The Fort Monmouth UFO sightings of 1951 featured many radar-tracked Objects.

Curiously, pilots, signal operators, and other military officers observed the UFOs.

Nevertheless, there is more to the story, as the inexplicable sightings have revealed the shortcomings and secrets of Operation Grudge. This initiative was designed by the U.S. Air Force primarily to investigate mysterious UFO sightings.

Sightings of Extraterrestrial Objects at Fort Monmouth

The project was officially shut down in December 1949; yet, it continued to function until late 1951, around the time of the UFO sightings at Fort Monmouth. Almost immediately thereafter, UFO encounters, whether coincidental or not, were investigated in utmost secrecy. Fort Monmouth witnessed one of the most comprehensive and genuine UFO sightings ever reported. The events of September 1951 are among the most momentous in human history, and they continue to fascinate experts more than seven decades later.

Two UFOs Seen Within Seventeen Minutes

At 11:18 a.m. on September 10, 1951, at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, Army Signal Corps student radar operator Eugene Clark saw something peculiar on his radar monitor. The automatic setup mode was unable to keep up with the unidentified object's rapid motion. As the weird thing displayed on the screen, several visiting high-ranking officials were standing behind his station.

In a few seconds, the object traversed the northeast coast of the United States. Around 700 miles per hour was its speed, according to estimations. In the neighborhood of Sandy Hook and in close proximity to New York City, the unidentified object disappeared off radar. Then, seventeen minutes later, at 11:35 am, there was a visual sighting just south of Sandy Hook. In addition, the witnesses were two United States Air Force T-33 Jet pilots.

The pilot of the aircraft, Lieutenant Wilbert Rogers, and the passenger, Major Edward Ballard Jr., were flying at a height of 20,000 feet above Point Pleasant, New Jersey while traveling north. They were en way to Sandy Hook when the mystery item was intercepted.

They tracked the item for at than thirty miles, estimating that it was flying faster than 900 miles per hour. Rogers later stated, "I don't know if it was a flying saucer, but it was something I had never seen before." Both he and Ballard were certain that they have spotted an alien object.

Newspaper Article

When initially observed, I estimated its altitude to be between 5 and 8,000 feet over Sandy Hook (New Jersey). It appeared to level off approximately north of Red Bank, New Jersey, and carried on at the same altitude until it vanished. At the moment of our first glimpse of the object, I began a left-hand 360-degree descent from 20,000 feet to 17,000 feet, increasing velocity from 450 mph to 550 mph while paralleling the object's path until it disappeared from view. As part of our training and everyday routine as intercept pilots, we must precisely record the timings at which the interception target is first spotted. I did this automatically when I first observed the thing above Sandy Hook on September 10, 1951, at around 11:35 a.m. EDT. Although we were on a direct course to Mitchell AFB (Long Island) at 20,000 feet at the time of the sighting, I was so amazed by the speed of the object that I immediately turned to the left and waited for Major Ballard to finish his radio conversation so I could bring it to his attention. We both watched it make a 90-degree turn to the left and kept it under observation together while it covered approximately 2,000 feet. The object looked to be banking as its trajectory exhibited a leftward 90-degree bend."

Lieutenant Wilbert Rogers Additional UFO Sightings at Fort Monmouth

A second sighting occurred hours after the tragedy on September 10 morning. According to Ruppelt's account, about 3:15 p.m., the radar control center at Fort Monmouth got an excited, almost frantic communication from headquarters. They were tasked with capturing a target in the same spot where the mysterious thing had disappeared. In addition, they were ordered to "immediately seize the unidentified item."

When ultimately identified, the UFO was "going slowly at 93,000 feet." In addition, numerous officers were sent outdoors to attempt visual identification. The UFO was unexpectedly observed as a "silver speck" in the afternoon sky. In his report, Ruppelt raised the issue.

What flies 18 miles above the surface of the Earth?

Ruppelt.

The next day, two further radar sightings occurred. Owing to their respective speeds, neither could be automatically followed. Both of the things in the phrase "Climb, level off, ascend again" (and then) plummet. It ascended once again and proceeded practically straight up."

Page from the official Fort Monmouth UFO report

Absolutely not a characteristic of any conventional aircraft of the era that is known. Or even now, as the case may be Similar to the morning sightings of September 10, 1951, the second sighting was a far slower-moving object that remained seen for several minutes before disappearing.

The Reaction To Sightings

Grudge, the Air Force's official UFO project, was scrapped after the Fort Monmouth UFO sightings due to anti-UFO attitudes widespread within the Air Technical Intelligence Centre (ATIC), which managed Grudge and was pushed by ATIC chief General Harold Watson. Watson and Grudge leader James Rodgers informed Major General Charles Cabell, the director of Air Force Intelligence at the Pentagon, that a legitimate, albeit quiet, investigation was happening. In order to ensure the Pentagon that everything was under control, however, every tip received by Grudge was immediately ridiculed and rejected without further inquiry.

