During August 1950, the
(The date of the sighting has been one of the many issues that has been the source of debate. 15 August and 5 August 1950 are both commonly suggested in various sources.)
This incident is Case 41 in Isaac Koi's "Top 100" article, since it was referred to in 58 of the books covered by that article.
The Great Falls film was one of two motion pictures of UFO sightings considered by the Robertson Panel, organized by the CIA, in January 1953.
In his book “UFOs Explained” (1974), Philip J Klass referred to the Great Falls footage as “the most impressive and famous UFO movie”. In his book “Scientific Ufology” (1999), Kevin D Randle wrote that the Great Falls footage “would become one of the best, and, therefore most controversial pieces of physical evidence available”.
This incident has also featured in a list of cases produced by British ufologist Gary Heseltine for the Fortean Times in 2007 as part of a survey of various researchers of the ten cases from 1947 onwards that interested them the most.
Isaac Koi’s “ICES” Rating for this sighting = 7,020 (out of a potential score of 14*14*14*14 i.e. 38,416)
(1) “Impact” Rating of 13 (out of a potential score of 14), because it is Case 41 in Isaac Koi's "Top 100" article.
(2) “Credibility” Rating of 10 (out of a potential score of 14) because the debate regarding this incident has centered on what was filmed, rather than whether the incident was a hoax - although there have been several persuasive suggestions that the eyewitness accounts included some significant embellishments.
(2) “Expert” Rating of 9 (out of a potential score of 14). It is given this above slightly above average rating because (at the time of writing) it has been included in a small number of the short lists of the best cases produced by various UFO researchers that have been compiled by Isaac Koi (see the “Best UFO Cases" article at PART 3: Existing lists by various individuals).
(4)“Strangeness” Rating of 6 (out of a potential score of 14). The sighting has a below average strangeness rating since there is relatively limited evidence to be explained as to the nature of the objects that was filmed. Several researchers have plausibly suggested that the objects that were filmed were merely aircraft.
Sections below:
Web Resources
For links to various relevant documents and articles online see:
http://www.nicap.org/montanadir.htm
http://ufologie.net/htm/montana50.htmThis incident is discussed on the AboveTopSecret.com (“ATS”) internet discussion forums in Thread 300193.
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Book References
For discussion of the
Year |
Discussion by:
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No. of Pages |
Baker, R M L in “UFO's: A Scientific Debate” (1972) (edited by Carl Sagan and Thornton Page) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 191-198 (in Chapter 8) of the Barnes and Noble hardback edition (with the same page numbering in the Norton paperback edition. |
8 |
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Baker, Robert in his article “Observational Evidence of Anomalistic Phenomena”, The Journal of the Astronautical Sciences Vol. XV, No. 1, pages 31-36 January-Febuary, 1968 (1968.0100). Reprinted in Appendix 3 to Robert Baker’s prepared statement to the Roush Hearing (the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science and Astronautics "Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects" on 1968.0729) at pages 177-182 of the transcript of the Ninetieth Congress, Second Session, Number 7. Complete transcript available free online at the following links: http://ncas.sawco.com/ufosymposium/contents.html http://www.project1947.com/shg/symposium/contents.html |
6 |
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Baker, Robert in the Roush Hearing (the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science and Astronautics "Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects" on 1968.0729) at page 127 of the transcript of the Ninetieth Congress, Second Session, Number 7. Edited and annotated transcript presented by Fuller, John in his “Aliens in the Skies” (1969), with the relevant extract appearing at page 150 (in Chapter 6) of the Putnam hardback edition. Complete transcript available free online at the following links: http://ncas.sawco.com/ufosymposium/contents.html http://www.project1947.com/shg/symposium/contents.html |
1 |
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Binder, Otto in his “What we really know about Flying Saucers” (1967) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 194 (in Chapter 16) of the Fawcett paperback edition. |
1 |
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Brookesmith, Peter in his “UFO: The Government Files” (1996) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 63, 69 (in Chapter 3) of the Parragon hardback edition. |
2 |
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Bryan, C D B in his “Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind: Alien Abduction, UFOs, and the Conference at MIT” (1995) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 112 (in Chapter 4) of the Weidenfeld & Nicolson hardback edition (with the same page numbering in the Knopf hardback edition and the Penguin Arkana softcover edition) at page 149 of the Orion paperback edition. |
1 |
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Campbell, Steuart in his “The UFO Mystery Solved” (1994) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 94 (in Chapter 4) of the Explicit Books softcover edition. |
