The Chop Clearance List.

"You must remember that I was privy to the project files. These contained hundreds of official reports of UFO encounters made by military personnel from all branches of the service. They were all classified with a high degree of security classification. Almost all of these made pretty scary reading from the verbatim descriptions of the pilots concerned"

Albert M. Chop, Air Force UFO Public Information Officer at the Pentagon

Albert M. Chop is a pretty interesting character in the history of UFO research and served as chief of the press section for the Air Force at the Pentagon in the early 1950's -it states at the links below that he was initially skeptical about the subject of UFOs but gradually came around to accepting their existence based upon his "ringside seat ability to review highly intriguing military reports about strange flying objects with apparent intelligence behind their control".

The Chop Clearance list below details some really interesting Air Technical Intelligence UFO reports and was secured by Chop whilst on the Air Force Press Desk for Major Donald Keyhoe of the NICAP organisation -there's also a pretty fascinating interview where he discusses specific UFO cases and his interactions with people such as Bluebook's Captain Ruppelt and Dewey Fournet who was in the branch of intelligence that was involved with UFOs at the Pentagon.

NB: he was also the voice of mission control during NASA space launches and the pic below shows him during a Gemini-Titan 4 simulation on 30th May, 1965.

Chop's opinion about UFOs at the time was: "this whole saucer business is pure, unadulterated bunk." He was as confirmed a skeptic as there could be.
However, after his promotion to Chief of the Press Section at A.M.C., he began to change his mind. Chop talked with top government personnel who were certain UFOs existed. He learned the government was, indeed, vitally concerned about UFOs.

When he was transferred to the Pentagon's Press Section, by request of Colonel Richard Searles, Chop - much to his surprise - was assigned directly to UFO investigation. It was here that he met Maj. Dewey Fournet of the Current Intelligence Branch. Chop worked closely with Fournet (UFO Project Monitor) and Capt. Ruppelt, head of Project Bluebook. Throughout the months he served with the official project, Chop cautiously began to accept the reality of UFOs.

link

List:

This is a list of Air Technical Intelligence UFO sightings and other information secured and cleared for Major Donald E. Keyhoe by Mr. Albert M. Chop, Air Force Press Desk.

Chop Clearance List

PDF File:

Full Interview

Al Chop also became the subject of a 1956 movie about his UFO project involvement called 'U.F.O.' which was said to be made with the full cooperation of the U. S. Government -it also contains some good info about the Washington National Sightings from July, 1952 which are covered in this great thread by Gazrok.

Enjoy this drama-documentary, based on the experiences of Al Chop, a reporter who served as press liaison for the Pentagon during its investigation of UFO's from 1947 to the early 1950s.

Miller, Soule, and Tremayne provide the voices for the narrated portions of the film. Although the movie contains only two brief film clips to serve as photographic evidence of UFO's, the producers build a good case based on the credibility of certain UFO witnesses (airline pilots, military personnel, radar operators, etc.).

On a more subtle level, director Winston Jones pulls off a clever trick; he begins the film as a pure documentary, but he gradually modifies this approach and focuses on reporter Al Chop's personal involvement in the UFO investigation. Chop slowly changes from UFO skeptic to UFO believer.

'UFOs The Secret History' also has a great section on the Washington case and discussion about Mr Chop can be found around 30:40.

"Scrupulously accurate, intelligently conceived, UFOs: The Secret History is the thinking viewer's guide to the puzzles and paradoxes of an extraordinary phenomenon that continues to haunt our times and trouble our dreams. It is also gorgeously filmed - a feast to eye and mind, a thrilling experience on every level."

Jerome Clark

links:

Albert M. Chop: One of the Last Honest Men?

Sign Oral History Project

Documents

Never heard of him, thanks for the info

Settling down to watch the vids, b back later.

reply to post by karl 12


Cool...something new...thanks.....

Des

Originally posted by VoidHawk

Settling down to watch the vids, b back later.

VoidHawk, happy watching - this film's also a very good one and was also made with the cooperation of the U. S. Government (there's a segment filmed inside the Pentagon) - it won a Golden Globe Award when it was released in 1974 and Al Chop pops up near the beginning.




Cheers.

