From Proceedings of the 1976 CUFOS Conference

Santa Catalina Channel "Cloud Cigars"

by Ann Druffel

ABSTRACT:  Since 1962 there  have been recurring sightings of so-called cloud-cigars over the Catalina  Channel in Southern California.  These  hovering, seemingly energized clouds are reported both day and night, and  are accompanied by sightings of smaller, disc-like objects miles inland, while  the larger objects remain high above the Pacific Ocean between the mainland and  Catalina Island,  twenty (20) miles off  the coast.  Available facts indicate the  possibility that the  small craft  "materialize" within the developing cloud.  Ways are suggested in which CUFOS can obtain cooperation  from civilian and military authorities in monitoring these phenomena.
                                                    
SANTA CATALINA ISLAND'S CLOUD CIGARS:   The transitory nature of UFOs dismays  researchers. The objects appear unexpectedly to startled witnesses and in most cases  are gone before any permanent record of their passage can be obtained.

In  rare instances, however, the appearance of UFOs can be predicted by reason of  their repeated occurrence in some particular region. One of these regions is  over the Pacific Ocean between the coast of Southern California and the off-shore  islands, notably Santa Catalina Island, which lies about twenty miles (20) west  of the mainland.

We  are concerned specifically here with a rectangular area between thirty-three (33)  degrees and thirty-four (34) degrees latitude north and between  one-hundred-nineteen (119) degrees and one-hundred-seventeen point five  (11.7.5) degrees longitude west. Other "channel" and  "basin" areas, named for the cities and islands associated with them,  are involved here in question, is more meaningful. In most cases, the objects were  viewed between the mainland and the large off-shore island of Santa Catalina  Ref. 1) (Also see  Figure A)

Figure A

The  complex sea floor off southern California is becoming one of the best-known  submarine areas in the world.  Data on the  topography, sediments, rock formations and seismic character have been  published in several sources (Ref. 2).

There  has typically always been poor navigational control in this area, but it is  difficult to correlate this fact with the numerous magnetic anomalies existing  here
(Ref. 3).  

The  following material has never been published or, indeed, never collected  together before in cogent form.  It is  necessarily incomplete and speculative. When viewed as a whole however, it  might afford the UFO research field an opportunity to study long-lived UFO  phenomena with scientific instrumentation. Hopefully, readers of this paper  will offer ideas on how such instrumentation can be obtained, set up and  maintained.

THE 1962 MYSTERY: The first hint that the skies above the Santa  Catalina Channel held more than seagulls occurred, to the best of our  knowledge, in August 1962. Two women witnesses, of which this author (Druffel)  was one, had brought their six small           children, ages eight to one year,  for a leisurely day at the Long Beach, California seashore. About 2:00 p.m. one  of the women (author) noticed a small, white rectangular cloud, which looked exactly  like a newly-formed section of vapor trail. It seemed to be neatly sliced off  at each end and transplanted in the blue, smogless sky. Its apparent diameter  was about four millimeters at arm's length, and its width was one-half its          length.

It  was positioned at about forty (40) degrees elevation, approximately one hundred  ninety-five (195) degrees azimuth (magnetic) high in the sky. It seemed about  midway between the shore and the island of Santa Catalina, which was clearly visible  to the south and southwest. 

There  was no evidence of high-flying jets and no other vapor trails or clouds in that  quadrant of sky. After about fifteen minutes, the witness became aware that it  was not a normal vapor trail. It was too short, too isolated and did not change  shape or size in the slightest. Neither did it move in any direction [in spite  of a brisk wind blowing on the seashore.) The witness called her friend, Mrs.  James (Aileen) Cummings's, attention to it, and the two women continued to  observe the small white rectangle. For about thirty more minutes it remained  motionless, unchanged in size and shape.

Then  something began to occur within the tiny cloud. Its white vapor began to  "churn", presenting an impression of internal activity. It enlarged  two or three times; the time was now about 3:15 p.m.

During  the next half hour, it slowly changed into an oval, twenty to thirty (20-30) times  its original size. It still hovered at forty (40) degrees elevation at the  original azimuth, but now its apparent diameter had blossomed to four (4) centimeters  in length and about two (2) centimeters in width at arm's length. It was  solid-appearing, unlike a normal cloud. Its vaporous, oval shape was definite,  and at no time did the edges          dissipate beyond the perimeter.  There was a constant churning motion all over the visible surface, somewhat  like water boiling in slow motion. The object seemed angled at approximately twenty-five  to thirty (25-30) degrees, its longest diameter being
          positioned to the witnesses'  right (See  Figure B).

Figure B

The mysterious sight kept the witnesses'  attention, mainly because it seemed that "something" was inside its  vaporous exterior. At times it seemed as though the object were about to  "open up" to reveal whatever might be lurking within.  About forty-five (45) minutes after the  formation of the oval, the witnesses saw flashes of light coming from the  object. The flashes were bright white and momentary. They extended about a  diameter's length out from the surface. They gave the impression of strong  reflections from the bright sun off some metal surface within the cloud, or of  electric discharges. At          no time was any sound heard. The  flashes were periodic, separated by minutes, with no regular rhythm.

During  the time the flashes were observed, numerous military jet trails were seen in  the south, evidently over and beyond Catalina Island. These trails were  observed from four to ten (4-10) degrees above the island, which rises about  three (3) degrees above the horizon from that viewing position. None of the jet  trails appeared within thirty (30) degrees of the churning, flashing cloud.  However, these trails indicated the presence of a number of highly active, military  jets.

After  watching the flashes in the cloud for about fifteen minutes, the witnesses  approached a nearby lifeguard, hoping he could lend them binoculars so they  could get a closer view of the activity within the cloud. He denied having  binoculars, and when the witnesses tried to explain to him about the strange cloud  he showed no interest.

About  5:00 p.m. the witnesses collected their small children, preparatory to making  the long thirty-five mile drive back to their Pasadena homes. They left  reluctantly, pausing several times during the quarter-mile walk to their cars  to stare at          the object. It still hung motionless  high in the sky. They discussed reporting the incident to the Long Beach Press-Telegram but  rationalized that the object must have been seen and reported by many others.  It had been in view more than three hours.   However, there was never any media coverage of the event, to the  witnesses' surprise (Ref. 4).

As  awed as the witnesses felt over the cloud's strange exterior, the activity  within it was so inexplicable that both felt inadequate to even verbalize it.  Consequently, it went unreported until this date. They remained totally unaware  of the possible significance of the occurrence until years later.  More on the possible significance of this  sighting, after further correlative material had surfaced, has been presented  below.

THE 1968 "CLOUD-CIGAR":   The second instance of a "vaporous cloud" over the Catalina  Channel occurred on July 9th, 1968.  By  this time, the Los Angeles NICAP Subcommittee [to which the author belonged] had  established SKYNET, a tracking-and-filter center designed to collect and investigate  public UFO reports.

On  that summer evening, the phones rang off their hooks at the Project  Coordinator's [Druffel's] home in Pasadena.   Thirty air miles south in Long Beach and surrounding communities,  citizens began reporting a large, glowing mass positioned high over the  Catalina Channel. Accompanying the silent, hovering cloud were several glowing,  smaller globes which maneuvered in the same area of sky (See  Figure C).

Figure C

The  first call came from a group of five teenagers gathered at the home of Kevin  Allgreen, three miles north of the shore line. At 9:35 p.m. they had noticed a  gray-white, diamond-shaped haze under the full moon in the south-southeast. At 10:05  it began moving fifty-five (55) degrees in a horizontal line toward the west.  By 10:15 it had returned, intact, to its original position near the moon.  Maneuvering near the large
          object were five smaller cloud-like  objects, oval-shaped with clearcut edges. Two of these were grayish and three  "kind of white." 

The  boys, aged thirteen to eighteen years, viewed the objects through binoculars  and determined that all of the unknown masses looked "solid". They  kept their shape and precise edges through subsequent maneuvers. Although the  edges of the larger object were "fuzzy," it did not seem to be a  normal cloud because it moved too fast during its brief journey westward and  back again, traveling fifty-five (55) degrees in three (3) minutes. It was many  times the size of the smaller balls, an estimated five to six (5-6) times the  diameter of the full moon.  The end  facing west was long and narrow, and the part facing east was shaped "like  a diamond."

