Q 01/05

Which U.S. Air Force captain coined the acronym 'UFO'?

A) Edward J. Ruppelt

B) Hector Quintanilla

C) Nathan Twining

D) Charles Halt

Answer · why

A) Edward J. Ruppelt

Ruppelt argued 'flying saucer' was misleading for objects of every conceivable shape and preferred the more general term.

Q 02/05

What acronym for 'unidentified anomalous phenomena' has increasingly replaced 'UFO'?

A) UAV

B) UAP

C) ETV

D) AAP

Answer · why

B) UAP

The term first appeared in the late 1960s and gained ground because of the negative cultural baggage attached to 'UFO'.

Q 03/05

Near which mountain did pilot Kenneth Arnold report a chain of nine shining objects on June 24, 1947?

A) Mount Rainier

B) Mount Shasta

C) Mount Hood

D) Mount Whitney

Answer · why

A) Mount Rainier

He was detouring to look for a crashed Marine transport plane that carried a $5,000 reward.

Q 04/05

What term did the press coin from Kenneth Arnold's description of objects moving like a skipped dish?

A) Foo fighter

B) Ghost rocket

C) Mystery airship

D) Flying saucer

Answer · why

D) Flying saucer

Arnold himself described the objects' shape differently; the saucer image came from his account of their motion.

Q 05/05

The debris found near Roswell in 1947 came from a balloon train belonging to which top-secret program?

A) Project Skyhook

B) Project Mogul

C) Project Twinkle

D) Project Grudge

Answer · why

B) Project Mogul

The program was designed to listen for Soviet nuclear tests, which is why the Army covered it with a weather-balloon story.