Originally posted by karl 12

Originally posted by VoidHawk

Settling down to watch the vids, b back later.

VoidHawk, happy watching

- this film's also a very good one and was also made with the cooperation of the U. S. Government (there's a segment filmed inside the Pentagon) - it won a Golden Globe Award when it was released in 1974 and Al Chop pops up around 22:00.

Google Video Link

PDF file

Cheers.

Thanks for the vid links.

Just wathched UFO's The secret history. One of the best I've seen
"A race several billion years older than us trying to communicate with us would be like us standing over an ants nest and saying Take me to your leader" and then the suggestion they'd need to create an intermediary race to communicate with us is absolutely fascinating, and very likely! ..the greys?

More coffee and the next vid now

Another gem of a thread, Karl. Chop made some interesting comments in his letter to Henry Holt and Company regarding the cases given to Keyhoe. I believe the letter was reproduced on the back cover of Keyhoe's Flying Saucers from Outer Space.

source

Nice job.

reply to post by karl 12
Howdy mate, I like Al Chop as one of the guys with an open mind living in the midst of whatever the hell was going on in those years. Keyhoe was yelling about silence groups and saucers from outer space whilst Hynek was just one of those cranking up the debunking machinery. In the middle with different pressures was Al trying his best to stay out of it like being in the eye of a storm.

Man, it's so many years ago now and it's all beginning to become *less* real and more equivocal. It's becoming a shadow of some corner of the '50s when really, it was a cultural game-changer that got millions of people involved and Western media in a froth.

When Chop said this...

0:55 AC: Well, there would have been, I mean, I would read, just like any, like you would. I would read, I don't remember any names, but astronomers, and other scientists like Hynek, and just general people who were intelligent and followed the subjects closely. I knew a lot of pilots that would swear up and down they're from another planet. That they’re spaceships from outside our Earth. And I believe they’re right! A lot of them are. A lot of them don't believe in it!

...he was in a position to form that opinion from rubbing shoulders with all the pro and con forces. Maybe he even saw Fournet's flight characteristics presentation? Ruppelt had shared similar social interactions and, as we know, changed his mind about the saucers while Chop continued to accept the ETI. I'm not 100% about this, but I uploaded a 1952 broadcast about the Washington flap and I think Al Chop is the Press Officer doing the talking.

It's good to see the Laredo Dogfight on his cleared list as it's one that catches the imagination and is another example of various pressures being brought to bear on a singular report. Menzel, Keyhoe, Blue Book and anyone else were tugging at the threads of this reported encounter and it was BSd into a 'balloon' explanation that actually didn't fit the case whatsoever. I posted a lengthy OP about it a while back >> Laredo UFO Encounter

reply to post by karl 12


Thanks again for this, my friend

When the human kind will realize that behind the Extraterrestrial Issue there are very "Big Conjurers" then the World will change. In better.
S&F.

Thanks Karl. something I hadn't seen or heard of before. Looking forward to diving into this...

That you for this wonderful post! I too had not heard of Chop before this post, and will soon get to watching the vids...

This was new to me as well. Thanks for sharing with us It's going to be an interesting read.

reply to post by karl 12


Cool info Karl12. I really liked the Sign Oral History Project interview, nice to hear it in his own words. Also, I like to hunt for info on obscure cases from the 50's and it's nice to find something new. I wonder how many cases in total he helped Keyhoe on, more than on the list I suppose?

Originally posted by Orkojoker

Another gem of a thread, Karl. Chop made some interesting comments in his letter to Henry Holt and Company regarding the cases given to Keyhoe. I believe the letter was reproduced on the back cover of Keyhoe's Flying Saucers from Outer Space.

source

Nice job.

Hola mate and good call on that document - can you imagine that happening nowadays?

Here's the discussion about meeting Mr Chop from Keyhoe's book - simultaneous radar and visual sightings 'the toughest cases you've got!'

Searles introduced me to Chop, and the two of us talked for about three hours. At first I had the feeling I was being weighed carefully—not just my beliefs, but whether I could be trusted.

"You honestly believe they're interplanetary?" Chop said finally. I told him I couldn't see any other possible answer. When I repeated what I'd said to Colonel Boyd, Chop listened without expression, then at the end he shook his head.

