Florence J Mansman
Florence J. Mansman was a US Air Force Major serving as the commanding officer of the optical instrumentation unit at Vandenberg Air Force Base in 1964. He is known primarily as the superior officer who summoned Lieutenant Robert Jacobs to a classified screening of the Big Sur UFO film, ordered Jacobs to silence, and later corroborated Jacobs's account in writing — confirming that government agents confiscated the footage.
| Role | Major, US Air Force; commanding officer, Vandenberg Air Force Base optical instrumentation unit |
|---|
Role in the Vandenberg UFO Incident
Following the September 14, 1964 missile test in which Jacobs's unit filmed an unidentified disc-shaped craft interacting with a dummy nuclear warhead, Mansman summoned Jacobs to his office within the next day or two. When Jacobs arrived, Mansman had three men in gray suits present — later identified by Mansman himself as the Director of the Office of the Chief Scientist and two government agent assistants. A 16mm projector had been set up, and Jacobs was ordered to watch the footage.
After the screening, Mansman demanded to know if Jacobs or his team had been "screwing around" at the launch site. When Jacobs said the footage looked like a UFO, Mansman ordered him to classify the incident and instructed him that if ever asked, Jacobs was to attribute the beam of light to "Laser Tracking Strikes" — a cover story that Jacobs later noted was technically impossible, as practical laser tracking did not exist in 1964. Mansman warned that the "dark consequences of a security breach" should not require emphasis.
After Jacobs departed, the men in gray suits cut the UFO footage from the film reel with scissors, placed it in their briefcase, and handed Mansman only the edited remainder. Mansman simultaneously threatened both men to consider the incident closed.
Corroboration and Legacy
Mansman's most consequential action was ultimately corroborative rather than suppressive. After Jacobs publicly disclosed the incident in 1982 — arguing he had never signed a non-disclosure agreement — Mansman wrote a signed letter to personnel at Paramount Pictures, who were producing a documentary on the case, confirming Jacobs's account as "absolute fact." His letter stated that he could confirm the incident "as he described it in the January 1989 MUFON journal."
Mansman's written confirmation transformed the Vandenberg case from a lone whistleblower claim into a two-party corroborated account, significantly elevating its evidentiary standing within UAP research.