1 |
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Clark, Jerome in his “The UFO Book: Encyclopedia of the Extraterrestrial” (1998) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 397-401 of the Visible Ink Press softcover edition in an entry entitled “Montana Film”. |
5 |
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Clark, Jerome in his “The UFO Encyclopedia: 1st edition: Volume 2 – Emergence of a Phenomenon” (1992) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 251-254 of the Omnigraphics hardback edition in an entry entitled “Montana Film”. |
4 |
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Clark, Jerome in his “The UFO Encyclopedia: The Phenomenon from the Beginning - 2nd edition” (1998) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) in Volume 2:L-Z at pages 642-644 (in an entry entitled “Montana Film”) of the Omnigraphics hardback edition. |
3 |
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Collins, Jim in his “Unidentified Flying Objects” (1977) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 33-35 (in Chapter 5) of the Raintree hardback edition. |
3 |
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Condon Report (“Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects”, Edward U Condon (Director) and Daniel S Gillmor (Editor) (1969)) as Condon Case Number 47 at pages 74-78 (in Section 3, Chapter 1 “Field Studies”, by Roy Craig), 119 (in Section 3, Chapter 2 “Analysis of UFO Photographic Evidence”, by William K Hartmann), 626-636 and plate 27 (in Section 4, “Case Studies”, Chapter 3, “Photographic Case Studies”) of the uncorrected version submitted to the Air Force (with the same page numbering in the 3 volume paperbound edition distributed by the National Technical Information Service, US Department of Commerce) at pages 52-54, 82, 407-415 of the Vision hardback edition (with the same page numbering in the Bantam paperback edition). The first of these editions has the same page numbering as the edition available free online at the following links: http://www.project1947.com/shg/condon/contents.html |
18 |
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Craig, Roy in his “UFOs – An Insider’s View” (1995) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 132-133 (in Chapter 8), 158, 160-161, 162 (in Chapter 10), 230-231 (in Chapter 14) of the UNT softback edition. |
8 |
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Crockett, Art in “The Total UFO Story” (1979) (edited by Milt Machlin) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 148-149 (in Chapter 6) of the Dale paperback edition. |
2 |
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Dolan, Richard M in his “UFOs and the National Security State: Volume 1: 1941-1973” (2000) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 140-141 (in Chapter 3) of the Keyhole softcover edition, at pages 85-86 of the 2002 revised Hampton Road softcover edition. |
2 |
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Durant Report (the memo dated 16th February 1953 from F C Durant to the Assistant Director for Scientific Intelligence relating to the Robertson Panel) at page 7. The Durant Report is available online at: http://www.cufon.org/cufon/robert.htm |
1 |
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Flammonde, Paris in his “Ufo Exist!” (1976) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 311-313 (in Chapter 16) of the Ballantine Books paperback edition. |
3 |
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Glenday, Craig in his “The UFO Investigator’s Handbook” (1999) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 96 (in Chapter 4) of the Running Press softcover edition. |
1 |
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Greenfield, Irving A in his “The UFO Report” (1967) at pages 51-52 (in Chapter 5) of the Lancer paperback edition. |
2 |
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Greenwood, Barry in his article “On the Question of Tampering with the 1950 Great Falls UFO Film” in the September 2000 edition of his UFO Historical Revue (Edition 7 (2000)), in that edition generally. Available online at: http://www.cufon.org/uhr/uhr7.htm |
1 |
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Hall, Michael David and Connors, Wendy Ann in their “Captain Edward J Ruppelt : Summer of the Saucers - 1952” (2000) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 23-24 (in Chapter 1) of the Rose Press softcover edition. |
2 |
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Hall, Michael David in his “UFOs : A Century of Sightings” (1999) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 134-136 (in Chapter 3), 294 (in Chapter 7) of the Galde Press softcover edition. |
3 |
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Hansen, Terry in his “The Missing Times : News Media Complicity in the UFO Cover-Up : News Media Complicity in the UFO Cover -Up” (2000) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 183-184 (in Chapter 5), 220 (in Chapter 6) of the Xlibris softcover edition. |
3 |
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Hynek, J Allen in his “The Hynek UFO Report” (1977) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) in Chapter 10, at pages 241-242 of the Barnes & Noble hardback reprint (1997) at pages 251-252 of the Dell paperback edition (with the same page numbering in the Sphere paperback edition). |
2 |
