Introduction by USI
The Report On Unidentified Flying Objects is a classic non-fiction account of USAF investigations into the
UFO phenomenon during the early 1950s. Written by
Edward J. Ruppelt and first published in 1956, its copyright was not renewed and consequently
it has become part of the public domain, thereby permitting it to be freely copied and distributed without license or restriction.
It remains one of the most important
ufology books ever written and
USI has presented the entire text here for online viewing. The
Complete & Unabridged version
( pictured left ) was expanded in 1960 to accommodate three additional chapters ( 18-20 ). These chapters have generated some controversy among ufologists. USI has provided
Commentary On the Abridged Version on the following page. On some pages USI has also inserted footnotes and/or links to add context. The page numbers also
differ from the printed version. This was necessary to improve the online layout. Apart from these features, no changes have been made and the original content remains intact.
Navigating
Your browser needs to be a full version browser ( not an iPad or mobile phone ) and must be JavaScript enabled, or most of the navigation and search features will not work. The book
is divided into its original chapters, each accessible via drop-down links located under the book's entry in the main index under the Articles tab. You can open or close the
drop-down menu by clicking on its main index link.
On a widescreen monitor pages are displayed side by side like a normal book. However on the old standard 4:3 ratio monitors, pages will be stacked vertically, and the bottom line of
some pages will be formatted with wide spaces between each word. This is due to the way that web browsers adapt to various monitor sizes and nothing practical can be done to make
sure that the last line always fits as well as it would in a printed publication. Each page has a header and footer navigation panel that facilitates forward or backward movement by
page or chapter.
As part of the USI TRUFO eBook Project, links are also being added to better illuminate the content, particularly within the context of what has been learned since. Linked articles
are created as time and resources permit, and volunteers are encouraged to submit relevant information.