The  boys were convinced that they were viewing something highly unusual. They  estimated the main mass was about ten (10) miles high. About 11:00 p.m. the  large object turned reddish-orange in color and began traveling upward at an  approximate          angle of thirty (30) degrees. By  11:30 it "just faded away," taking five (5) minutes to dissipate out  of sight.

Following  hard on the teenagers' first call, the family of Mr. I. Castano of Compton also  called SKYNET. From their home seven miles north of the Long Beach witnesses,  his family had viewed a group of four oval, cloud-like objects the size of          pinheads at arm's length, or about  one-eighth the size of the full moon. First seen at 9:30 p.m. and disappearing  at 10:00 p.m. they were glowing white with precise edges. They were gathered around  the moon when first seen, and then started departing  "right and left." They  seemed to be far out in space. The objects spread out and then dashed toward  one another," Castano related. '"It looked like some kind of a  war." To Mr. Castano, who had never believed in the existence of UFOs  before, the event was completely mystifying (Ref. 5).

The  Castanos did not describe the large cloud, but this is probably because he was  much further north than the Long Beach witnesses. Was he seeing the smaller  related objects on a mission inward from the Channel (Ref. 6)?

Another  report which seems to validate the above speculation comes from the files of  Paul Wilson, another local UFO researcher. He was informed by his neighbors,  Michael and Leslie G. that they had seen a glowing UFO about 9:30 or 10:00 p.m.  on the same night. It traveled toward their home in Hawthorne (fifteen air miles  northwest of Long Beach), approaching from the east.  It was oval and slightly smaller than the  full moon. It was shiny white with clearcut edges, seemed to be several miles  away, and traveled toward the south away from the moon and back again. It was  soundless, spun in an apparent circle "around the moon" and  afterwards let off streams of smoke or vapor from its side. Duration of  sighting was twenty (20) minutes (Ref. 7).

From  the similarities in description from the Castano and G. families, it might be  assumed that they were viewing the smaller objects during a foray inland. The  Castanos saw four objects, the G's a single one. We might speculate that the  five small obJects associated with the main cloud-mass had spilt up into two  groups, while the parent object or "cloud cigar" hovered high over  the Pacific.

While  all this activity was going on, SKYNET was making frantic efforts to obtain  additional witnesses and documentation. The only SKYNET member residing near  the coast, Jim Griebel, was contacted. His home was three miles north of the  Long Beach          witnesses.  Through binoculars he could see a cloud-like  conglomeration low on the southerly horizon. Whether composed of one or two masses  he was not sure, but the mass(es) seemed diamond-shaped on one end and rounded  on the other. The bright light from the moon dissipated Griebel's view, but  there seems little doubt that he was seeing the primary cloud-object which was  being viewed from Long Beach.  Including  Griebel, twelve (12) witnesses in all, from four (4) independent groups,  reported the July 9th, 1968 event.

Nothing  about the above cases seemed to click into place at the time of their  occurrence. The 1962 case remained an enigma for thirteen years, shoved back  into the inner recesses of the two witnesses' minds.  That "something" could appear from          almost "nothing" and  retain shapes, position, and activity for over three hours was inexplicable.  The 1968 case, which tasted at least an hour and one-half, was considered a  possible "cloud-cigar."  This  UFO-type is described by Aime Michel in his classic book, Flying Saucers and the Straight-Line Mystery  (Ref. 8).

THE ENIGMA OF 1973: On December 20, 1973, another mystery occurred  over the Pacific Ocean between the mainland and Catalina Island. This sighting  was as bizarre and long-lived as the two which had gone before. Although at  first glance it appeared unassociated with the vaporous masses in the first two  events, further study has convinced this author that all three phenomena have  many factors in common. Therefore, the three cases are being presented together  in order that opinions can
          be sought from other researchers.

About  2:15 a.m. on December 20, 1973 Michael Wagner of Pacific Palisades noticed a yellow  glowing "blob" hovering in the south-southeast at an elevation of  approximately twenty (20) degrees. He called it to the attention of Robert B.  Klinn,          known in UFO circles as a skilled  researcher. Their viewing position was about twenty miles northwest of Long  Beach.

The two witnesses took turns studying the  light through a 16-power Navy spyglass, which they were able to steady on a ledge  at Klinn's residence. As seen through the telescope, the "blob"  resolved into a precise arrangement of round, yellow-gold lights. Though the  entire mass appeared larger than Venus with the naked eye, through the 'scope  the lights encompassed an area of approximately three (3) millimeters. They  were arranged in a vertical column bisecting a horizontal column of equal  length. Additional columns of light appeared and arranged themselves into a  nearly perfect light-studded triangle.  The  witnesses adjusted the telescope, and when Klinn again          looked through it about three  minutes later, the complex of lights had assumed the shape of a huge,  cigar-shaped "machine."   Its  edges were clearcut against the sky. Along its side was a horizontal row of  about five huge, fiery round lights along the          length of the object. These lights  were very much larger and brighter than the ones observed earlier; in fact, the  entire  object had expanded in size at  least twenty times. (See  Figure D).

Figure D

Each  light held tremendous activity within it, "as if looking  inside a boiling steel furnace, and even more  so". Their primary color was yellow, but many other colors were visible in  their teeming mass. As the witnesses watched astounded, the first light  ballooned up "like a critical explosion" and smashed through the  light directly to its right. That one in turn seemed to flare up, as did each  in the entire row, as the first   fireball  traversed the entire row. At the extreme right, the fiery,explosive light  paused and pulsated about twice per second; then the smashing reaction returned  along the row of lights from right to left. The entire trip back and forth took  an estimated          thirteen (13) seconds.

As  this was happening, a fin-shaped appendage with a vertical  row of smaller yellow lights was moving back  and forth along the top of the cigar-shaped object "in a very mechanical  way."  Meantime, the entire object,  which now covered more than one and one-half (I 1/2) centimeters in the  'scope's field of view, was moving slowly westward at an estimated five (5)  degrees per hour.  Toward the end of the sighting,  which lasted about one and one-half hours, the object changed shape once more.  The appendage on top widened, the lights flickered out, and the object became a  darkened cone-shape with a rounded bottom. One faint red light blinked with  regular rhythm on the top. Then the object faded from view at 3:37 a.m. (Ref.  9).

ATTEMPTS AT CORRELATION: The July 1968 manifestation at least seemed  to fit into a recognized UFO class, that of the so-called cloud cigar, widely  assumed to be a conglomerate of smaller discs, alternate names being  "carrier craft" or "mother ship." But the 1962 and 1973  sightings cannot so easily be categorized.   Both of these objects changed shape, grew larger and more complex, and  demonstrated intense internal activity reminiscent of electrical discharges of  high intensity. Is it possible that the 1962 sighting, and the 1973 sighting as  well, were incidents of "materialization" into our space-time?

In  trying to determine with witness Bob Klinn the possibility that what he had  seen was related in some way with the 1962   and 1968 objects, Klinn pointed out that there was no cloud or vapor  associated with it. He felt that the 1973 object was a metallic structure and  that he was viewing the clashing spheres through "holes" of some kind  in its side.

To  the author's mind, however, in order for the 1973 witnesses to view the  activity within in its entirety, the side of the object might have been transparent  or otherwise open to view.  Is it  possible that the object was not metallic, but some sort of solid, though  transparent, material? Could they have been viewing a similar type of cigar-shaped  solid structure which had been surrounded by thick haze during the summer  sightings of 1962 and 1968?

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY: The purpose of this paper has been  to alert researchers to the fact of recurring, long-lived phenomena in the  Catalina Channel area. It would be of much value to UFO research if this region  could be placed under surveillance with scientific instrumentation.

This  paper would not be complete unless it was pointed out that the Channel area has  for the past thirty years abounded in UFO reports of all types. Many  surface-type and underwater UFOs have been reported, but compared to the  long-lasting "cloud cigars" they have been unclear and short-lived.  Nevertheless, the sightings exist in sufficient numbers to alert us that this  area is, for some reason, of constant concern to someone, or something,  unknown.

