122° azimuth 22° elevation) and it passed near a 707 airliner taking off from Pittsburgh Airport and disappeared shooting up vertically at about 6:10. (Sparks; Hynek UFO Exp ch. 8; NICAP)

Fran Ridge:

If this incident seems familiar to you, just maybe you saw the motion picture, ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’. Investigated by NICAP’s William Weitzel, this report, also known as the Spauer/Neff Case, was the basis for the UFO ‘chase’ in this film. This case involves police witnesses, confrontation, light beam, brilliant illumination, light engulfment, sound, cat and mouse chase, with rapid upward departure. Special thanks go out to Mark Rodeghier of CUFOS for providing the documentation and to Loy Pressley for converting them into text so I could make the web pages.

Dr. James E. McDonald:

Ravenna, Ohio calls for reevaluation not only on the scientific grounds involved, but also to avoid unfairly subjecting to local public ridicule the several officers who have testified.  (Compare Bertrand & Hunt in the Exeter case) The available evidence (especially Wm. Weitzel’s extensive report for NICAP) seems to me to make the astronomical explanation, that now stands as the official Air Force evaluation, quite unreasonable. 

Recording Notes: *

20.   04.17.1966. Deputy Sheriff Dale Spaur and Mandalay Village Police Chief, Gerald Booker, give their narratives of the UFO chase incident on WKSU Radio.

21.   04.17.1966. Deputy Sheriff Dale Spaur is interviewed by Marc Candusso from the Flying Saucer Investigations Committeeof Akron, OH on April 19, 1966.

22.   04.17.1966. Major Hector Quintanilla, Jr., USAFProject Blue Book, takes Officer Dale Spaur, Officer Barney Neff and others statement at the Ravenna, OH police station on May 11, 1966. Quintanilla tells them they saw either a satellite or the planet Venus.

23.   04.17.1966.  NICAP’s William Weitzel asked Dale Spaur, etc., following their meeting with Major Hector Quintanill [sic], Jr. for their reaction as to Quintanilla’s explanation of their case.”

NICAP.org presents U.S. government (U.S. Air Force) documents that pertain to the UFO case.

http://www.nicap.org/660417ravenna_dir.htm

Related posts:

realtvufos.blogspot.com/2018/11/ufo-news-article-strangers-in-night.html

realtvufos.blogspot.com/2018/11/ufo-news-article-parajournal-famous-86.html

realtvufos.blogspot.com/search?q=17+April+1966+Portage+County,+Ohio

realtvufos.blogspot.com/search?q=Project+Blue+Book

realtvufos.blogspot.com/search?q=Hector+Quintanilla

Satellite photo of Ravenna, Ohio (tageo.com)

(tageo.com photo)

UFO News Article:
“Flying Saucers? Absolutely Not,
Says Chief Air Force Investigator”,
29 August 1965 (St. Joseph News-Press, Missouri)

In the article, Major Hector Quintanilla, Jr. comments about the UFO incidents that had occurred over the U.S. in late July/early August 1965, among other things:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=f_RTAAAAIBAJ&sjid=WTkNAAAAIBAJ&pg=5960,5485447

Quote from the article:
“Quintanilla admits there are 663 unsolved UFO sighting cases – nearly half of them in the peak year of 1952. But, he adds: ‘None has ever given any indication of being a threat to our national security … of being beyond the range of present day scientific knowledge … or being extraterrestrial.’ ”














The late Major Hector Quintanilla, Jr., U.S. Air Force
(ovnis-usa.com photo)

UFO News Article: “Strangers in the Night”

31 March 2004

(Cleveland Scene, Ohio)

The article reports on the 17 April 1966 Portage County, Ohio, UFO incident.

Deputy Sheriff Dale F. Spaur, Mounted Deputy Wilbur ‘Barney’ Neff and several other Ohio police officers chased a UFO from Ravenna, Portage County, Ohio, into Pennsylvania before it flew off in the distance. The UFO chase lasted for about thirty minutes.

Hundreds of people reported seeing the shiny, disc shaped UFO.