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Hynek, J Allen in his “The UFO Experience” (1972) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) (in Chapter 6) at pages 57-58 of the Henry Regnery hardback edition (with same page numbering in the Abelard-Schuman hardback edition) at page 65-66 of the various Ballantine paperback editions, at pages 80-81 of the Corgi paperback edition. Included in a table indicating an assessment of Strangeness Rating/Probability Rating of 2/9 as DD5 in Appendix 1 at page 235 of the Henry Regnery hardback edition (with same page numbering in the Abelard-Schuman hardback edition) at page 265 of the various Ballantine paperback editions, at page 289 of the Corgi paperback edition. |
2 |
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Keyhoe, Donald E in his “Aliens from Space” (1973) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 217-218 (in Chapter 14) of the Signet paperback edition, pages 245-246 of the Panther paperback edition. |
2 |
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Keyhoe, Donald E in his “Flying Saucers from Outer Space” (1953) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 154 (in Chapter 9) of the Henry Holt hardback edition, page 156 of the Tandem paperback edition. |
1 |
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Klass, Philip J in his “UFOs Explained” (1974) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 152-166 (in Chapter 16, “The Great Falls UFO Movies”) of the Random House hardback edition / pages 180-196 of Random House paperback edition. |
15 |
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Knight, David C in his “UFOs: A pictorial history from antiquity to the present” (1979) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 44 (in Part 3) of the McGraw Hill hardback edition. |
1 |
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Maccabee, Bruce in his “UFO-FBI Connection” (2000) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 164-165 (in Chapter 16) of the Llewellyn softcover edition. |
2 |
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Menzel, Donald and Taves, Ernest in their “The UFO Enigma“ (1977) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 110-111 (in Chapter 8, “The [Condon Report’s] ‘Unexplained Cases”) of the Doubleday hardback edition. |
2 |
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NICAP in its “The UFO Evidence” (1964) (edited by Richard Hall) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 88 (in Section 8) and page 111 (in Section 9) of the privately published paperbound edition, with the same page numbering in the 1997 Barnes & Noble paperbound reprint. Available free online at: |
1 |
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Peter Warrington in their “Science and the UFOs " (1985) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 41 (in Chapter 3) of the Blackwell hardback edition. |
1 |
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Randle, Kevin D and Story, Ronald in “The Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters” (2001) (edited by Ronald Story) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 230-232 (in an entry entitled “Great Falls (Montana) movie”) of the New American Library softcover edition, at pages 225-228 of the pdf edition (with the same page numbering in the Microsoft Word edition). |
3 |
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Randle, Kevin D and Story, Ronald in “The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters” (2001) (edited by Ronald Story) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 281-283 (in an entry entitled “Great Falls (Montana) movie”) of the Robinson softcover edition. |
3 |
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Randle, Kevin in “The Encyclopedia of UFOs” (1980) edited by Ronald Story (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 153-155 (in an entry entitled “Great Falls (Montana) movie”) of the NEL hardback edition. |
3 |
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Randle, Kevin in his “Conspiracy of Silence” (1997) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 129-132 (in Chapter 6) of the |
4 |
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Randle, Kevin in his “Scientific Ufology” (1999) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 75-91, 125 (in Chapter 4), 211-212, 216 (in Chapter 8) of the |
21 |
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Randle, Kevin in his “The UFO Casebook” (1989) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 49-54 of the Warner Books paperback edition (entry entitled “August 5, 1950: The Great Falls Movie”) and at pages 164-165. |
6 |
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Randles, Jenny in her “Alien Contact – The First Fifty Years” (1997) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 16 (in the chapter entitled “1950”) of the Collins and Brown hardback edition. |
1 |
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Randles, Jenny in her “The Little Giant Encyclopedia of UFOs” (2000) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 39 (in Part 1, “A UFO Timeline”) of the |
1 |
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Randles, Jenny in her “UFO Reality” (1983) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 193-196 (in Chapter 14) of the Hale hardback edition. |
4 |
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Rehn, K Gosta in his “UFOs Here and Now” (1974) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 13-14 (in the unnumbered chapter entitled “The Condon-Colorado Report”) of the Abelard-Schuman hardback edition. |