"This isn't an off-the-record talk. You don't have to keep still. I've been instructed to help you, and you asked for ATIC sighting reports. Exactly what do you want?"

The sudden offer almost caught me off guard.

"Simultaneous radar and visual sightings—the toughest cases you've got," I said.

I expected him to stall, but Chop only nodded.

"I know they'll explain them as inversions," I said, "but I want to see how they prove it. I might as well tell you I’ll do my damndest to knock it down."

"We know that. Any specific cases in mind?"

"What about the Washington sightings?"

"They won't be analyzed for some time."

Here we go, I thought. The old runaround.

link

Cheers.

Originally posted by karl 12
Al Chop also became the subject of a 1956 movie about his UFO project involvement called 'U.F.O.' which was said to be made with the full cooperation of the U. S. Government - it also contains some interesting info about the Washington National Sightings from July, 1952 which are covered in this great thread by Gazrok.

It goes without saying that this is old news to me because I've been a UFO enthusiast since 1958 and I've digested almost everything that's been written or documented in films, etc. I may even have "U.F.O." in one of my early UFO videotapes.

The reason for this reply was the above mention of the Washington National Sightings from July, 1952. Everytime I see it mentioned a flag goes up and I search to see if the image that is normally used to represent the sightings will be used and, sure enough, on page 3 of Gazrok's thread, there it is! The video announced at the top of the page shows the video still of the photo I'm talking about.

Very few newbies realize that the photo doesn't show UFOs over the Capitol. What the photo shows is a cropped photo of the Capitol at night from a distance. What is cropped out are the lamp posts in front of the Capitol. When you see the full, uncropped photo which is sort-of difficult to find you'll see that the lamp posts are reproduced as lens flares above the Capitol building and this image is sold as containing the reported UFOs.

Years ago when I was communicating with Richard Dolan, before he got famous, I went to his website and he was using this cropped photo to represent the sightings. He didn't know that the photo really showed lamp posts and not UFOs.

Originally posted by The Shrike

Very few newbies realize that the photo doesn't show UFOs over the Capitol. What the photo shows is a cropped photo of the Capitol at night from a distance. What is cropped out are the lamp posts in front of the Capitol. When you see the full, uncropped photo which is sort-of difficult to find you'll see that the lamp posts are reproduced as lens flares above the Capitol building and this image is sold as containing the reported UFOs.

it's about the 12th time you've posted that fact on ATS Shrike but thanks for the reminder - I don't doubt for a minute you're sincere in your UFO research but do you not think the Washington Merry Go Round is one of the most important cases?

reply to post by karl 12


Chop sure thought it was an important case . . . .

"I mean, the fact that obviously whatever these things were had intelligence enough to get out of the area when they had an intercept going in. They had to be intelligently controlled. You know, I was very apprehensive about that! I, in fact, was scared! I don't mind telling you this, it scared me! It was frightening!" -Al Chop

. . . . and so did President Truman.

Originally posted by UFO Partisan

Chop sure thought it was an important case . . . .

"I mean, the fact that obviously whatever these things were had intelligence enough to get out of the area when they had an intercept going in. They had to be intelligently controlled. You know, I was very apprehensive about that! I, in fact, was scared! I don't mind telling you this, it scared me! It was frightening!" -Al Chop

. . . . and so did President Truman.

Very nice link there mate and some certainly some interesting comments made by Senior Air Traffic Controller Harry Barnes - I don't know if you've seen this (rather long) article by Kevin Randle but it also makes some good points about Major General John Samford’s press conference dealing with the incidents on the 19th/20th and 26th/27th:


Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10


Nice website BTW - enjoyed the article about Linus Pauling.

Cheers.

Originally posted by karl 12

Enjoy this drama-documentary, based on the experiences of Al Chop, a reporter who served as press liaison for the Pentagon during its investigation of UFO's from 1947 to the early 1950s.

More on the film 'UFO' and how it was made in cooperation with key members of USAF UFO investigations.

link

I thought i knew alot about UFOs but there is always new info i come across here at ATS...thats why i love this website:up...and i have never seen the video's you posted...Awesome Karl 12