When Life journalist Bob Ginna visited Wright-Paterson in April 1951 and identified the project's evident shortcomings, Watson was forced to reassign UFO Rodgers to a new job inside Air Material Command (AMC) intelligence at the base. Watson put Lieutenant Jerry Cummings in his place. Lieutenant Colonel N. R. Rosengarten was hired to replace the previous commander of the Aircraft and Missiles Department at ATIC.

Nonetheless, Rodgers and another Watson friend, radar specialist Captain Roy James, persisted in their efforts to discourage a thorough investigation, ostensibly with Watson's consent. Colonel Bruno Feiling, Watson's chief of intelligence analysis, submitted a complete report of the Fort Monmouth event to James, not Rosengarten and Cummings, and Rodgers swiftly evaluated it.

Even though he was responsible for processing such reports, Lieutenant Colonel Rosengarten quickly discovered that a major UFO incident had not been brought to his attention. He complained to Feiling, who then handed him the paper. Once Rosengarten presented him with the document, Cummings confronted James and Rodgers. General Watson had accepted their improvised Pentagon solution.

"The whole unit consisted of impressionable young children, and the T-33 crew saw a mirror of this,"

Captain Edward J. Ruppelt disclosed in a secret note:

As a result of the disparity, a dispute broke out in Feiling's office. Cabell was contacted immediately. The telephone was answered by Cabell's assistant, who expressed amazement that a team of investigators had not yet arrived in Monmouth.

Some hours later, Cummings and Rosengarten flew to New Jersey. The two officers spent the whole day questioning all involved individuals, including the pilot and passenger of the T-33. They felt the item they observed was under mental control. The two ATIC representatives then proceeded to Washington to brief General Major Cabell in person.

While there, they were given to high-ranking military people and two Republic Aircraft executives, including Robert Johnson, who was there to speak on behalf of a group of academics and businessmen who considered the Air Force's handling of UFO issues left much to be desired. Cabell asked Cummings to describe what had occurred within the project. Ruppelt's covertly recorded account states:

"Jerry informed me that he looked towards Rosengarten (Rosengarten) and received the all-clear signal, so he took off. He described how every report was treated as a joke, how Rodgers, Watson's number one stooge, was doing everything possible to degrade the quality of the reports, and how the only analysis consisted of Rodgers trying to come up with reasons that had never been conveyed to Washington before. Rodgers was unable to locate even half of the reports."

Cabell was extremely disheartened when he learned that Operation Grudge had failed. At one point, he legitimately shouted:

"Who the heck is providing me with all these claims that every credible UFO incident is being investigated? I've been lied to! I've been lied to! I want an open mind. " In actuality, I request an open mind. "Anybody who does not have an open mind may now go."

Cabell.

Cummings and Rosengarten immediately returned to Wright-Patterson with instructions to identify the UFO project, which, upon Cummings' retirement, was transferred to Ruppelt. Ruppelt was tasked with analyzing intelligence on Soviet air strength, and he had been witnessing the development of the UFO project from the same office as Rodgers. What he had witnessed did not impress him.

In Grudge's Special Report No. 1 (December 28, 1951), the sighting of a T-33 is "probably" ascribed to a "balloon launch at the Evans Signal Laboratory."

"Two cops remarked that we were insane. They discovered several flaws in our study."

Ruppelt.

Grudge provided his assessment on the initial tracking on the tenth.

"The first radar tracking may have occurred owing to the operator's departure. A weather balloon is to blame".

Ruppelt.

The identification of Grudge was primarily based on a phone call from Air Force Intelligence. "It is uncertain how the identification was made," Grudge admitted with disarming sincerity. The final radar tracking is still unknown, but Grudge hypothesizes:

"There was likely a large lot of activity of odd things in the region due to anomalous propagation and/or the ideas of the student operators."

Similar UFOs Seen Immediately Following A Year

In the afternoon of July 29, 1952, in Passaic, New Jersey, local resident George Stock captured on film a very identical object to the one described by the two T-33 pilots. He took a total of five photographs as the airplane soared above.

UFOs observed and photographed by George Stock

The spaceship was a disc with a dome on top and in the centre. George characterized the object as solid and metallic, with a slightly projected semitransparent dome. The outside look was blue-gray, and it was absolutely silent. During the sightings, which occurred about 4:30 p.m., the eyewitness was joined by a companion. They estimate the craft's height to be around 200 feet. It came to a stop after going (relatively) slowly for several seconds. Then, unexpectedly, and consistent with multiple other accounts, the craft took off at an incredible rate.

Are UFO sightings at Fort Monmouth a mere coincidence, a hoax, or part of a pattern? Share your thoughts on the enigmatic Operation Grudge and UFO encounter at Fort Monmouth.