A large part of the article discusses Mantua Police Chief Gerald Buchert’s UFO sighting and his photo of the UFO. Buchert saw the UFO (in Mantua) a few minutes before Dale F. Spaur and Wilbur ‘Barney’ Neff spotted the unknown object in Ravenna.

What’s more – the article exposes Hector Quintanilla and Project Blue Book. The story about Gerald Buchert’s UFO photo is very revealing, to say the least.

https://www.clevescene.com/cleveland/strangers-in-the-night/Content?oid=1485939

Related posts:

realtvufos.blogspot.com/search?q=17+April+1966+Portage+County,+Ohio

realtvufos.blogspot.com/search?q=Project+Blue+Book

realtvufos.blogspot.com/search?q=Hector+Quintanilla

UFO photographed (by Police Chief Gerald Buchert) 
in Mantua, Ohio, on 17 April 1966

(Easynow’s UFO Forum/youtube.com image)

Satellite photo of Mantua, Ohio (tageo.com)

(tageo.com photo)

U.S. Government UFO Article: “News & Information: How To Investigate a Flying Saucer”

(Central Intelligence Agency, Washington, D.C.)

Quote from the article:

“Hector Quintanilla, the last chief officer of the US Air Force’s famous UFO investigation program, Project BLUE BOOK, was in charge of the Zamora case. His team was convinced that Zamora was telling the truth, and despite an extremely thorough investigation, they were unable to locate the object or its origins. In an article for Studies in Intelligence called, ‘The Investigation of UFO’s,’ Quintanilla says that the Zamora sighting is ‘the best-documented case on record.’ It remains unsolved.

Project BLUE BOOK was based at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio. Between 1947 and 1969, the Air Force recorded 12,618 sightings of strange phenomena — 701 of which remain ‘unidentified’ like the Zamora case. Although the CIA was not directly affiliated with Project BLUE BOOK, the Agency did play a large role in investigating UFOs in the late 1940s and early 1950s, which led to the creation of several studies, panels, and programs. Former CIA Chief Historian, Gerald K. Haines, wrote an in-depth article looking at the Agency’s role in studying the UFO phenomenon for Studies in Intelligence. In his article, ‘CIA’s Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947-90,’ Haines says that ‘while the Agency’s concern over UFOs was substantial until the early 1950s, CIA has since paid only limited and peripheral attention to the phenomena.’

With over 20 years of investigations, from the late 1940s until Project BLUE BOOK’s termination in 1969, the CIA and USAF have learned a thing or two about how to investigate a UFO sighting. While most government officials and scientists now dismiss flying saucer reports as a quaint relic of the 1950s and 1960s, there’s still a lot that can be learned from the history and methodology of ‘flying saucer intelligence.’ ”

https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2016-featured-story-archive/how-to-investigate-a-flying-saucer.html

The facts (official CIA UFO documents) seem to contradict the view the Agency takes of the UFO phenomenon (last paragraph).

(wikimedia.org image)

UFO News Article:
“Sightings Of UFO Boomed In 1966; No Threat To U.S.”,
14 February 1967 (The Gettysburg Times, Pennsylvania)

The Gettysburg Times reports on the 1966 U.S. UFO wave:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=sUkmAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TP8FAAAAIBAJ&pg=695,1128036

Quote from the article:
“Of the 11,107 sightings since 1947, Quintanilla (Major Hector Quintanilla, Jr., Director of Project Blue Book) says, just 676 remain in the unidentified category. Only 30 of those checked out last year haven’t been explained satisfactorily.

Another 242 sightings are listed as having insufficient data for identification.”














Aerial view of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio,
headquarters of Project Blue Book (wikimedia.org photo)

UFO Report: “NICAP UFO investigator Mar-Apr 1965”

(NICAP.org)

The whole UFO report:

“On Jan. 27, Maj. John Nayadley, a retired AF pilot who is now a NASA research engineer, sighted a fast-moving object at Hampton, Va. At first, its speed led him to think it a ‘shooting star.’ But when it came closer, he saw it was a V shaped object with blinking red-orange lights on the outer edges. The sighting was fully confirmed by another NASA engineer, A. G. Crimmins, Jr., who saw the UFO maneuvering close to the ground.

