USA: Air Force Manual 200-3 on UFOs published

Publication Details The US Air Force released Air Force Manual 200-3, titled Handbook for Air Intelligence Officers, in May 1953. Classified as Restricted, this six-page document served as a general guide for officers handling investigations. It was signed by Chief of Staff Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg and Air Adjutant General Col. Kenneth E. Thiebaud.

Key Content and Illustration The manual's sole image depicts an Air Force aircraft accompanied by three flying saucers. The caption states that the Air Technical Intelligence Center bears responsibility for preventing technological surprises, highlighting UFOs as potential threats.

Discovery and Significance Major Donald E. Keyhoe uncovered the manual in 1961 after it was overlooked for reclassification from Restricted to Confidential in November 1953. This event underscores early military acknowledgment of unidentified aerial phenomena in official doctrine, revealing internal concerns about foreign technology during the Cold War era. Primary source: Department of the Air Force, Manual 200-3, chapter 9, pp. 9-1–9-6; referenced in Keyhoe's Aliens from Space (1974, p. 80).