Space  does not permit here to discuss these surface sightings in detail.  Suffice it to say that they are reportedly continuing  up to the present.  They could most  probably be perceived by the same type of surveillance net used to detect the high-altitude  "cloud cigars."  It is  important to reiterate five points concerning the latter type:

Consider  the value to UFO research if, within the next few years, one of these  long-lived UFO phenomena can be detected and studied.  Consider, too, the possible spinoff from a  surveillance system— the detection of frequent UFO surface phenomena in the same  area.

REFERENCES

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          (1)  "Reconnaissance Airborne Magnetometer  Survey of Southern California," (map) I960, by R. W. Bromery, K. 0. Emery,  and J. R. Balsey, Jr.  Published by Dept.  of the Interior, U.S. Survey, Washington, D.C.— Geophysical Investigations Map  GP-211.

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          (2)  "Seismic Activity and Oceanography of  the Sea Floor Off Southern California," by Clements, Thomas and Emery,  K.O. 1947, Seismology Soc. America Bull. V. 37, No. 1, pp. 307-13

Also:  "Seismic Studies of the Pacific Ocean  Floor Off California," by Raitt, R. W., 1950, Geophysics, V. 15, No. 1, p. 156

Also"  "General Geology of the Offshore Area,  Southern California," by Emery, K. 0., 1954, California Div. Mines Bull. 170, pp. l07-11

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          (3)  "Introduction," accompanying Map  described in Reference #1.

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          (4)  Documentation in private files  (Druffel).  Full report to be sent soon  to MUFON and CUFOS.
   
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          (5)  "SKYNET:   Making Sense from Confusion," by Druffel, SKYLOOK,
          December 1973,  No. 73

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          (6)  In private files (Paul Wilson), copy in  Druffel files with identifying information.

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          (7)  In private files (Druffel).  Full report to be sent soon to MUFON and CUFOS

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          (8)  Flying  Saucers and the Straight-Line Mystery, by Aime Michel, Criterion Books, New  York 1958

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          (9)  "The Continuing UFO," column by Robert  B. Klinn and David Branch, in Santa Ana  Register, Santa Ana, California December 26, 1973.  [Newspaper now named The Orange County Register.]

           Also "Object Changes," SKYLOOK, February 1973, and in private files  (Druffel) and (Klinn)

BIO/RESUME [1976]:
Ann Druffel is an Associate Editor of the MUFON UFO JOURNAL and writes  a monthly column, "California Report," for that publication.  She received her B.A. in Sociology at  Immaculate Heart College in Hollywood, California and acquired one years'  graduate credit toward a M.A.in Social Case Work at the Catholic University,  Washington, D.C. She is a licensed R.S.W. (Registered Social Worker) in the State  of  California and worked for five years in  Family and Child Welfare case work before marriage.  Ann and her husband, Charles K. Druffel, are  the proud parents of five daughters. Her professional skills of interviewing,  recording, and  objective value-judging  were transferred to UFO research and free-lance writing on various earth  mysteries, especially in the fields of Ufology and psychic research. Her more  recent works include THE TUJUNGA CANYON CONTACTS, co-authored with  parapsychologist D. Scott Rogo.  Her  forthcoming book, THE DETECTIVE AND THE PSYCHIC, is authored with renowned  psychic Armand Marcotte.

{http://www.anndruffel.com/articles/ufo/santacatalina

channelcloudcigars.htm}

07-10-2014 om 23:15 geschreven door peter  

Zimbabwe Encounter History … In Only 9 Pages

http://www.amazon.com/The-Zimbabwe-Encounter-Aylmer-Fleischer-ebook/dp/B00BLIZBK4

06-10-2014 om 14:21 geschreven door peter  

‘I don't know what I don't know’

British MoD Forced to Release More UFO Documents in 2015: The Alleged “Last Remaining Files” Were Declassified Last Year...

By Robert Hastings
www.ufohastings.com10-3-14 

     On September 23, 2014, a newspaper story in the UK revealed that the British Ministry of Defence would be releasing 18 more UFO documents next year. This action was precipitated by the filing of a Freedom of Information request by British researcher Andy Russell, one month earlier, in which he asked:

“Whether documents covering the period 1971-76 and 1996-2000 titled ‘UFO policy’ and three other documents covering the periods June-Dec 2000, Dec 2000-Mar 2004 and March 2004 exist, and if so are they still ‘classified’.”

A search turned up the hitherto unacknowledged files, thereby contradicting the MoD’s earlier claim that all of its UFO files had been released to the public.

In June 2013, after it had been announced that the final “tranche” or batch of UFO files had just been declassified, I wrote an article saying that the MoD was almost certainly withholding additional, very sensitive, UFO-related documents. My piece featured comments by former MoD UFO Desk administrator Nick Pope, who agreed with my contention. He wrote:

Careful scrutiny of the released material shows plenty of documents have been redacted or withheld in entirety. And that's not including several of the more interesting files, documents, films and photographs that the MoD claims have been ‘inadvertently destroyed’ or ‘lost’.

In government, access to classified information is a product of your security clearance and your 'need to know'. Thus, in a sense, you can never say for sure whether you're privy to all the information on any particular topic, because even if you're the ‘Subject Matter Expert’, there may not just be specific things to which you're denied access, but areas the existence of which you're not even aware. Think of this in terms of ‘unknown unknowns’. So while I had a Top Secret SCI security clearance for much of my MoD career and certainly believe I saw all the UFO files, I can't be certain: ‘I don't know what I don't know’ is another way that those of us who have dealt with highly-classified material sometimes characterize this situation.

Regarding British UFO debunker Dr. David Clarke—who has slavishly repeated every MoD claim about the supposed lack of credible information on UFOs in its hands, and endorsed those claims as the final word on the subject—Pope said this:

Having done as a government job what he did as a hobby, I can confirm that larke has never worked for the MoD or held a security clearance. MoD redacts the files before sending them to the National Archives, so he's only ever seen the same unclassified material as any other member of the public.

One MoD document referred to him as a ‘UFO spotter’—a disparaging term used to describe somebody with a nerdish and slightly obsessive attitude to the subject...Some people would probably use the term ‘useful idiot’ to describe his parroting the MoD ‘no defense significance’ sound bite, which was designed solely to keep Parliament, the media and the public off our backs.

Pope’s last comment about Clarke received a lot of attention. Regarding the disparaging epithet, one reference website says, “In political jargon, ‘useful idiot’ is a term for people perceived as propagandists for a cause whose goals they are not fully aware of, and who are used cynically by the leaders of the cause.”¹
However, the far more interesting and significant comment by Pope was his revelation about the MoD’s underlying motivation for its claim that UFOs posed no threat to the UK.

Regarding the newly-acknowledged documents, Pope recently said, “This is a huge embarrassment for the MoD and will have UFO enthusiasts up in arms...The 18 files include ones from RAF radar specialists and from the ultra-secretive Defence Intelligence Staff, so there may be some fascinating revelations still to come."²

Having investigated the December 1980 UFO incidents at RAF Bentwaters at great length, I can confidently assert that two members of the MoD’s Air Staff Secretariat DS8 were present for some of the secret debriefings of U.S. Air Force personnel, relating to the sightings there.
Even though those individuals did not conduct the interrogations, and were merely observers, where are the MoD’s records summarizing what occurred during those witness interviews? Certainly there was nothing about them in the files released thus far.

My own Bentwaters research has focused on the events at the base’s Weapons Storage Area (WSA), during the early hours of December 28, 1980, when a UFO reportedly directed one or more laser-like beams into the bunker complex. At the time, the WSA was America’s largest tactical nuclear weapons depot in Europe, according to my former/retired U.S. Air Force sources.

Then-Lt. Col. Charles Halt, the Deputy Base Commander at the time, has described seeing the UFO and the mysterious beams in the distance—as he was investigating unexplained lights in nearby Rendlesham Forest—while at the same time hearing radio chatter from Air Force Security Police posted at the WSA, who were excitedly reporting the unknown object in the sky and one or more beams apparently falling among the weapons bunkers.


