Donald Keyhoe graduated from the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD, in 1920, with a BS degree and a commission as a second lieutenant in the USMC. Keyhoe became a Naval aviator, piloting both balloons and airplanes in the period between the World Wars. After a flying accident in Guam he was medically retired from the military. During World War II he was recalled to active duty with the rank of major in the USMC.

During the 1930s and early 1940s Keyhoe wrote fictional aviation adventure stories for popular pulp magazines. Keyhoe also wrote factual articles for major newsstand magazines such as; Saturday Evening Post, Cosmopolitan, American, Redbook, and True. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, Keyhoe personally test-flew a variety of aircraft and evaluated their performance and features for True magazine.

When the first "flying saucer" sightings were reported in June,1947, Keyhoe, an experienced pilot, was skeptical. True asked him to investigate UFOs in 1949. He interviewed numerous pilots as well as military officers in the Pentagon. Keyhoe discovered that expert observers had seen the unexplained discs, many at close range. His article "Flying Saucers Are Real" in the January,1950 issue of True became one of the most widely read and discussed articles in publishing history, and caused a sensation. In January, 1950, the article was expanded into a paperback book. In 1957, Keyhoe  became Director of the newly formed National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) in Washington, DC. Under Keyhoe's leadership NICAP gave serious publicity to the UFO phenomena throughout the 1960s and encouraged subsequent Congressional hearings.

For more information on Donald Keyhoe visit the Donald E. Keyhoe Archives. (Richard Hall link)