Short answer
DOW-UAP-D102 is the PURSUE-released Project Blue Book case file on Navy photographer Delbert C. Newhouse’s 2 July 1952 Tremonton, Utah color film of reflective objects - documenting evolving Air Force assessments from inconclusive notes toward later seabird explanations amid film mensuration limits.
What this record is
This AnomalyWiki entry is a government-file page for DOW-UAP-D102. Issuing / holding agency listed in frontmatter: U.S. Department of War (Project Blue Book holdings). Document / release dating: Incident 1952-07-02; Blue Book casework 1950s; PURSUE Release 06 (2026-09-18). Format: pdf. Release batch: PURSUE Release 06. Geographic focus noted on the record: Tremonton, Utah. It lives under the PURSUE / War.gov UFO archive hub so readers can open a primary file without treating every release as an origin verdict.
Use this page when you need (1) a neutral paraphrase of what the public file actually contains, (2) explicit non-claims, and (3) a durable sourceUrl for citation. Do not substitute podcast summaries for the PDF/image itself.
Agent-side cache path (not a public download mirror): tmp/sources/war-gov-ufo/release-06/DOW-UAP-D102.pdf.
Official PURSUE index title: DOW-UAP-D102, Project Blue Book File on Tremonton Film, Utah, 1952.
What it says
Per the official PURSUE description and PDF contents, the file records Blue Book investigation of Newhouse’s report of 12–14 reflective objects filmed with a handheld Bell & Howell Auto Master on Kodachrome. The Air Force assessed Newhouse as honest, reliable, and an experienced aerial photographer. Early documentation considered birds, balloons, mirage, and left identification inconclusive; later assessments leaned toward seabirds reflecting sunlight while acknowledging that limited detail and lack of fixed reference points prevented reliable distance/size/speed from the film alone. AARO’s PURSUE comment notes conflicting 16mm vs 35mm references in the file and that DVIDS footage DOW-UAP-PR159 is a digitization of a 16mm print.
Official PURSUE index description (paraphrase context)
This document records the Project Blue Book investigation and subsequent assessments of an incident near Tremonton, Utah, on July 2, 1952. Project Blue Book was a 1952-1969 U.S. Air Force program to investigate the nature and origin of unidentified flying objects (UFOs). The file describes the Air Force’s assessment of the principal witness, Delbert C. Newhouse, a U.S. Navy Warrant Officer specializing in photography, as honest and reliable, and as an expert with more than 1,000 hours of aerial-photography experience. Newhouse reported observing 12 to 14 reflective objects and recorded the event on color motion-picture film using a handheld Bell & Howell Auto Master camera.
The file reflects an evolving Air Force assessment of the imagery over several years. Early documentation considered several possible explanations, including sunlight reflecting from birds or balloons, and a mirage effect, and did not identify the objects conclusively. Later assessments became more confident that the objects were seabirds reflecting sunlight, citing identifiable seabirds and similar films showing seabirds as bright points of light under comparable conditions. However, the film’s limited detail and lack of fixed reference points prevented reliable determination of the objects’ distance, size, altitude, or linear speed from the film alone.
AARO Comment: The file contains conflicting references to the film format. Several documents describe a 35mm film, while contemporaneous submission documentation identifies the original as a 50-foot roll of processed 16mm Kodachrome color motion-picture film recorded with a handheld Bell & Howell Auto Master camera. Newhouse reported exposing approximately 30 feet of the roll during the incident…
The block above tracks the War.gov/UFO catalog wording used in src/data/pursue-war-gov-ufo/manifest.json (asOf 2026-10-01). Prefer the primary PDF/image wording when it conflicts with secondary commentary.
