Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
| Wright-Patterson AFB | |
 Aerial view of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Photo: Nyttend, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. | |
| Location | Near Dayton, Ohio |
|---|---|
| Formed | Wright Field and Patterson Field (WWII era); merged as Wright-Patterson AFB in 1948 |
| Relevance | Air Materiel Command; Air Technical Intelligence Center; Project Sign, Grudge and Blue Book |
| Museum | National Museum of the U.S. Air Force |
| ActiveMilitary | |
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, Ohio, was the center of Air Force aeronautical research and technical intelligence in the early Cold War. Its Air Materiel Command intelligence staff and, from the early 1950s, the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) ran the Air Force’s UFO investigations, Project Sign, Project Grudge and Project Blue Book. Sighting reports from around the world were forwarded there on standard forms.
In PURSUE releases
Several records in PURSUE Release 07 were addressed to or routed through Wright-Patterson. Teletype reports for two of the Catalina Island sightings in that release were addressed to ATIC at Wright-Patterson, and the 1949 case includes a Wright-Patterson control and routing slip. The personnel file of Col. Howard McCoy, who headed AMC’s Intelligence Department from 1947 to 1949, documents the chain of command at the base during the period Project Sign began.[1]
See also
- Air Materiel Command
- Project Sign
- Project Blue Book
- Howard McCoy
- Catalina Island UAP reports (PURSUE files)
- PURSUE Release 07 overview
References
- ^ U.S. Department of War (2026). PURSUE Release 07 (Oct. 23, 2026): DOW-UAP-D177, D178, D179, D181, D180. war.gov/ufo.