Surely the British Ministry of Defence would be interested in such an event. If so, where are its documents discussing it? Col. Halt first publicly admitted his knowledge of the incident in an Unsolved Mysteries television show that aired in 1991. In other words, the MoD had to have known about the UFO activity at the very sensitive WSA at least as early as that date—if not earlier. Wouldn’t one or more of MoD’s intelligence groups have mentioned Halt’s dramatic public admission in writing? If so, why didn’t those files end up being declassified?

I also have reliable sources who have discussed relatively recent UFO incursions at the Royal Navy’s Faslane base, in Scotland, where the UK’s Trident nuclear missile-carrying submarines are based.
If my civilian sources, who live nearby, know about these events, presumably the MoD does as well. At least, hopefully it does. Where are the documents relating to the sightings at the base? They were not among those released thus far, even though the reported incidents occurred in 2011.

In summary, the British Ministry of Defence has apparently not been entirely candid with the citizens of the UK or, at least, was very sloppy in its earlier searches for UFO-related files. The newly-discovered documents strongly suggest that other still-unacknowledged batches of files exist. Hopefully this development will result in a renewed effort on the part of British researchers to press for a truly comprehensive declassification of the entire cache of MoD files.

Anyone wishing to review a few of the nuclear weapons-related UFO documents released by the U.S. government should go to my documents page.

On September 27, 2010, I sponsored the UFOs and Nukes press conference in
Washington D.C., at which seven U.S. Air Force veterans discussed their involvement in, or knowledge of, classified incidents involving UFO activity at American nuclear weapons sites. CNN streamed the event live and the full-length video may be viewed here:

References:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Useful_idiot
2. http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/401228/EXCLUSIVE-British-Ministry-Defence-18-more-UFO-files-available
3. Order Robert's Book Here
4. Visit Robert's Site . . .
   
   See Also:
   MoD Discovers 18 New UFO Files (Pt 1)
   British MoD Still With-Holding Secret UFO Documents
   Additional UFO ‘X Files’ Uncovered in UK
   Secret UFO Documents Still Being Withheld by British MOD
   British MoD Releases UFO X - Files

04-10-2014 om 15:01 geschreven door peter  

No, You Don't, Kevin!

MJ-12: Stanton Friedman Fires Back; The Disputation with Kevin Randle Continues ...

     I have always had a grudging admiration for Kevin's ability to write fiction. Anybody who can write many dozens of novels deserves respect. I guess I can accept a smart computer that somehow says the opposite of the truth about the CT Memo. At least we both agree it is not signed and there is no /s/. But why not note that the absence of signature is a sign of genuineness? We didn't know until well after the memo was discovered that Cutler was out of the country at that time. Why didn't the supposed (mythical) hoaxer merely add one or the other?? He is accused of adding Truman's signature. Why accuse me of saying the latter was an exact match to the one on the Bush letter? It was Kevin not me that said "exact" match. I have accepted the official findings of forensic document examiner Black as stated to Dr. Robert M. Wood that it was appended because of the feathering. Ike might well have preferred documents with signatures. Even Karl Pflock agreed that the CIA could have copied the signature.

Yes, let us talk about provenance.
What is the basis for the claim that all leaked documents have a provenance? In this case the Provider of the EBD was guilty of a crime. A hoaxer wasn’t. As Kevin knows full well photographing and distributing a TOP SECRET Restricted document to somebody without an appropriate security clearance and need-to-know is a violation of the law. Hoaxing generally is not. Why not just say "gotcha?!"
Suppose the CTM was taken by one of the declassifers (all of whom had high level clearance) and put in a jacket pocket and then later placed in Box 189? Two step process. Nobody would tell me their names.

Yes, let's not argue about the distance to the crash site. We have a highly classified preliminary briefing about an extraordinarily important event which happened 5 years earlier. The approximate distance really doesn't matter. Which route was taken?

How did the (mythical) hoaxer know that, contrary to the official claims made, that TOP SECRET RESTRICTED was in use?? Psychic I guess. How did he know that Donald Menzel would pass muster as having a very high security clearance and a very long connection with the NSA … psychic I guess.

I never talk about Willingham. What is meant by "we believed"? As Tonto said to the Lone Ranger: what do you mean "we", white man? Why is it the fatal flaw? I know that I do not have access to classified files at Sandia or elsewhere and so far as I know, Kevin doesn't either. That he didn't find anything about an "El Indio- Guerrero" crash in the unclassified world means nothing. Any information about a crashed saucer recovered on December 6, 1950, and taken to Sandia would have been highly classified just as was any analysis of the Roswell, Plains of San Agustin, or Aztec crashes. December 6, 1950, was the date of a major security alert involving motion of an object(s) in the sky. Roswell and Kenneth Arnold were highly publicized events. The Plains and Aztec were not. I strongly recommend the outstanding and comprehensive research about Aztec done by Scott and Suzanne Ramsey as reported in "The Aztec Incident"... Bruce Maccabee and Grant Cameron have written about the Dec.6, 1950 national security alert.

I don't think Kevin has provided some sort of statement that this preliminary briefing would provide a listing and details of all saucer crashes. The first one provides the basic data saying Man is not alone... an incredibly important statement. The Briefing of Ike at the Pentagon on November 18, 1952, only lasted under 50 minutes. As stated "It should be regarded as introductory to a full operations briefing intended to follow." Introductory surely doesn't mean comprehensive.

I certainly am not impressed by a kind of guilt by association with Richard Doty and the Aquarius documents. Let us look at the EBD, CT, and TF. No, I don't want to get into the false testimony of Frank Kaufmann and others. At least he admitted he had lied about taking Blanchard and Marcel to the Debris field. I still would like to know from those who say the 3 documents are phony and why they make that claim. How did anybody know the details that unexpectedly turned out to be true???

04-10-2014 om 14:34 geschreven door peter  

Gotcha, Stan!

MJ-12: Kevin Randle Rails Against Stanton Friedman's Rebuttal

     Really? This is the best you can do? I produce a long analysis of the MJ-12 mythology, complete with documentation and the best you can do is point out a mistake that is the result of a misplaced phrase and a computer glitch.* Of course I knew that Cutler had not signed the memo. You said so in your book. This is trivia.
Instead, let’s discuss the lack of provenance. In every other leak of classified material into the public arena, there is a provenance. The reporter, researcher,
recipient of the material knows the source who is available to them for questions and authentication. With MJ-12 none of those factors are in evidence and in the world of leaked and questioned documents, this is a huge red flag.
You are unable to provide the name of the source or a repository of the information that can be used to verify the authenticity. Without that, you have a work of fiction.
In fact, that could well be the genesis of MJ-12. Bill Moore, Bob Pratt, and probably Richard Doty collaborated on a novel that had the working title MAJIK – 12, but Moore changed the name to The Aquarius Project. It is the blueprint for MJ-12 and was written two YEARS before the film allegedly arrived at Jaime Shandera’s house. When MJ-12 was revealed to the world, Bob Pratt thought it time to “dust off” the novel and see if they could sell it. Isn’t that an interesting coincidence?
And you must remember that Bill Moore talked to you about creating a “Roswell” document in the hopes it would suggest to some witnesses it was now legal for them to talk about the classified research. Yes, you have denied this in the past, but Moore mentioned it to others so it is not from a single source, it is the genesis of MJ-12.
Let’s talk about Project Aquarius, which you ignore.
This is, in fact, the original program that evolved into MJ-12. The first mention of MJ-12 is in a document that also mentions Project Aquarius, which it turns out, is a hoax. Isn’t it interesting that this initial appearance of MJ-12 is a hoax? And I haven’t even mentioned the MJ-5 fiasco.
And don’t forget that you have said repeatedly that the Cutler/Twining memo was planted in the National Archives. We just disagree on who placed it there. You fail to mention that the carbon copy was folded as it would have been if mailed (and which makes it easier to conceal in the inside pocket of a suit jacket), but there is no reason to fold it because it would have been filed flat. To me it was planted to provide a provenance for an MJ-12 document as a way to blunt that argument. It failed in that respect.
I don’t really care to argue about the trivia of the distances to the debris field but will say this. It would seem that in a document that includes a section of maps (unavailable to us) it would have the distances calculated precisely, especially from a military organization that contains a couple of dozen trained navigators. Their jobs were critical in combat, so they would have been able to provide precise distances and locations (grid coordinates) which should have been reflected in the body of the EBD but are not.