‘It was zigzagging as if searching for a landing spot,’ said Mr. Crimmins, in his report to NICAF (read: NICAP). ‘I watched it through 20 x 50 binoculars and I could see the same flashing lights. They appeared to be on the edge or rim of a rapidly rotating disc.’

After a brief touch-landing, the flying disc took off and rapidly climbed out of sight.

The AF quickly explained the UFO as a helicopter. When an investigator from Langley AFB questioned Crimmins, he said that ‘no helicopters were flying at that time.’

But AFHQ still uses this false answer, ridiculing an experienced AF pilot and a NASA engineer as too befuddled or excited to recognize an ordinary ‘whirly-bird.’

Soon alter this case broke, Maj. Hector Quintanella [sic], UFO Project chief, came to Richmond to debunk the numerous recent Virginia sightings. Playing up frauds, delusions and fake photos, Quintanella combined ridicule, evasion or denial of documented facts and claimed not a single UFO report had ever been proved true.”

http://www.nicap.org/reports/650127plum_tree_isle_NICAP.htm

The late Major Hector Quintanilla, Jr., U.S. Air Force,

Chief Officer of Project Blue Book (1963-1969)

(ovnis-usa.com photo)

UFO News Article: “FOR MORE ON UFO – Air Force Asks St. Joseph, Mo., Official for Report”

22 April 1968

(The Kansas City Star, Missouri)

Sources: U.S. Air Force (Project Blue Book) and Fold3.com

The whole article:

“Assistance in obtaining information concerning a reported unidentified flying object in the Gower, Mo., area [Groveton, Missouri] 4:30 o’clock in the morning, February 9 [1968], was asked of John C. Riley, jr., city aviation director, by the Air Force.

The request came from Maj. Hector Quintanilla, chief of the Aerial Phenomena office of the Foreign Technology division of the Air Force headquarters at the Wright Patterson base in Ohio.

The letter from the Air Force stated:

The Aerial Phenomena office is in receipt of an unidentified flying object report from Gower, Mo.

The observer [a farmer at a farm] sighted an extremely bright light and also heard a noise. It sounded similar to the swish of a piece of wire, whirled at high speed above a person’s head, and had pulsating rhythm of some kind. Initially the object was hovering, but when it moved toward the southwest, the noise was two or three louder and the sound pulsations were more rapid.”

https://www.fold3.com/image/6889916

Wikipedia article: “Gower, Missouri”:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gower,_Missouri

Related posts:

realtvufos.blogspot.com/2019/02/us-government-ufo-document-project_21.html

realtvufos.blogspot.com/2019/02/ufo-case-report-e-mail-subject-groveton.html

(ufocasebook.com image)

Satellite photo of Gower, Missouri (tageo.com)

(tageo.com photo)

UFO Article (Blog): “Lies and More Lies”

By Kevin D. Randle, 13 July 2014

(A Different Perspective, Cedar Rapids, Iowa)

Quote from the article:

“In an earlier posting I purposely and deliberately said that the Air Force lied about sighting solutions in the Project Blue Book files. I said this because they knew, based on their own files, that the satellite solution for one aspect of the Portage County Chase did not work. They, which is to say Hector Quintanilla, knew the truth. As the man in charge, he owns the ultimate responsibility here and he had, naturally, complete access to the Project Blue Book files.

And yes, I can provide other examples where the Air Force mislead the public about their UFO information. They say that only 701 sightings remained unidentified at the close of Blue Book but that isn’t exactly true. Overlooking the fact that some cases were labeled as identified when that identification can be shown to be untrue, there were some 4000 sightings labeled as ‘insufficient data for a scientific analysis.’ That means that more than thirty percent of the sightings were labeled as ‘insufficient data,’ which isn’t an identification at all but keeps that sighting off the unidentified roles.”

http://kevinrandle.blogspot.com/2014/07/lies-and-more-lies.html

(wikimedia.org image)

UFO News Article: “AIR FORCE SAYS IT WAS PLANET VENUS – Explanation Of UFO Rejected”

25 April 1966

(Beaver County Times, Beaver, Pennsylvania)

Quote from the article:

“The Air Force’s explanation of the sighting of an unidentified flying object April 17 in Ohio and Beaver County isn’t being accepted by one of the men who saw the UFO, Sheriff’s Deputy Dale Spaur of Portage County, Ohio.

