# Did the Air Force ask Walt Disney to make a movie using real UFO footage? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 14, 2013, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-air-force-ask-walt-disney-to-make-a-movie-using-real-ufo-footage/650294 "2013-02-14T16:41:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-air-force-ask-walt-disney-to-make-a-movie-using-real-ufo-footage/650294/1 "2013-02-14T16:41:47Z")
That’s the claim of [this article](http://www.movies.com/movie-news/did-u-s-air-force-ask-walt-disney-to-make-movie-revealing-that-ufos-are-real/11238). The SDMB is the place to get to the bottom of this! ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-air-force-ask-walt-disney-to-make-a-movie-using-real-ufo-footage/650294/2 "2013-02-14T16:52:26Z")
So Ward Kimball claimed that 40 years previously USAF was going to give them some UFO footage to craft a film around, and then rescinded the offer, but said they had plenty of authentic UFO footage on hand. There are so many potential holes in that (especially given the subsquent analysis of Blue Book etc.) that there’s hardly any Swiss holding them together. It’s say-so on say-so on probably faulty recollection on possibly some misunderstanding and maybe even a bit of pranking. In the absence of even a shred of evidence, I don’t know that it’s worth any followup. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-air-force-ask-walt-disney-to-make-a-movie-using-real-ufo-footage/650294/3 "2013-02-14T17:03:50Z")
The article claims the Airforce has approached multiple filmmakers over a period 30 years about the film. Even if you think the USAF has such footage, its pretty hard to believe they’d _almost_ reveal it to the public, going so far as to let multiple civilians in on the secret, and then change their minds at the last minute. Once would be pretty implausibe, doing it multiple times with different sets of film-makers is silly. And I think Brad Bird already said there’s no aliens in “Tomorrow Land” ---
**Author:** ![Shiloh2013](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@Shiloh2013](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shiloh2013)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-air-force-ask-walt-disney-to-make-a-movie-using-real-ufo-footage/650294/4 "2013-02-14T17:38:14Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > So Ward Kimball claimed that 40 years previously USAF was going to give them some UFO footage to craft a film around, and then rescinded the offer, but said they had plenty of authentic UFO footage on hand. > > There are so many potential holes in that (especially given the subsquent analysis of Blue Book etc.) that there’s hardly any Swiss holding them together. It’s say-so on say-so on probably faulty recollection on possibly some misunderstanding and maybe even a bit of pranking. > > In the absence of even a shred of evidence, I don’t know that it’s worth any followup. Nitro, I don’t mean to pick on you, but it’s a pet peeve of mine the way people say “no evidence” or “not a shred of evidence,” when that is incorrect. A claim to what happened “is” evidence. It might not be conclusive evidence, it might even be impeached evidence, but it still qualifies as evidence. I wish people would say, “there is no proof,” or “you have nothing conclusive,” instead of saying there is no evidence. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-air-force-ask-walt-disney-to-make-a-movie-using-real-ufo-footage/650294/5 "2013-02-14T17:43:24Z")
> [@Shiloh2013](#): > > Nitro, I don’t mean to pick on you, but it’s a pet peeve of mine the way people say “no evidence” or “not a shred of evidence,” when that is incorrect. A claim to what happened “is” evidence. It might not be conclusive evidence, it might even be impeached evidence, but it still qualifies as evidence. I wish people would say, “there is no proof,” or “you have nothing conclusive,” instead of saying there is no evidence. Understood. However. Except in the formality of a courtroom, an unsupported claim doesn’t constitute evidence as it’s more generally understood. I’ll cop to being guilty of a technicality but I doubt anyone misreads my intent. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-air-force-ask-walt-disney-to-make-a-movie-using-real-ufo-footage/650294/6 "2013-02-14T17:53:13Z")
**Of course** the USAF has plenty of footage of Unidentified Flying Objects; that does not mean it has any of extraterrestrial spaceships. ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-air-force-ask-walt-disney-to-make-a-movie-using-real-ufo-footage/650294/7 "2013-02-14T18:05:54Z")
I would think the USAF would have at least erased their memory after going back on the deal. Somebody _majorly_ dropped the ball there. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-air-force-ask-walt-disney-to-make-a-movie-using-real-ufo-footage/650294/8 "2013-02-14T18:18:44Z")
> [@Shiloh2013](#): > > Nitro, I don’t mean to pick on you, but it’s a pet peeve of mine the way people say “no evidence” or “not a shred of evidence,” when that is incorrect. A claim to what happened “is” evidence. It might not be conclusive evidence, it might even be impeached evidence, but it still qualifies as evidence. I wish people would say, “there is no proof,” or “you have nothing conclusive,” instead of saying there is no evidence. By that standard there is limitless evidence of anything happening for any reason. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-air-force-ask-walt-disney-to-make-a-movie-using-real-ufo-footage/650294/9 "2013-02-14T19:54:46Z")