But the fatal flaw is the Robert Willingham nonsense. Here is something that reflects the state of UFO research in the mid-1980s. Many of us believed in the 1980s that Willingham’s tale of seeing a crashed flying saucer was true when his affidavit appeared. We believed him because he was a high-ranking Air Force officer telling a tale that seemed to be plausible. We believed that Todd Zechel had verified Willingham’s credentials, and now, in the EBD, there was further evidence that his story was true.
But the first version of Willingham’s tale took place in 1948 and involved three objects, one of which crashed. This version was published in 1968 in Skylook and told us Willingham was a CAP officer as opposed to an Air Force officer. To make it worse, he claims to have been flying a fighter that wasn’t operational in 1948.
In the version that appears in the MJ-12 document, the crash took place on December 6, 1950. This can be traced to Zechel and Moore and suggests the UFO was “incinerated” upon impact. Willingham tacitly agreed with that date, but later changed it so that he could tell his ridiculous story about flying fighters in Korea in December 1950.
In the last version, Willingham said that the events took place in 1954 or 1955. If true, then the tale couldn’t appear in a document created in 1952. And further research proved that Willingham had not been an Air Force officer nor was he a fighter pilot. His tale was invention and shouldn’t appear in a document created at the highest levels for the president. They would have known it wasn’t true if it had been told prior to the creation of the EBD, unless, of course, the EBD was created in the 1980s by those who weren’t on the inside and believed the tale at the time.
There is absolutely no evidence of a crash in the El Indio - Guerrero area of Mexico. And before we have to hear that “absence of evidence isn’t evidence of absence” I should point out that I have searched everywhere for evidence of this event. Friends and colleagues have searched for anything related to this published in the right time frame or witnessed in the right time frame at the locations mentioned and have failed. There is nothing to suggest a UFO crash on December 6, 1950. At this point, given the situation, those advocating the authenticity of MJ-12 must present something other than the MJ-12 document as evidence that this crash happened and if unable to do so, should then reevaluate their opinion on MJ-12. Or, to put a point on it, absence of evidence is evidence of absence in this case.

In fact, let’s take it a step farther, if you are advocating a crash on the Plains of San Agustin in July 1947, then you must explain why that is not mentioned in the MJ-12 document.
These two points seem to be mutually exclusive. If MJ-12 is real, then this crash must not have happened. If there was such a crash, then MJ-12 must be in error. There would be no reason to withhold this information from a document prepared for the president. Both can’t be authentic and I suspect both are fraudulent.
Or, if you believe there was a crash in Aztec, NM in March 1948, then why wasn’t it mentioned in the MJ-12 document? Doesn’t its absence argue against the authenticity of the Aztec crash? Conversely, if Aztec is a real event, then doesn’t that argue against the authenticity of MJ-12?

What we have in the MJ-12 document is the situation as it existed in the mid-1980s. At that time, those who faked the document didn’t believe in Aztec or the Plains crash but did in the Willingham tale. They attempted to create a document that seemed to have been written in 1952, but these elements have helped us date it. Willingham’s UFO crash tale is the real fatal flaw in MJ-12.
But rather than talk about these points critical to MJ-12, we delve into minutia of it with little regard to the overall picture. We engage in “gotcha” argument rather than something of substance that actually helps us resolve this dilemma. So there is a minor error in my analysis? Does that negate the overall challenge to MJ-12? No, these arguments about it just obscure the truth.
I could drag in aspects of this in which you have made mistakes, including your belief that the signature on the Truman memo is an exact match until you learned that no two signatures are an exact match. Then you changed your tune, but overlooked the minor alteration to the stroke crossing the “T” in Truman. The reason was Truman’s signature habitually touched the text and it was necessary to carefully remove the evidence of where it bushed those letters.
And, I expect to hear about how Phil Klass paid you one thousand dollars because you provided samples of pica type on White House letters.
But if we wish to understand this MJ-12 mess, then it is necessary to understand the major issues arguing against authenticity rather than minor problems with the analysis. Let’s resolve the major issues before we begin with the minor and irrelevant ones.

*For those who have corresponded with me on a regular basis, you know that my computer regularly launches emails in the middle of sentences. It has to do with the way the touch pad is laid into the lap top. I’m not sure what causes it… but this same flaw also will highlight text and delete as I type. I usually catch it and can recover it, but sometimes I don’t see this happening. I catch it on proofreading because there are usually two sentences or two paragraphs jammed together that have no transition. In this case, it took out several paragraphs in which I was discussing, as you did, the sample from Cutler’s office that had been signed.
The flow seemed natural and I didn’t catch the change which says that Cutler  had signed the memo. Of course he hadn’t and I knew that.

You can take it
from there. I have no desire to prolong the agony.

04-10-2014 om 14:27 geschreven door peter  

Contestant N°1 … Good Luck!

MJ-12: Alejandro Rojas Accepts Stanton Friedman's Debate Challenge

    I cannot speak for others, but I certainly accept the challenge. All of the information I provided came from viable sources, and tells the FULL story. I do not understand how any complete analysis of the MJ-12 documents could not include the circumstances behind how they were brought to the public. These facts cannot be swept under the rug.
I highly respect Stanton and his work, and I included Stanton's comments in my story, but with all due respect, although Menzel's background is interesting, it is completely circumstantial and proves no connection to extraterrestrials. Just because the facts related to Doty, Moore, Shandera, and Bennewitz are complicated and difficult to understand and cast doubt on the veracity of the documents, they are still very pertinent. Using the uranium atoms analogy, the credibility of the scientists and the reputation of the labs where scientific tests are
conducted are certainly weighed heavily when it comes to the veracity and accuracy of scientific claims.
It is too late to add such a debate to the roster of the 2015 International UFO Congress. We schedule that out many months in advance, and if you go to the event's website you will see the line-up has been set. The only TBAs are people we are in the final process of confirming and have not yet announced their names. We certainly can look to holding such a debate in 2016. However, I propose that we debate this matter on Open Minds UFO Radio in the near future.

04-10-2014 om 14:16 geschreven door peter  

One Yeasayer Against A Bunch Of Naysayers

MJ-12: Renowned Ufologist, Stanton Friedman Issues Debate Challenge To Naysayers

MJ-12: Renowned Ufologist, Stanton Friedman Issues Debate Challenge To Naysayers

By Stanton Friedman The UFO Chronicles © 9-21-14

     I would hereby like to Publicly challenge Kevin and/or Robert Hastings, and/or Barry Greenwood, and/or Alejandro Rojas or all together to a debate about the legitimacy of the the Cutler Twining Memo, The Truman Forrestal memo, the Eisenhower Briefing Document. I have long acknowledged that there are a large number of phony documents out there. The question is whether those three are legitimate as I have demonstrated. I think an appropriate site would be during the IUFOC in February in Arizona.The debate I had 2 years ago there with John Alexander was very well attended.I have no idea why people think it is more important to talk about the machinations of Richard Doty, Bill Moore, Jaime Shandera, Paul Bennewitz etc than about all the facts that I noted which were not known to be true until after the documents were received.How did a hoaxer know those facts?As a nuclear guy I long ago leaned to focus on what is relevant. That 99.3% of uranium atoms in nature are not fissionable, tellls us nothing about the 0.3% that are. I would say let all sell their books What say you all?

fsphys@bellaliant.net

04-10-2014 om 13:42 geschreven door peter  

Allah & Buddha Are More Open To ET Than God

Believe in aliens? Then you're probably an atheist or Muslim: Study reveals how religion affects your likelihood of believing in ET

• Astronomer David Weintraub at Vanderbilt University in
  Tennessee has written a book discussing which faiths are likely to embrace
  aliens
• A study in it reveals that 55 per cent of Atheists believe aliens exist, while 44 per cent of Muslims and 37 per cent of Jews think that life is out there
• Around 32 per cent of Christians believe in aliens as well as divine beings
• Professor Weintraub thinks that Asian religions would have the least difficulty in accepting the discovery of extraterrestrial life

By Sarah Griffiths for MailOnline

Published: 10:57 GMT, 1 October 2014 | Updated: 13:30 GMT, 1
October 2014

With around third of Americans admitting to believing in aliens, and more exoplanets being discovered that could harbour life, it is no longer unusual to believe in the existence of ET.

