ufo, etc.

[Jonathan Lighter]

Capt. Edward J. Ruppelt (1922-1960) is generally credited as the coiner of the initialism "UFO."  Memory does not absolutely guarantee that he said so in his still readable memoir of his tenure as Blue Book chief, _The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects_ (Garden City: Doubleday, 1956). This was one of the most popular and influential '50s books on UFOs. Naturally I prize my own copy in my collection of world classics but can't find it at the moment.  Will keep looking.

The first edition of Ruppelt's book, written soon after he left the Air Force, comes across as a levelheaded narrative by a person (with an engineering background) who's genuinely puzzled by some sightings, especially those reported through channels by USAF jet pilots. A revised edition, published in 1959, while he was an executive for a defense contractor, adds three chapters in which he ridicules the entire subject.

[Cue _Twilight Zone_ theme...]

Bill may have discovered the first use of "UFO" on paper.

JL

"Mullins, Bill" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: "Mullins, Bill"
Subject: ufo, etc.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

>From the Project Blue Book archives, online, and elsewhere.

UFO -- OED has Oct 9, 1953


[Air Force memorandum, dated 3 Nov 1952, online at:
http://bluebookarchive.org/page.aspx?PageCode=MAXW-PBB7-938 ]

"After the briefing Col Bower and Capt Ruppelt met with seven people
from the lab who were interested in the subject of UFOs."

The subject document is a trip report from Col Bower and Capt. Ruppelt
to a group of scientists at Los Alamos. Immediately preceding this
memo/trip report in the microfilm roll which has been archived is a
poorer-quality copy of the same memo. Immediately preceding that,
however, is a letter from Ruppelt (who, being junior officer, probably
wrote the trip report), to one of the scientists at Los Alamos:
http://bluebookarchive.org/page.aspx?PageCode=MAXW-PBB7-936

In this letter, written to a civilian, Ruppelt doesn't use the acronym
"UFO"; he uses "UAF", meaning unidentified aerial phenomena. Does this
possibly indicate that "UFO" was primarily a military acronym at this
point in time, and didn't get out into the civilian world for another
year? (note the phrase "unidentified flying object" appears in the LA
Times in Dec, 1949 (quoted from an Air Force press release) (OED has
1950 for the long phrase), but the acronym "UFO" doesn't show up in
civilian sources til much later.

"unidentified flying object"
>From U.S. Air Force report "Unidentified Aerial Objects Project "Sign"
", dated Feb 1949, Technical Report no. F-TR-2274-IA, L. H. Truettner
and A. B. Deyarmond, p. iii
online at: http://bluebookarchive.org/page.aspx?PageCode=NARA-PBB85-8

"However, the report will furnish information on the present state of
the investigation to staff personnel in this headquarters and in higher
echelons, and to others who are required to assess the possibility of a
threat to national security presented by the sighting of such large
number of unidentified flying objects."

flying saucer -- OED has 8 July 1947. ADS Archives have, I believe, 30
June 1947, for quotes direct from sources, and 27 June for second-hand
quotes.

Wisconsin | Sheboygan | The Sheboygan Press | 1947-06-28 p. 1 col 1.
"Skygazers Still Insist They Saw 'Flying Saucers'; Army Skeptical"
United Press wire article
"An army rocket expert ventured the opinion today that Kenneth Arnold's
flying saucers were merely jet planes but almost a dozen persons sprang
up about the country to say they had seen the mysterious shiny discs
also."


---------------------------------
Discover Yahoo!
 Find restaurants, movies, travel & more fun for the weekend. Check it out!