I gather your post is your cite. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-air-force-ask-walt-disney-to-make-a-movie-using-real-ufo-footage/650294/10 "2013-02-14T19:59:07Z")
> [@Gedd](#): > > I would think the USAF would have at least erased their memory after going back on the deal. Somebody _majorly_ dropped the ball there. The battery went dead on their flashy thing. ---
**Author:** ![FrankJBN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@FrankJBN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrankJBN)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-air-force-ask-walt-disney-to-make-a-movie-using-real-ufo-footage/650294/11 "2013-02-14T21:03:59Z")
" A claim to what happened “is” evidence" Evidence is that which proves or disproves or tends to prove or disprove a “claim”. I could claim that Shiloh 2013 is the screen name of a 90 year old former member of the NKVD. A claim is not evidence that that which is claimed is true or false. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-air-force-ask-walt-disney-to-make-a-movie-using-real-ufo-footage/650294/12 "2013-02-14T21:57:04Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > **Of course** the USAF has plenty of footage of Unidentified Flying Objects; that does not mean it has any of extraterrestrial spaceships. This. Wait, we agree on something? Amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-air-force-ask-walt-disney-to-make-a-movie-using-real-ufo-footage/650294/13 "2013-02-14T22:05:33Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > By that standard there is limitless evidence of anything happening for any reason. No, he’s right in a narrow legal sense. I just think it’s too fine a distinction to enforce outside of a legal classroom or persnickety court. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2013, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-air-force-ask-walt-disney-to-make-a-movie-using-real-ufo-footage/650294/14 "2013-02-15T00:34:30Z")
Y’know, I _thought_ the flight footage in “The Cat From Outer Space” looked TOO real… ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2013, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-air-force-ask-walt-disney-to-make-a-movie-using-real-ufo-footage/650294/15 "2013-02-15T03:05:09Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > This. > > Wait, we agree on something? Amazing. My Dad was a USAF intelligence officer (served in Vietnam – his unit’s job was to monitor enemy radio transmissions, and tell the flyers not to go where the enemy might be expecting them that day); he’s totally skeptical about the whole Roswell, etc., thing. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2013, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-air-force-ask-walt-disney-to-make-a-movie-using-real-ufo-footage/650294/16 "2013-02-15T03:09:01Z")
No. There is no real UFO footage (UFO being used here in the sense of “interplanetary spacecraft of extraterrestrial origin”). Off to read the OP and maybe learn if the term UFO is being used in a different sense. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2013, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-air-force-ask-walt-disney-to-make-a-movie-using-real-ufo-footage/650294/17 "2013-02-15T03:17:27Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > And I think Brad Bird already said there’s no aliens in “Tomorrow Land” Is Mr. Bird suggesting that [this guy](http://visionsfantastic.com/visions/dlr/disneyland/tom/buzz.jpg) is an Earthling? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2013, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-air-force-ask-walt-disney-to-make-a-movie-using-real-ufo-footage/650294/18 "2013-02-15T03:21:55Z")
Why would ETs cross vast interstellar distances to visit our planet and then **hide** from us anyway? Well, actually, we all know [the answer.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBhru5nLpGE) ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2013, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-air-force-ask-walt-disney-to-make-a-movie-using-real-ufo-footage/650294/19 "2013-02-15T03:22:35Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > So Ward Kimball claimed that 40 years previously USAF was going to give them some UFO footage to craft a film around, and then rescinded the offer, but said they had plenty of authentic UFO footage on hand. > > There are so many potential holes in that (especially given the subsquent analysis of Blue Book etc.) that there’s hardly any Swiss holding them together. It’s say-so on say-so on probably faulty recollection on possibly some misunderstanding and maybe even a bit of pranking. > > In the absence of even a shred of evidence, I don’t know that it’s worth any followup. > [@Shiloh2013](#): > > Nitro, I don’t mean to pick on you, but it’s a pet peeve of mine the way people say “no evidence” or “not a shred of evidence,” when that is incorrect. A claim to what happened “is” evidence. It might not be conclusive evidence, it might even be impeached evidence, but it still qualifies as evidence. I wish people would say, “there is no proof,” or “you have nothing conclusive,” instead of saying there is no evidence. Is it okay for him to say “there isn’t a shred of _corroborative_ evidence?”