Now an astronomer has claimed that a person's belief in extraterrestrial life varies according to whether they also believe in a God and even specifically which religion they identify with.

In the new book he reveals that atheists are the most likely group of people to believe in extra-terrestrials, at 55 per cent, followed by Muslims.

Scroll down for video

A new book (pictured left) by astronomy professor David Weintraub (pictured right) reveals that Atheists are the most likely group of people to believe in extra-terrestrials, followed by Muslims and Jews

It summarises what religious leaders and theologians from over 24 major religions say about alien life, including Judaism, Roman Catholicism, the Church of England, Hinduism and Buddhism.

Astronomy professor David Weintraub, of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, said: ‘When I did a library search, I found only half a dozen books and they were all written about the question of extraterrestrial life and Christianity, and mostly about Roman Catholicism, so I decided to take a broader look.’

‘Very few among us have spent much time thinking hard about what actual knowledge about extraterrestrial life, whether viruses or single-celled creatures or bipeds piloting intergalactic spaceships, might mean for our personal beliefs [and] our relationships with the divine.’

His book, Religious and Extraterrestrial Life, includes the results of a poll that found 55 per cent of Atheists believe aliens exist, while 44 per cent of Muslims and 37 per cent of Jews think that life is out there in the universe.

Around 36 per cent of Hindus and 32 per cent of Christians believe in aliens as well as divine beings.

Of the Christians, the Eastern Orthodox faithful were the most likely to believe in aliens (41 per cent) while Baptists were the most sceptical at 29 per cent.

Of the Christians, the Eastern Orthodox faithful were the most likely to believe in aliens (41 per cent) while Baptists were the most sceptical at 29 per cent.

Are the world's religions ready for E.T.?

Catholic leaders have been debating about the possibility of life on other worlds for a thousand years.  The crux of the debate is whether intelligent aliens would suffer from original sin, because they are not descended from Adam and Eve (illustrated) and if they do, did Christ visit them and was he resurrected on other planets?

PERCENTAGE PEOPLE BY FAITH WHO BELEIVE IN ALIENS                

• 55 per cent of Athiests
• 44 per cent of Muslims
• 37 per cent of Jews
• 36 per cent of Hindus
• 32 per cent of Christians

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2776196/Believe-aliens-Then-probably-Atheist-Muslim-Study-reveals-religion-affects-likelihood-believing-ET.html#ixzz3FAtqulFk
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Professor Weintraub thinks that Asian religions would have the least difficulty in accepting the discovery of extraterrestrial life, because Hindu thinkers have speculated that humans may be reincarnated as aliens, and vice versa, while Buddhist cosmology includes thousands of inhabited worlds.

He found passages in the Qur’an that appear to support the idea that spiritual beings exist on other planets, but notes that these beings may not practice Islam as it is practiced on Earth.

However, Professor Weintraub found very little in Judaic scriptures or rabbinical writings hinting at the existence of aliens.

The few Talmudic and Kabbalistic commentaries on the subject do assert that space is infinite and contains a potentially infinite number of worlds and that nothing can deny the existence of extraterrestrial life.

He says that Jews don’t believe the discovery of extraterrestrial intelligence would have much effect on them, quoting a Jewish anthropologist and scholar who concluded that the relationship between Jews and God would not be affected in the slightest by ‘the existence of other life forms, newly discovered scientific realities or pan-human behavioural changes.’ 

If the rate of discovery keeps up its current pace, astronomers will have identified more than a million exoplanets by the year 2045 and some of them may harbour alien life (a 'traditional' representation of an alien is pictured) leading more religious leaders to question the impact extraterrestrials may have on their beliefs

Professor Weintraub said that Roman Catholics have given the possibility of extraterrestrial life the most thought among Christian religions.

Catholic leaders have been having an on-off debate about the possibility of life on other worlds for a thousand years, he said.

The crux of the debate is whether intelligent aliens would suffer from original sin, because they are not descended from Adam and Eve, and if they do, did Christ visit them and was he resurrected on other planets?

‘From a Roman Catholic perspective, if sentient extraterrestrials exist some but perhaps not all such species may suffer original sin and will require redemption,’ according to Professor Weintraub.

The debate may increasingly come to the fore, because astronomers are detecting exoplanets - some of which could harbour life - at a rate faster than ever before.

In 2000, astronomers had detected 50 planets orbiting other stars, while today that number has grown to more than 1,000.

Professor Weintraub believes Asian religions would have the least difficulty in accepting the discovery of extraterrestrial life, because Hindu thinkers have speculated that humans may be reincarnated as aliens, while Buddhist cosmology includes thousands of inhabited worlds.  A praying Buddhist monk is pictured

If the rate of discovery keeps up its current pace, astronomers will have identified more than a million exoplanets by the year 2045.

While there are many conflicting views in the Protestant faith, he said that Lutheran theologian Paul Tillich’s view are probably largely representative – that the ‘saving power’ of God must be everywhere. However, God’s plan for human life may not be the same as his plan for aliens.

Professor Weintraub thinks that Evangelical and fundamental Christians may struggle the most to accept any discovery of alien life, because most of their leaders assert that extraterrestrial life does not exist.

However, Mormonism and Seventh-day Adventism are two Christian faiths that embrace aliens.

In Mormonism, God helps exalt lesser souls so they can achieve immortality and live as gods on other worlds.

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04-10-2014 om 13:33 geschreven door peter  

Any Flying Saucers In Your Inventory?

Five innovative Air Force aircraft that you’ve probably never heard of -

By Staff Sgt. Antonio Gonzalez
Air Force Public Affairs Agency

The history of the Air Force is rooted in finding new ways to solve problems. It’s one of creating out-of-the-box solutions and achieving greater possibilities. Drone technology, stealth aircraft and space vehicles were merely science fiction until we made them reality. The aircraft you are about to discover brought upon revolutionary new abilities for today’s Air Force and will continue to have an impact on technology in the future.

CHANCE-VOUGHT/LTV XC-142A

The tilt-wing XC-142A was an experimental aircraft designed to test the operational benefits of vertical/short takeoff and landing transports. Such an aircraft would permit rapid movement of troops and supplies into unprepared areas under all-weather conditions. An XC-142A first flew conventionally on Sept. 29, 1964, and on Jan. 11, 1965, it completed its first transitional flight by taking off vertically, changing to forward flight and finally landing vertically.

Tilting the wing and engines skyward permitted vertical takeoff like a helicopter and then the wing and engines were gradually tilted forward to provide the greater speed of a fixed-wing aircraft in forward flight. The engines were linked together so that a single engine could turn all four propellers and the tail rotor. In tests, the XC-142A was flown from airspeeds of 35 mph backwards to 400 mph forward. XC-142As were tested extensively by the Army, Navy, Air Force and NASA.

LOCKHEED D-21B

The Lockheed D-21 is an unmanned or “drone” aircraft designed to carry out high-speed, high-altitude strategic reconnaissance missions over hostile territory. It is a product of the Lockheed “Skunk Works” program that developed the A-12, YF-12A and SR-71 “Blackbird” manned aircraft in the 1960s.

Originally, the D-21 was designed to be launched from the back of a modified A-12 (redesignated M-12) carrier aircraft. The first flight of the D-21/M-12 combination took place on Dec. 22, 1964, but the first D-21 release from an M-12 did not occur until March 5, 1966. Two more launches were successful, but on July 30, 1966, a D-21 collided with the M-12 after release, destroying both aircraft and resulting in the death of one of the M-12′s crew members. No further “piggyback” launches were attempted.

A new launch system was developed using modified B-52H aircraft as carriers.
The new D-21 configuration (designated D-21B) had dorsal mounting hooks for carriage under the B-52′s wing and a solid rocket booster for the initial acceleration required to start the ramjet engine. The first launch from a B-52 took place on Nov. 6, 1967, but the D-21 crashed. Several flights followed in 1968 with mixed success.

The first operational launch was on Nov. 9, 1969, but the D-21B was lost.
Several successful operational missions were flown over the next two years, but
the D-21 program was highly classified and details have not been released. The program was canceled in 1971, and the D-21s were placed in storage.

