Edward J . Ruppelt Edward J . Ruppelt ( July 17 , 1923 – September 15 , 1960 ) was a United States Air Force officer probably best known for his involvement in Project Blue Book , a formal governmental study of unidentified flying objects . He is generally credited with coining the term " unidentified flying object " , to replace the terms " flying saucer " and " flying disk " - which had become widely known - because the military thought them to be " misleading when applied to objects of every conceivable shape and performance . For this reason the military prefers the more general , if less colorful , name : unidentified flying objects . UFO ( pronounced Yoo - foe ) for short . " Ruppelt was the director of Project Grudge from late 1951 until it became Project Blue Book in March 1952 ; he remained with Blue Book until late 1953 . UFO researcher Jerome Clark writes , " Most observers of Blue Book agree that the Ruppelt years comprised the project ' s golden age , when investigations were most capably directed and conducted . Ruppelt himself was open - minded about UFOs , and his investigators were not known , as Grudge ' s were , for force - fitting explanations on cases . " Biography . Early life and career . Ruppelt was born and raised in Iowa . He enlisted in the Army Air Corps during World War II , and served with distinction as a decorated bombardier : he was awarded " five battle star s , two theater combat ribbons , three Air Medal s , and two Distinguished Flying Crosses " . After the war , Ruppelt was released into the Army reserves . He attended Iowa State College where , in 1951 , he earned an aeronautical engineering degree . Shortly after finishing his education , Ruppelt was called back to active military duties after the Korean War began . He was assigned to the Air Technical Intelligence Center headquartered at Wright - Patterson Air Force Base . Incidentally , the base had also headquartered two formal unidentified flying object investigations : Project Sign ( 1947 – 1948 ) , which had come to favor the extraterrestrial hypothesis before being replaced with Project Grudge ( 1949 – 1951 ) , which had a debunking mandate . Though not initially involved with Grudge , Ruppelt quickly learned that the project was facing troubles when high - ranking officers disapproved of the direction it had taken . With Blue Book . Eventually , Grudge was ordered dissolved , and Project Blue Book was planned to replace it . Lt . Col . N . R . Rosengarten asked Ruppelt to take over as the new project ’ s leader , partly because Ruppelt " had a reputation as a good organizer " , and had helped get other wayward projects back on track . though he was initially scheduled to stay with Blue Book for only a few months , when Project Grudge was upgraded in status in late 1951 and renamed Project Blue Book , Ruppelt ( then a Captain ) was kept on as director when normally , such an upgrade would require the appointment of at least a Colonel to oversee the project ; this may well be a testament to Ruppelt ' s leadership and organizational skills . Ruppelt quickly implemented a number of changes in the late stages of Project Grudge , which were carried over to most of his tenure with Blue Book . He streamlined the manner in which UFOs were reported to ( and by ) military officials , partly in hopes of alleviating the stigma and ridicule associated with UFO witnesses . Knowing that factionalism had harmed the progress of Project Sign , Ruppelt did his best to recruit open - minded , but objective and neutral personnel to staff Blue Book . He tried to avoid the kinds of open - ended speculation that had led to Sign ’ s personnel being split among advocates and critics of the extraterrestrial hypothesis . Ruppelt sought the advice of many scientists and experts , and issued regular press releases ( along with classified monthly reports for military intelligence ) . Perhaps most importantly , Ruppelt also ordered the development of a standard questionnaire for UFO witnesses , hoping to uncover data which could be subject to statistical analysis . He commissioned the Battelle Memorial Institute to create the questionnaire and computerize the data . Using case reports and the computerized data , Battelle then did a massive scientific and statistical study of all Air Force UFO cases ( completed in 1954 after Ruppelt had left Blue Book ) and known as Project Blue Book Special Report No . 