DISCLOSURE / FILE

CPO Newhouse's Tremonton Film, Pillow-Balloon Analysis

DOW-UAP-D103, Project Blue Book Photo File Relating to Tremonton Film, Utah, 1952

A Project Blue Book photo file on the July 1952 Tremonton, Utah film, holding the case card for witness CPO Delbert C. Newhouse and General Mills pillow-balloon reference material used to test the balloon explanation.

Brief

The case card places CPO Delbert C. Newhouse 7 miles north of Tremonton, Utah, at 1110 MST on 2 July 1952, driving on the highway when his wife noticed a group of objects milling about in rough formation; the card records no reference points for speed, distance, or size, and its explanation line reads as pillow balloons or birds. The index card labels the material Files 1377 & 1415 with two photos and carries a July 7, 1952 date, five days after the sighting date, a gap the documents do not explain. Per the Department of War release description, Blue Book contacted General Mills, Inc, the only known pillow-balloon maker, in December 1952, and a late-December review by Blue Book staff, balloon specialists, and General Mills representatives concluded the objects closely resembled pillow balloons, with one General Mills representative dissenting because the objects looked too bright and maneuvered too fast. No balloon release was ever traced to the Tremonton area, and later Air Force assessments favored seabirds.

Metadata

Agency: Department of War
Release: 9/18/26
Incident: 7/2/52
Location: Tremonton, Utah
Type: PDF • .pdf
Length: 5 pages
Programs: Project Blue Book
Tags: Tremonton, Utah, 1952, Project Blue Book, motion-picture film, photographs, group of objects, rough formation, pillow balloons, seabirds, General Mills, Files 1377 & 1415

Key points

The case card names the witness as CPO Delbert C. Newhouse, 7 miles north of Tremonton, Utah, at 1110 MST on 2 July 1952, driving on the highway; his wife noticed the objects first.p.2
The card describes a group of objects milling about in rough formation and states there were no reference points by which to estimate speed, distance, or size; the objects were too small on the photo to show detail.p.2
The card's explanation line, partly garbled in the OCR, reads as pillow balloons or birds, the two candidates the rest of the file weighs.p.2
The index card ties two Blue Book file numbers, 1377 and 1415, to the Tremonton incident, lists two photos, and is dated July 7, 1952; the case card gives 2 July 1952. The documents do not reconcile the two dates.p.1
Page 5 is a General Mills Research Laboratories photo-laboratory sheet with a Minneapolis address, the paper trail for the pillow-balloon reference imagery the release description says General Mills supplied.p.5
Per the release description, Blue Book contacted General Mills, Inc, the only known manufacturer of pillow balloons at the time, in December 1952 to test whether a balloon release could account for the film.
Per the release description, a late-December 1952 review by Blue Book personnel, balloon specialists, and General Mills representatives reached a consensus that the objects closely resembled pillow balloons in flight; one General Mills representative was less convinced, citing objects that looked too bright and maneuvered too rapidly.
Per the release description, the reviewers questioned earlier angular-velocity calculations implying high speed because those calculations assumed, without verification, that the camera operator held the camera still.
Per the release description, efforts to identify a pillow-balloon release near Tremonton failed; the file also weighed seabirds, citing similar films of seabirds appearing as bright points of light, and later Air Force assessments favored the seabird attribution.

Verbatim

CPO Delbert c. Newhouse 7 miles north of Tremonton, Utah 1110 MST 2 July 1952
p.2
Driving on highway -- Wife noticed objects
p.2
Group of objects milling about in rough formation
p.2
No reference points by which to estimate speed, distance or size
p.2
Files 1377 & 1415 July 7, 1952. Tremonton, Utah 2 photos
p.1

Most interesting

The case card records that the witness's wife, not the Chief Petty Officer himself, first noticed the objects while the couple was driving on the highway.
The index card is dated July 7, 1952 and the case card 2 July 1952; a filing or receipt date is one reading of the five-day gap, but the cards do not say.
General Mills, the Minneapolis food company, was the only known manufacturer of pillow balloons in 1952, and its Research Laboratories on East Hennepin Avenue supplied the reference photos.
The lone dissenter in the December 1952 review was a General Mills representative, the company whose product was being proposed as the answer; the objection was that the objects looked too bright and moved too fast.
The reviewers' objection to the earlier high-speed estimate rested on a single unverified assumption: that the camera operator held the camera still while filming.
The sighting time on the card is 1110 MST, late morning in full daylight, and the card concedes the objects were too small on the photo to show detail.

Cross-references

PDF1953 Film Lab Flags Utah And Montana ObjectsDepartment of War
PDFNewhouse Films Formation Over Tremonton, 1952Department of War
VIDNewhouse's Tremonton UFO Film, 1952Department of War
PDFSenator Sparkman's Alabama Meteorite Referral to ATICDepartment of War
PDFTwo UFO Films Sent to Naval Intelligence, 1952Department of War
PDFRuppelt's Eight Hundred Cases, Twenty Percent UnexplainedDepartment of War
PDFPentagon's Blue Book Facing Rigorous Scientific Review, 1966Department of War
PDFProject Sign Opens With 100 Sightings, 1948Department of War

Cited in

FINDINGTremonton's case card: no reference points, and two explanations, pillow balloons or birds.War.gov September 18, 2026
TAKEAWAYTremonton: Four Readings, One Film, No Rangep.1War.gov September 18, 2026

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Common questions

What is CPO Newhouse's Tremonton Film, Pillow-Balloon Analysis?: A Project Blue Book photo file on the July 1952 Tremonton, Utah film, holding the case card for witness CPO Delbert C. Newhouse and General Mills pillow-balloon reference material used to test the balloon explanation.
What does CPO Newhouse's Tremonton Film, Pillow-Balloon Analysis reveal?: The case card names the witness as CPO Delbert C. Newhouse, 7 miles north of Tremonton, Utah, at 1110 MST on 2 July 1952, driving on the highway; his wife noticed the objects first. The card describes a group of objects milling about in rough formation and states there were no reference points by which to estimate speed, distance, or size; the objects were…
Which agency produced CPO Newhouse's Tremonton Film, Pillow-Balloon Analysis?: CPO Newhouse's Tremonton Film, Pillow-Balloon Analysis is a primary-source record from Department of War.
When is CPO Newhouse's Tremonton Film, Pillow-Balloon Analysis dated?: CPO Newhouse's Tremonton Film, Pillow-Balloon Analysis is dated 1952-07-02 (case card); index card reads July 7, 1952; General Mills contact and review December 1952. It was disclosed 2026-09-18.
What programs and topics appear in CPO Newhouse's Tremonton Film, Pillow-Balloon Analysis?: CPO Newhouse's Tremonton Film, Pillow-Balloon Analysis references Project Blue Book, Tremonton, Utah, motion-picture film, photographs, group of objects and rough formation.
What does CPO Newhouse's Tremonton Film, Pillow-Balloon Analysis say, in its own words?: "CPO Delbert c. Newhouse 7 miles north of Tremonton, Utah 1110 MST 2 July 1952" (source p. 2).

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