Document-specific reading notes
Principal witness framing in the PURSUE description: Navy photographer Delbert C. Newhouse, assessed as honest/reliable with extensive aerial-photography experience, reported 12–14 reflective objects filmed near Tremonton, Utah on 2 July 1952 with a handheld Bell & Howell Auto Master on Kodachrome. Early AF notes considered birds, balloons, mirage and left identification inconclusive; later assessments leaned toward seabirds reflecting sunlight while acknowledging mensuration limits (no fixed reference points → unreliable distance/size/speed from film alone). AARO’s PURSUE comment flags conflicting 16mm vs 35mm references and notes DVIDS footage DOW-UAP-PR159 is a digitization of a 16mm print. Credibility of the witness ≠ extraterrestrial identification.
Key findings (reader takeaways)
- Newhouse / Tremonton 2 Jul 1952 color motion-picture case
- Evolving AF assessment - early inconclusive; later seabird-leaning with mensuration limits
- Related historical film media DOW-UAP-PR159 (DVIDS link-out)
How mainstream / institutional framing reads it
Classic Blue Book photographic case; often cited in histories of mid-century film analysis. Pair with Naval PIC memo DOW-UAP-D098 for adjacent analytic work.
Claims vs mainstream
| Claim | Mainstream / encyclopedia view |
|---|---|
| Tremonton film is proven alien craft footage. | Blue Book’s later assessments leaned toward seabirds; the file’s own limits remain. |
| If Newhouse was reliable, the objects must be ET. | Witness credibility ≠ origin identification. |
| The 1953 Naval PIC memo overrides Blue Book forever. | Cite both D098 and D102; they are related but not identical products. |
What it does not say
Later seabird-leaning language is not the same as laboratory DNA-level proof, nor does early inconclusiveness equal ET confirmation. The file does not by itself prove alien craft.
Additionally, encyclopedia use of this page should not:
- Upgrade “unresolved,” “interview,” “rendering,” or “administrative” labels into confirmed exotic hardware.
- Treat PURSUE publication timing (2026) as a modern DoD endorsement of every historical conclusion inside the file.
- Collapse adjacent document ids (companion renderings, film memos, Blue Book folders, AAWSAP CLINs) into a single claim.
- Invent redacted names, missing pages, or “smoking gun” clauses that are not visible in the public release.
How to read / access
Open the primary source: https://www.war.gov/medialink/ufo/sept-18/release-06/assets/DOW-UAP-D102_Project-Blue-Book-File-on-Tremonton-Film-Utah-1952.pdf.
Read the file’s own labels (IIR vs finished intel; FD-302 vs conclusion; rendering vs photograph; SOO vs field report).
Cross-check the official catalog blurb on war.gov/UFO / the editor manifest when you need batch, agency, or companion-id context.
For War.gov medialink verification in agent workflows, prefer Playwright MCP per
docs/agentic-knowledge/war-gov-ufo.mdrather than guessing URLs.Agents may run
pdftotext/ image inspection againsttmp/sources/war-gov-ufo/release-06/DOW-UAP-D102.pdfwhen an OCR extract already exists undertmp/sources/war-gov-ufo/extracts/.
Citation tip: quote the document id and release batch, then link the medialink URL. If you only need thematic browsing, start at the PURSUE archive hub instead of this deep-dive.
Related cases and objects
- pursue-war-gov-ufo
- dow-uap-d098-film-analysis-1953
- dow-uap-d154-ruppelt-presentation-1952
- cia-uap-015-blue-book-special-report-14
- Phenomena: project-blue-book
FAQ
Is this the same as DOW-UAP-D098?
No. D102 is the Blue Book case file; D098 is the 1953 Naval PIC film-analysis memo.
Where is the film?
Related historical film is indexed as DOW-UAP-PR159 (DVIDS link-out on the hub).
Did Blue Book call it aliens?
No. Later assessments in the PURSUE description lean toward seabirds reflecting sunlight.
Sources
Primary: DOW-UAP-D102 (U.S. Department of War (Project Blue Book holdings); accessed via PURSUE / War.gov).
Portal: war.gov/UFO.
Editor index:
src/data/pursue-war-gov-ufo/manifest.json(not published as a public HTML dump).Hub guide: PURSUE / War.gov UFO collection.