At the Pentagon, reports of U.F.O.'s (unidentified flying objects) had led to the first official U.S. study launched on 22nd January 1948. Project Saucer was the nickname given by the American public but its real name (Project Sign) was kept secret.

The most famous incident which had introduced the term flying saucers had already taken place. When Kenneth Arnold reported his June 24, 1947 daylight sighting of nine circular-shaped objects near Mount Rainier in the U.S.A., a newspaper reporter, Bill Bequette, covered the story for his paper in Oregon and sent it on to the Associated Press. Subsequent articles called the objects "flying saucers". Arnold had only described their movements as similar to that of a saucer skipping across the surface of water but the more engaging term seemed to fit better with the public. The era of flying saucers had begun. Arnold's story later appeared in Fate Magazine, Vol. no. 1.

The first case that Project Sign investigated involved a fatality. United States Air Force (U.S.A.F.) Captain Thomas Mantell was leading a flight of 3 F-51 Mustang fighters on a routine flight over Godman Field in Kentucky on January 7, 1948 when a "silver teardrop" was witnessed by many people on the ground. During the pursuit, Mantell had crashed apparently due of a lack of oxygen. Project Sign had no idea at the time what this UFO was, but offered the suggestion that the pilot had been chasing the planet Venus which often was the cause of reports. This explanation backfired, and "led to simmering public discontent, leading to the birth of the belief that there is a government cover-up to hide the truth from the general public." (1948 Project Saucer)

It is now known from declassified files that the UFO which Mantell had chased was a secret Naval project using a "Skyhook" balloon. Unfortunately, the launch was considered so secret not even the members of Project Sign were aware of its existence.

Another troubling case followed known as the Chiles-Whitted incident of July 24, 1948 when an Eastern Airlines passenger DC-3 was in near collision with a rocket-like object as it flew across the skies above Montgomery, Alabama. It has been said by a former head of Project Blue Book (Edward Ruppelt, Report on Unidentified Flying Objects, 1956, page 41) that the sighting had a profound influence on Project Sign personnel, to the extent that this one incident can be argued to be the single most important sighting in the Air Force's records, according to the influence it had on Air Force thinking.

A top secret "estimate of situation" report was sent on 8th August, by concerned Prject Sign officials to General Hoyt S Vandenberg, head of the U.S. Air Force. This report argued that U.F.O.s were real and extraterrestrial but was immediately rejected by Vandenberg who sent it back saying that he required physical proof. However, concerns about U.F.O.'s continued and from 1947 to 1969, the Air Force investigated Unidentified Flying Objects under the auspices of Project Blue Book.

The project was terminated because the US Air Force could no longer justify the project for national security reasons or scientific study. Of a total of 12,618 sightings reported in Project Blue Book, 701 remained "unidentified." Today, researchers who ask for pertinent records from the U.S. Air Force about flying saucers and UFOs are provided with a "Fact Sheet" which states that since 1974, "after closing Project Blue Book, the US Air Force has not publicly acknowledged any further interest in U.F.O. sightings." (USAF Fact Sheet 95-03) The USAF information pack refers inquirers to various non-governmental UFO research organizations which are closely monitored, and, at times, directed by various U.S. intelligence and military agencies.

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