2 |
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Ruppelt, Edward J in his “The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects” (1956) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 219-220, 224 (in Chapter 16) of the original 17 chapter Doubleday hardback edition, at pages 286-288, 292 of the Gollancz hardback edition, at pages 287-289, 293-294 of the Ace paperback edition, at pages 219-220, 224 of the 1959 revised Doubleday 20 chapter hardback edition, at pages 157-158, 160 of the reprinted Source Books softcover edition. The first of these editions (i.e. the original 17 chapter hardback edition) has the same page numbering as the version available free online at: http://www.nicap.org/rufo/contents2.htm |
3 |
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Rux, Bruce in his “Architects of the Underworld” (1996) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 37-39 (in Chapter 2) of the Frog softcover edition. |
3 |
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Sachs, Margaret in her “The UFO Encyclopedia“ (1980 (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 127-128 (in an entry entitled “Great Falls, Montana”) and at page viii (in a list entitled “Chronological list of UFO sightings”) of the Corgi softback edition. |
3 |
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Saunders, David R and Harkins, R Roger in their “UFOs? Yes!” (1968) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 83-92 (in Chapter 8), 93-102, 103-104, 107-108 (Chapter 9 generally) of the Signet paperback edition. |
10 |
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Sellier, Charles E and Meier, Joe in their “UFO” (1997) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 266-267 (in Chapter 15) of the Contemporary Books hardback edition. |
2 |
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Sladek, John in his “The New Apocrypha” (1974) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 42 (in Chapter 3) of the Panther paperback edition. |
1 |
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Spaceage in its “UFO USA - A Traveler's Guide” (1999) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 102-104 (in the chapter entitled “ |
3 |
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Spencer, John in his “The UFO Encyclopedia” (1991) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 203-204 (in an entry entitled “Mariana, Nicholas”) of the Guild hardback edition (with the same page numbering in the Avon softcover edition) at pages 236-237 of the Headline paperback edition. |
2 |
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Stanton, L Jerome in his “Flying Saucers : Hoax or Reality?” (1966) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 81 (in Chapter 4) of the |
1 |
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Stevens, Wendelle and Roberts, August in their “UFO Photographs: Around The World: Vol. |
1 |
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Story, Ronald in his “UFOs and the Limits of Science” (1981) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at pages 112-114 (in Chapter 4) of the NEL Hardback edition. |
3 |
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Vallee, Jacques in his “Forbidden Science: Journals 1957-1969.” (1992) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 286 (in Chapter 15, journal entry for 1967.0618) of the North Atlantic Books hardback edition, at page 290 of the 1996 abridged Marlowe paperback edition. |
1 |
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Vesco, Renato and Childress, David Hatcher in their “Man Made UFOs 1944-1994 – 50 Years of Suppression” (1994) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 66 (in Chapter 3) of the AUP softcover edition. |
1 |
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Vesco, Renato in his “Intercept Ufo” (Formerly published as “Intercept - But Don't Shoot”) (1971) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 66 (in Chapter 3) of the Zebra paperback edition. |
1 |
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Von Buttlar, Johannes in his “The UFO Phenomenon” (1980) (available on Amazon USA and on Amazon UK) at page 74 (in Chapter 7) of the Book Club Associates hardback edition. |
1 |
Other Material
Official US documents about this incident can be found online. See the material on the ambitious “Project Blue Book Archive” website in relation to Project Blue Book Case Number 792, which commences at the link provided (and continues on the pages which follow it).
Listed as Project Blue Book Case Number 792 on the redacted US National Archives and Records Administration (“NARA”) microfilm records of Project Blue Book, released to the National Archives in 1975 – see National Archives Microfilm Publication T1206 roll number 1. An image of the relevant index page has been given the unique Page ID (“PID”) of NARA-PBB1-37 (page 37 of 1014) at the link below.
Listed (without a Project Blue Book Case Number) on the unredacted Maxwell Air Force Base (“Maxwell”) microfilm records of Project Blue Book – see Maxwell microfilm roll number 30,363. An image of the relevant index page has been given the unique Page ID (“PID”) of MAXW-PBB2-268 (page 268 of 1352) at the link below. The relevant case file is included on Maxwell microfilm roll number 30,369 – at the link below from the page with the PID of MAXW-PBB8-196 (page 196 of 1656) to the page with the PID of MAXW-PBB8-302 (page 302 of 1656).
http://www.bluebookarchive.org