14 . Battelle scientists found that even after stringent analysis , 22 % of the cases remained classified as " unknown " and that these were different from the " knowns " at a very high level of statistical significance . The Battelle study also found that the best cases were twice as likely to be classified as unknowns as the worst cases . During Ruppelt ' s tenure , Blue Book investigated a number of well - known UFO reports including the so - called Lubbock Lights and two highly publicized radar - visual / jet - intercept cases which occurred over Washington DC in late July 1952 ( see 1952 Washington D . C . UFO incident ) , which triggered the largest press conference since World War II to stop public panic ( see photo at right ) . Also during Ruppelt ’ s tenure with Blue Book , most UFO cases were attributed to prosaic causes , but about twenty - five percent were deemed " unknown " . As cases with little or no corroborative evidence were generally excluded from consideration during Ruppelt ' s tenure with Blue Book , the remaining unknowns arguably constitute some of the best - known , best studied , yet still perplexing UFO reports of the late 1940s and early 1950s . The Air Force would be charged with a cover - up of UFO evidence . Ruppelt insisted , however , that at least during his tenure , conflict and confusion would be more accurately descriptive than to suggest that a deliberate cover - up was taking place . Ruppelt once wrote that the Air Force ' s approach to the UFO question " was tackled with organized confusion . " In defending General Samford ' s press conference on 29 July 1952 , after the big UFO flap at Washington National Airport , Ruppelt wrote that " his [ Samford ' s ] people had fouled up in not fully investigating the sightings . " Astronomer and Blue Book consultant J . Allen Hynek thought that Ruppelt did his best , only to see his efforts stymied . Hynek wrote " In my contacts with [ Ruppelt ] I found him to be honest and seriously puzzled about the whole phenomenon " . After Blue Book . Ruppelt requested reassignment from Blue Book in late 1953 shortly after the Robertson Panel issued its conclusions ( based partly on the panel ' s official report , Ruppelt ' s Blue Book staff was reduced from more than ten personnel to three , including Ruppelt ) . He retired from the Air Force not long afterwards , then worked in the aerospace industry . In 1956 he worked as a research engineer for Northrop Aircraft Company , according to publisher information in the online version of his 1956 book " The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects " . The book is notable because it was , for several subsequent decades , the only account of Air Force UFO studies written by a participant . It remains arguably one of the most level - headed books about UFOs ; Hynek suggested that Ruppelt ' s " book should be required reading for anyone seriously interested in the history of this subject " . In the book , Ruppelt detailed his time with Projects Grudge and Blue Book , and offered his assessments of some UFO cases , including a portion he thought were puzzling and unexplained . Ruppelt also revealed much insider material and thinking , including the existence of previously unknown classified documents and studies , such as the Robertson Panel . In 1956 , Donald Keyhoe asked Ruppelt to join to serve as an adviser to NICAP . Ruppelt had recently suffered a heart attack , and declined Keyhoe ’ s offer . Ruppelt ' s book indicates that Ruppelt held some dim views of Keyhoe and his early writings ; Ruppelt noted that while Keyhoe generally had his facts straight , his " interpretation " of the facts was another question entirely . He thought Keyhoe often sensationalized the material and accused Keyhoe of " mind reading " what he and other officers were thinking . Yet Keyhoe cites conversations with Ruppelt in later books , suggesting that Ruppelt may have occasionally advised Keyhoe . In 1960 the expanded edition of Ruppelt ' s book ( 20 Chapters ) was published by Doubleday & Co . . The only change from earlier editions came in three more chapters which largely echoed the Air Force ' s position that there was nothing unusual about UFOs . Ruppelt seemed to have abandoned his early views that some UFO reports seemed mysterious and unexplained , and he declared UFOs a " space age myth " . In an unusual manner , the date of the publication was omitted . The book , with the 1956 copyright note and the 1955 date of Ruppelt ' s Foreword , made the new edition appear to be the original edition . Only the dust jacket gives any hint that this is the second edition of the previous book . Keyhoe and others would suggest that Ruppelt had caved in to Air Force pressures to change his public statements about UFOs . Others argued against this , noting that Ruppelt had more than demonstrated his objectivity , and might have simply reached a conclusion after careful consideration of the evidence . Clark reports that Ruppelt ' s widow asserted that her husband ' s investigation of the contactee movement soured his opinion of UFO phenomena . Ruppelt ' s discussion of the contactees , particularly George Adamski , is arguably the most interesting portion of the revised book . Ruppelt died of a heart attack on September 15 , 1960 , at the age of 37 . Reputation . Ruppelt is generally highly regarded by UFO researchers who often see him as something of a hero in a David and Goliath struggle to earn respectability for UFOs . However , according to researcher Brad Sparks , this reputation is not only unwarranted but detrimental to UFO research . Sparks argues that Ruppelt demonstrated a " pattern of deceit " and cites eleven specific occasions where he says Ruppelt knowingly misrepresented facts or helped cover - up some data .