Project Moon Dust: UFO Crash Retrievals

For a complete overview of the UFO/ET phenomenon read The Alien Enigma by JP Robinson.

Many researchers out there have wondered how authentic are the reports pertaining to the existence of a secret UFO crash retrieval program run by the United States Air Force known as Project Moon Dust (or Moondust).

Very little is known about this covert operation, but information is out there which would suggest that such a program did exist and was truly designated to retrieve any unknown object or space debris coming from above and landing or crashing on our soil.

A 1973 Secret State Department Air-gram confirmed that, "the designator 'MOONDUST' is used in cases involving the examination of non-US space objects and objects of unknown origin."

In 1979, the late UFO researcher Robert Todd obtained a 1961 Air Force Intelligence document (declassified under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act) which offered intriguing data on the program – and on certain related operations, too. Dated November 3, 1961, the document states in part:

“…In addition to their staff duty assignments, intelligence team personnel have peacetime duty functions in support of such Air Force projects as Moondust, Bluefly, and UFO, and other AFCIN directed quick reaction projects which require intelligence team operational capabilities…Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO): Headquarters USAF has established a program for investigation of reliably reported unidentified flying objects within the United States. AFR 200-2 delineates 1127th collection responsibilities…”

Continuing, the document declared; “Blue Fly: Operation Blue Fly has been established to facilitate expeditious delivery to FTD of Moon Dust or other items of great technical intelligence interest. AFCIN SOP for Blue Fly operations, February 1960, provides for 1127th participation. Moon Dust: As a specialized aspect of its over-all material exploitation program, Headquarters USAF has established Project Moon Dust to locate, recover and deliver descended foreign space vehicles. ICGL #4, 25 April 1961, delineates collection responsibilities.”

In 1953, the 4602d Air Intelligence Service Squadron (AISS) which was created by the Air Defense Command was assigned to the official investigations of UFOs.

The squadron was headquartered at Ent. Air Force Base, CO and soon moved to Fort Belvoir, VA with field units throughout the country. All UFO reports were to go through the 4602d AISS prior to any transmission to Project Blue Book, the now infamous public relations project. The 4602d AISS dealt with more sensitive cases of national security concern requiring a higher classification. Thus, many UFO reports bypassed Blue Book altogether.

In 1954, Air Force Regulation 200-2 ("Unidentified Flying Objects Reporting") stated that the Air Defense Command has, "a direct interest in the facts pertaining to UFOBs" and will conduct all field investigations, "to determine the identity of any UFOB."

It stated that the ADC will investigate the reports through the 4602d AISS, a highly mobile unit composed of, "specialists trained for field collection and investigation of matters of air intelligence interest." The document outlined collection responsibilities for this unit.

According to an Air Force Intelligence Letter ("Betz Memo") of 13 Nov 1961, the 4602d had three peacetime functions:

• UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS (UFO) - A program for investigation of reliably reported unidentified flying objects within the United States.

• PROJECT MOONDUST - A specialised aspect of the U.S. Air Force's over-all material of the exploitation program to locate, recover, and deliver descended foreign space vehicles.

• OPERATION BLUE FLY – [A unit] to facilitate expeditious delivery to the Foreign Technological Division (FTD) of Moon Dust and other items of great technical intelligence interest.

The memo stated that all three functions involve, "employment of qualified field intelligence personnel on a quick reaction basis to recover or perform field exploitation of unidentified flying objects, or known Soviet/Bloc aerospace vehicles, weapons systems, and/or residual components of such equipment."

The Bolender Memo - a classified 1969 Air Force document terminating Project Blue Book - made it clear that existing operations would continue to investigate UFOs even though the Air Force was closing Blue Book.

The memo established that UFO reports affecting national security, "are made in accordance with JANAP 146 or Air Force Manual 55-11, and are not part of the Blue Book system" and that "the defense function could be performed within the framework established for intelligence and surveillance operations."

It stated that "reports of UFOs which could affect national security would continue to be handled through the standard Air Force procedures designed for this purpose." As far as the public was concerned, the termination of Project Blue Book meant the end of the Air Force investigation into UFOs.

The following letter confirms the reality of the Moon Dust program as a means of recovering 'objects and debris from space vehicles that had survived re-entry from space to Earth', but naturally there is no mention of crashed UFO retrievals :

Beginning in 1989, Sergeant Clifford E. Stone, US Army ret., of New Mexico wrote to fourteen intelligence agencies for records on Project Moon Dust and Operation Blue Fly under the Freedom of Information Act.