SPAUR isn’t buying that explanation. He said Saturday ‘I don’t know how much of an investigation they made, but evidently it wasn’t a very lengthy one and it didn’t involve me.’

He said he had two brief phone conversations with Maj. Hector Quintanilla, head of ‘Project Blue Book,’ the Air Force official UFO investigation project. They lasted about two and a half and one and a half minutes, he said.

Spaur and his partner W. L. ‘Barney’ Neff chased the object, which Spaur described as 35 to 40 feet across with a very brigh (read: bright), white glow. He said that the chase started after the object hovered directly over their heads about 150 feet in the air south of Ravenna.

They were joined in the chase at East Palestine by Patrolman Wayne Huston, who also reported seeing the object. Their chase ended at Conway, where they found Patrolman Frank Panzanella along Route 65. The four said they watched the object for about 20 minutes in Conway.

Spaur said he wouldn’t have risked his life, his partner’s or any innocent person’s if he hadn’t thought it was important.

‘I don’t agree that it’s a satellite and I also don’t agree that it’s Venus. I know what I saw and I believe it and I’ll never change my mind.’

William Weitzel, Pittsburgh, investigator for National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena, isn’t accepting the Air Force explanation either.”

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2002&dat=19660425&id=ZbAiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=C7MFAAAAIBAJ&pg=882,4864678

Related posts:

realtvufos.blogspot.com/search?q=1966+Portage+County

Satellite photo of Ravenna, Ohio (tageo.com)

(tageo.com photo)

U.S. Government Film: “UFO Interview, 1966”

Published on 30 September 2013

(YouTube channel: US National Archives)

US National Archives text:

“Creator: Department of Defense. Department of the Air Force. (09/26/1947 - ) (Most Recent)

Series : Moving Images Relating to Military Aviation Activities, compiled 1947 - 1984, documenting the period 1909 - 1984

Record Group 342: Records of U.S. Air Force Commands, Activities, and Organizations, 1900 - 2003

Production Date: 1966

Shot List: Covers interview with Lt Col Lawrence J. Tacker and Maj Hector Quintanilla, Jr., concerning Project Blue Book, which relates to identification of unidentified flying objects (UFO).

Contact: National Archives at College Park - Motion Pictures (RD-DC-M), National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001

Phone: 301-837-3540, Fax: 301-837-3620, Email: mopix@nara.gov

National Archives Identifier: 70511

Local Identifier: 342-USAF-42990”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlmwakUTo3M

(youtube.com image)

UFO Article (Blog): “X-Zone Broadcast Network – Former Blue Book Officer, Carmon Marano”

By Kevin D. Randle, 3 November 2016

(A Different Perspective, Cedar Rapids, Iowa)

Quote from the article:

“This week I had the opportunity of interview former Air Force officer Carmon Marano who had been on the staff of Project Blue Book. How do I know? First, Ben Moss sent me a picture that showed the Blue Book Staff and he is the lieutenant standing, more or less, behind Hector Quintanilla. Second, in reviewing the UFO sightings from Minot Air Force Base in 1968 I found a number of memos for the record that he had written. Finally, of course, he said exactly that and unlike so many others who have said they were part of Blue Book, we can actually prove it with him.”

http://kevinrandle.blogspot.com/2016/11/x-zone-broadcast-network-former-blue.html

The Project Blue Book Staff

(2.bp.blogspot.com/kevinrandle.blogspot.com photo)

UFO News Article:
“2nd Only To 1952 –
Sightings Last Year Near Record, Air Force Says”,
5 April 1967 (The Blade, Toledo, Ohio)

1060 UFO reports were submitted to the U.S. Air Force in 1966, according to the article:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=k_1OAAAAIBAJ&sjid=gQEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7513,3385631














The late Major Hector Quintanilla, Jr., U.S. Air Force,
Chief Officer of Project Blue Book (1963-1969)
(ovnis-usa.com photo)