NORTHROP TACIT BLUE

The Tacit Blue (Whale) aircraft was built to test the advances in stealth technology. The USAF, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the Northrop Corp. worked together from 1978 to 1985 to demonstrate that curved surfaces on an aircraft result in a low radar return signal from ground radar.
With such a low radar return signal, Tacit Blue demonstrated that such an aircraft could operate close to the battlefield forward line without fear of being discovered by enemy radar. It could continuously monitor enemy forces behind the battlefield and provide targeting information to a ground command center.

The aircraft made its first flight in February 1982, and by the conclusion of the program in 1985, had flown 135 times. It had a digital fly-by-wire flight control system to help stabilize the aircraft. Tacit Blue had a single flush inlet on the top of the fuselage to provide air to its two engines.

BOEING X-40A

The unmanned Boeing X-40A was the first-phase flight test vehicle for the U.S. Air Force’s Space Maneuver Vehicle (SMV) program that began in the late 1990s. The SMV program aimed at developing a new generation of small, reusable, highly maneuverable space vehicles for deploying satellites, surveillance, and logistics missions.

Designed and built by the Boeing Company in partnership with the Air Force Research Laboratory, the X-40A was produced at Boeing’s Phantom Works facility at Seal Beach, California. This test aircraft was a 90 percent scale version of what would later be designated the X-37 space plane.

On Aug. 11, 1998, the X-40A made its first successful flight at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico. Lifted to an altitude of about 10,000 feet by a helicopter, the X-40A was released, and it made an unpowered flight to demonstrate high-speed guidance, navigation, and control capabilities.

Following that single flight, the USAF loaned the X-40 to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to test the shape, guidance, and other systems of the X-37. After captive-carry flights to practice release procedures and test equipment, the X-40A made its first flight for NASA on March 28, 2001. Carried aloft by a U.S. Army helicopter to 15,000 feet before being released, the X-40A flew itself, guided by onboard systems, to a gentle landing at Edwards AFB, California. The X-40A made a total of seven successful flights in support of the X-37 program.

SCALED COMPOSITES LONG-EZ “BOREALIS”

On Jan. 31, 2008, the modified Scaled Composites Long-EZ completed the first manned flight of an aircraft powered by a pulsed detonation engine (PDE). The flight was the result of five years of innovation and cooperative effort between the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and Innovative Scientific Solutions Inc. (ISSI). The project used the popular Long-EZ designed by Burt Rutan as a platform.

Engines normally burn fuel and air at subsonic speeds to provide propulsion. PDEs detonate the fuel-air mixture into repeated, controlled explosions. The resulting supersonic shockwaves create thrust. In this engine, the thrust is expelled through four tubes out the back of the aircraft. Remarkably, the PDE in this aircraft was made partially from off-the-shelf automotive parts.

Pulsed detonation engines are still in their infancy, but this technology may become common as it matures. PDEs are much less complicated and promise to be less expensive to operate than jet engines. Moreover, they offer a fuel savings of between 5-20 percent over traditional turbojet engines.

It’s easy to see how these experimental aircraft helped develop technologies present in our current inventory. What future technology do you think will be in our next test aircraft?

http://airforcelive.dodlive.mil/2014/09/five-innovative-air-force-aircraft-that-youve-probably-never-heard-of/#more-8773

30-09-2014 om 21:48 geschreven door peter  

Blame It On Hollywood? Let's Get Real!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zzE_Hs5FIg

or

source - YOUTUBE

30-09-2014 om 00:29 geschreven door peter  

Indeed, Dr. Dick, They Are Physical And Real! BTW, I'll Let You In On A Historical Fact: It's More Than 3 Or 4 % …

It Seems You Fell Hook, Line & Sinker For Donald Quarles ... Will ET Be Here Soon? NASA Brings Scientists, Theologians Together To Prepare

Looking for extraterrestrial life is akin to a search for a cosmic needle-in-a-haystack, as evidenced by the above incredible Hubble Space Telescope image showing approximately 10,000 galaxies.

In large part, thanks to NASA's Kepler spacecraft, more than 1,400 planets have been identified beyond Earth.

A few days ago, NASA tried closing the gap between life on Earth and the possibilities of life elsewhere. The space agency and the Library of Congress (image below left) brought together scientists, historians, philosophers and theologians from around the world for a two-day symposium, "Preparing For Discovery." Their agenda: To explore how we prepare for the inevitable discovery of extraterrestrial life, be it simple microbial organisms or intelligent beings.

"We're looking at all scenarios about finding life. If you find microbes, that's one thing. If you find intelligence, it's another. And if they communicate, it's something else, and depending on what they say, it's something else!" said astronomer, symposium organizer and former chief NASA historian, Steven J. Dick.

"The idea is not to wait until we make a discovery, but to try and prepare the public for what the implications might be when such a discovery is made," Dick told The Huffington Post. "I think the reason that NASA is backing this is because of all the recent activity in the discovery of exoplanets and the advances in astrobiology in general.

"People just consider it much more likely now that we're going to find something -- probably microbes first and maybe intelligence later," he added. "The driving force behind this is from a scientific point of view that it seems much more likely now that we are going to find life at some point in the future."

Among the many speakers at last week's astrobiology symposium, one has raised a few international eyebrows in recent years.

"I believe [alien life exists], but I have no evidence. I would be really excited and it would make my understanding of my religion deeper and richer in ways that I can't even predict yet, which is why it would be so exciting," Brother Guy Consolmagno, a Jesuit priest, astronomer and Vatican planetary scientist told HuffPost senior science editor David Freeman.

Consolmagno has publicly stated his belief that "any entity -- no matter how many tentacles it has -- has a soul," and he's suggested that he would be happy to baptize any ETs, as long as they requested it.

"There has to be freedom to do science. Being a good scientist means admitting we never have the whole truth -- there's always more to learn." Consolmagno also doesn't think the public would panic when or if it's revealed that alien life has been found.

"I really think it would be a three-day wonder and then we'd go back to worrying about reality TV or the crazy things going on in Washington -- that's the way human beings are. Because I think most people are like me: we expect it's out there. And our reaction would be, 'Wow, thank heavens. It's about time."

Earth is no longer the center of the universe, nor is it flat -- at least that's the currently accepted thinking among most scientists. And we now know, conclusively, that there are a lot more planets than the ones in our own solar system.

"The number of habitable worlds in our galaxy is certainly in the tens of billions, minimum, and we haven't even talked about the moons. And the number of galaxies we can see, other than our own, is about 100 billion," Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at California's SETI Institute told HuffPost.

Watch this video zooming and panning through the night sky to show 10,000 galaxies photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope.

At the NASA/Library of Congress symposium, Shostak gave out some startling numbers about how many stars there are in the part of the universe that we can see. "It's a big number: 10,000 billion, billion. And we know that most of those stars have planets -- 70 or 80 percent. If all of those planets are sterile, and you're the only interesting thing happening in the cosmos, then you are a miracle. That would be exceptional in the extreme. So, the middle-of-the-road approach is to say, 'You're not a miracle, you're just another duck in a row of ducks.'"

"The bottom line of this," Shostak said, "is something like one in five of all stars may have an analog to Earth. That's a lot of habitable worlds, and, indeed, the number of Earths in our own galaxy might be on the order of 50 billion."

Those are big numbers to ponder.

The D.C. conference included a great deal of discussion about the upcoming mission of the Hubble's long-anticipated successor: the James Webb Space Telescope. As large as a tennis court, this deep space observatory is scheduled for a 2018 launch and will orbit beyond our moon. The Webb telescope will focus on new planetary discoveries and collect data from the atmospheres of those planets, looking for certain things that might point to what we would consider possible indicators of life.

HuffPost asked Dick, an astrobiologist, for his opinion on the continuing output of UFO reports around the world.

"I try to keep an open mind on this. Ninety-some percent can be explained by natural phenomena, etc. The question is what to do with the other 3 or 4 percent," Dick said. "My opinion is that they should be studied further, on the one hand. By definition, they're something that we don't know what they are. They could be some physical, psychological or social phenomena that we don't know about. But I think it's jumping to a conclusion that they're extraterrestrial. I don't see that evidence.