Official documents released through FOIA state that:

• In 1965, a three-man team was sent to recover an object of unknown origin reported downed in Kecksburg, PA. (Witnesses state an object was recovered; the Air Force says nothing was found.)

• In August 1967, an object described as a satellite crashed and was recovered in the Sudan under Moon Dust. (The description on the DIA document released by the State Department does not fit that of a satellite.)

• In 1968, Project Moon Dust recovered four unknown objects in Nepal.

• Also in 1968, a "dome-shaped object" with no identification marks was retrieved underwater off Cape Town, South Africa. The metal object had been subjected to extreme heat and showed no signs of corrosion. NASA determined it was made of "almost pure aluminum" and stated that the NASA analysis of the sample and photographs "does not otherwise provide a clue as to its origin or function although it is possible it is a space object of US origin."

• In 1970, Moon Dust investigated a metal sphere that fell "with three loud explosions and then burned for five days" in South America. It had "ports" which had been melted closed.

• A May 1970 State Department document describes a fallen, unidentified object in Bolivia, depicted in the newspapers as metal and egg-shaped. The Department expresses a desire to assist the Bolivian Air Force in the investigation. "The general region had more than its share of reports of UFOs this past week," the document notes.

• It says that Panama and Paraguay checked with appropriate government agencies and "no direct correlation with known space objects that may have reentered the earth's atmosphere near May 6 can be made."

The Kecksburg Incident, as covered in a previous post, serves as an ideal focal point for further inquiry into Moon Dust and Blue Fly, since it is already well documented. The object fell on American soil where witnesses saw both the object on the ground and its removal by an Army vehicle. Many others have testified to having witnessed the Army cordon off the area. Despite the array of evidence affirming the existence of the Kecksburg object, Project Blue Book files claimed that no object was ever found in Pennsylvania. They also acknowledge that no space debris entered our atmosphere that day and that "aluminum type" fragments were retrieved in Michigan. (Where are they now?). It is extremely likely that Blue book was not informed about the retrieval of this object since it would have been classified higher than Secret.

Following the termination of the phoney public affairs program, which Blue Book undoubtedly was, documentation has revealed that the USAF has continued to conduct a highly classified UFO investigation program in conjunction with other government agencies,

Under this secret program, Project Moon Dust and Operation Blue Fly have recovered objects of unknown origin but we have been denied knowledge of what they were.

Clifford Stone, a former Army Sergeant, stated that the US Government had tried to suppress what he had personally witnessed one strange day in Pennsylvania, back in 1969.

Stone explained; "I was involved in situations where we actually did recoveries of crashed saucers. There were bodies that were involved with some of these crashes. Also some of these were alive," he said.

"While we were doing this, we were telling the American public there was nothing to it. We were telling the world there was nothing to it," Mr Stone added.

In an interview with researcher Dr. Michael Salla, Sgt. Clifford Stone was quizzed on his knowledge of Project Moon Dust;

Salla: You say that you participated in a training program for UFO crash retrieval teams under the rubric of Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Weapons Crisis Response Team. Is this training generic for all types of NBC crises including UFO crash retrievals, or was your training specifically for UFO crash retrievals and associated NBC problems? Stone: It was generic for all NBC situations. When it came to UFO’s the general stance was they didn’t exist so they didn’t go out of there way to make believers out of people who were involved in that. You were hand picked by somebody, and that somebody wasn’t army officials. That somebody’s personal opinion [was] in the Alphabet Soup of the intelligence community of the United States.

I can’s say CIA, DIA or who. They hand picked you. And when you went there and there was a UFO incident, and you knew it was a UFO incident, the protocol went basically the same. And you were always debriefed being told it was a Soviet space craft, it was a Stealth aircraft, it was one of our aircraft. If you saw the craft you knew better.

The intent wasn’t to go ahead and recover extraterrestrial vehicles or debris thereof, that was not the intent of NBC. Now when you come to Moon Dust and Blue Fly, it wasn’t the initial intent of Moon Dust and Blue Fly for the recovery of extraterrestrial vehicles, however, it’s covered by objects of “Unknown Origin. UFO’s you try and steer clear of, extraterrestrial anything you try to keep away from. The one thing you use is ‘Object of Unknown Origin’. But I was close enough to know that in some of the incidences that’s what we were involved with, vehicles not of this world.

The mystery and secrecy surrounding the Moon Dust retrieval program will continue to be difficult to expose and authenticate, but thanks to the testimonies of people like Clifford Stone who have had personal experience with crash retrievals, we at least have an awareness of its existence.

For more information on the UFO/ET hypothesis read The Alien Enigma by JP Robinson.