"I haven't looked at the evidence close enough to say that there's intelligence behind it. But I've seen enough to know that there are unexplained things that we should look at more, and right now, the U.S. government is not doing that."

23-09-2014 om 22:58 geschreven door peter  

22-09-2014 om 22:59 geschreven door peter  

Rendlesham UFO incident: Sculpture to be installed at forest site

The UFO model has been built using galvanised steel and painted black

A 'UFO' has been built to mark the spot where an alleged landing took place in one of the UK's biggest UFO mysteries.

In December 1980, there were reports of phenomena in Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk near a United States Air Force base.

The Forestry Commission has created a metal interpretation of a UFO to add to its trail which commemorates the alleged sightings.

The commission said the sculpture was "impartial" and did not seek to answer the mystery.

Olivia English and Nigel Turner visited RAF Woodbridge's East Gate where reported sightings were made

Three logs currently mark the spot of the alleged
landing site in Rendlesham Forest

Olivia English said the symbols on the model were "no
secret code - it's art"

The 'Rendlesham Incident' took place over three nights starting in the early hours of 26 December 1980.

Two US servicemen claimed to have seen lights outside the perimeter fence at RAF Woodbridge.

Since then, many books and internet sites have been filled with conflicting theories about whether it was an alien visitation, a military aircraft, the beam from Orfordness Lighthouse or natural phenomena.

The Forestry Commission opened a UFO Trail in 2005 and placed three logs in a clearing where witnesses claimed a craft had landed and disappeared.

The new UFO will be placed in the same clearing.

The Forestry Commission's UFO Trail leaflet has a
disclaimer about reported UFO sightings

Nigel Turner, recreation manager at Rendlesham Forest, said: "Clearly something happened - there's a party who believe it was something military, there are people who believe it was extraterrestrial activity and we respect all opinions.

"We think it will fit in well, because it offers a goal for people completing the trail and also give an insight into our timber-growing and conservation work."

Olivia English designed the UFO sculpture and said it was based on one of the servicemen's sketches and other descriptions of sightings in the forest.

She said: "The design is really about trying to find a middle ground and remaining impartial and creating an interpretation.

"The symbols on the side of the UFO were originally part of the trail, but we've recycled them to add another dimension. There's no secret code - it's art."

22-09-2014 om 22:48 geschreven door peter  

J. Allen Hynek Papers

19-09-2014 om 00:40 geschreven door peter  

"Dr. Sagan, SETI Has No Data But UFOlogy Does"

Carl Sagan, Laurance Rockefeller, and UFOs

He found a fascinating attempt by Laurance Rockefeller to draw Sagan into his
pro-UFO advocacy (Johnson posted this to the Facebook group UFO-Updates). The American billionaire Laurance Rockefeller (1910 – 2004) was the son of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and the brother of Nelson Rockefeller.
His UFO “disclosure initiative“ is well-known in UFO circles. According to Wikipedia,

In 1993, along with his niece, Anne Bartley, the stepdaughter of Winthrop Rockefeller and the then-president of the Rockefeller Family Fund, he established the UFO Disclosure Initiative to the Clinton White House. They asked for all UFO information held by the government, including from the CIA and the US Air Force, to be declassified and released to the public. The first and most important test case where declassification had to apply, according to Rockefeller, was the Roswell UFO incident. In September 1994, the Air Force categorically denied the incident was UFO-related. Rockefeller briefed Clinton on the results of his initiative in 1995. Clinton did produce an Executive Order in late 1994 to declassify numerous documents in the National Archives, but this did not specifically refer to UFO-related files.

18-09-2014 om 23:44 geschreven door peter  

Paul Allien … Look Closer Please!

Rubber? Meet the road ...

By Billy Cox, Herald-Tribune /  Saturday, September 13, 2014

Fortunately, Hollywood maverick Douglas Trumbull has always manned up to his interest in The Great Taboo. And as the special effects wizard behind classics such as “2001,” “Close Encounters” and “Blade Runner” told a German audience in 2012, he’s in good company:

“If you poll people in the world, most people will say they believe in life in the universe. But there’s a big stigma attached to UFOs. And aliens. In the sense that it’s been so demonized in movies and so trivialized in science fiction movies that nobody who has an academic credential will touch that subject. It's an interesting thing.

“So astronomers, physicists, astrophysicists, people in the space program, people in NASA, they all believe in life in the universe," he continued, "but nobody wants to talk about UFOs. Because they’ll lose their job. They’ll lose tenure, they’ll be ridiculed, they’ll become the laughing stock, and so no one wants to talk about it. I think it’s actually a really huge and interesting story. And I’m not afraid of it because I don’t have tenure and I’m not a scientist. So I don’t have anything to lose. So I think it’s very fun territory, very fertile ground.”

De Void brings this up to draw attention, once more, to the massive gaping hole in next Thursday’s two-day symposium, “Preparing for Discovery: A Rational Approach to the Impact of Finding Microbial, Complex, or Intelligent Life Beyond Earth,” in Washingon, D.C. The thing is co-sponsored by NASA and Library of Congress, and true to form, UFOs are most definitely off the table. No surprise, we expect that from the radioastronomy/SETI culture dominating the lineup. But here’s another little contradiction.

Untenured and unencumbered by the protocols of academia, sfx maestro Douglas Trumbull's fearless pursuits of The Great Taboo are creating new technologies/CREDIT: www.cinefilos.it

Paul Allen, the Microsoft billionaire who has dumped some $30 million into SETI’s empty-handed search for extraterrestrial intelligence, is clearly a huge Douglas Trumbull fan. Four years ago, the man who created Spielberg’s mothership at Devil’s Tower was inducted into Allen’s Science Fiction Museum Hall of Fame. And in April, Allen’s Seattle Cinerama Theatre hosted the premiere of Trumbull’s revolutionary 10-minute 3D film, “UFOTOG,” described as “a dramatic short story about a lone man attempting to photograph UFOs.” The showstopper was "UFOTOG's" state-of-the-art technology, filmed at 120 frames per second, or four times the industry standard. Trumbull calls it “a new cinematic language."

Equally significant, “UFOTOG” is also autobiographical. Trumbull went national with his determination to document The Great Taboo during History Channel’s “UFOs On the Record” in 2011. Turning a tricked-out Hummer into a mobile camera and instrumentation platform designed to acquire UFO signatures in various modes, Trumbull's efforts to develop and synchronize corroborative technologies have proven hugely expensive. So the plan now -- after teaming up with modeling whiz and chief MUFON imaging analyst Marc D'Antonio -- is to make the system more portable, more affordable, and to increase sky coverage.

Fully loaded, these downsized "platters" are being engineered to detect not merely speed, direction, and altitude, but transponder indentification, imagery in night-vision, infrared, ultraviolet, etc., along with electromagnetic and even gravitational perturbations. Ideally, Trumbull's evolving multispectral cameras would be triangulated -- the farther apart, the better -- with instant communications features to alert each other to the approach of a bogey. D'Antonio calls them Land Deployment Units and Sea Deployment Units, because the strategy involves scanning the oceans for activity too.

As D'Antonio told Open Minds UFO Radio host Alejandro Rojas last month, the UFOTOG campaign hopes to mass-produce LDUs and SDUs because "this whole project is about finding the smoking gun." They've even worked out a theoretical framework for identifying what that smoking gun might look like; part of it involves string theory and gamma radiation. And again, all this stuff costs $$$.

The obvious question here is, where's Paul Allen?

{http://devoid.blogs.heraldtribune.com/14802/rubber-meet-the-road/}

15-09-2014 om 23:00 geschreven door peter  

A 215 Month Pause

14-09-2014 om 16:03 geschreven door peter  

MET LANGE FRANS OP ZOEK NAAR BUITENAARDS LEVEN

14-09-2014 om 15:53 geschreven door peter  

Let's Be Realistic … Who Will "Baptize" Who? The Toddlers Or The "Gods"?

13-09-2014 om 00:46 geschreven door peter  

Ep.91 FADE to BLACK Jimmy Church w/ Linda Moulton Howe UFO LIVE on air

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P9SQ4d4e4g

or

Oddly, the title on this YouTube posting doesn't seem to match the actual video - Linda Moulton Howe is interviewed, though.

11-09-2014 om 20:08 geschreven door peter