In October of 1917, Francis McHouney of the 302nd Barrage Balloon squadron, US Army Air Corp, tracked and logged several dozen “spurious flying objects [that] were not Boche or one of our guys”. Their unit had Remington Acoustical trackers (large horns that amplified sound waves and were used well into the second World War) and the then top secret Marconi Wireless Aerial Direction Finder (a predecessor of radar). “Me and the boys had moved up and around the assembling area for our next big attack against the Boche. We had heard about the new land battleships that was going to win us the war. Our unit was to put up balloons to keep the Boche from flying over. We had detectors up and manned to give [us] warning if any enemy planes were coming so that the swabbies in the landships could get them under cover”. McHouney continues, “We had heard rumors about fantastic Boche airplanes that seemed to be watching anywhere the landships were. That was why we were there, to keep them away. Our balloons were up, 4 at 500 feet, about 300 feet apart.
Four up at 1000 feet further back in a second line and the final four at 1400 feet, by the book as Capt. Burns would say.” [Ed. the 301st and 303rd were also present, the three units deployed in a semicircle in front of the army assembly area.] “The first time [I] saw them, I was on leave which meant I could go to the rear trenches. Me and a couple of others went to look at the land ships but couldn’t get near them cause of the MPs. We could see ’em across in the field, all covered with branches to hide them. Only branches left for miles, must’ve hauled them up from way back in the rear. Scary looking things, all bristling with guns. Jed [Ed. Jed Wilson, boyhood friend of Mchouney, they joined up together] shouted and pointed up. There was something that looked like a giant mess plate [Ed. A mess plate was a tin plate that looks very similar to a modern pie pan, about 8” in diameter used by US Army soldiers in WWI and WWII] just hanging over the field, directly above one of the landships.
Suddenly, it rose straight up, without making a sound until it faded into the clouds.” When McHouney arrived back to his unit, he found that the Marconis had registered something BEHIND them that just appeared and then disappeared. The Remingtons had detected nothing when hurridly turned around and aimed backwards. Over the course of the next few days, the object appeared and disappeared every few hours, causing a disturbance each time. “We were ordered to close up the spacing of the balloons and move backwards, until after a week the ballons were almost touching. A daredevil could walk around the camp on the balloons if he wanted to. We let them up to 2500 feet and used up darn near all the cables on the front and would’ve gone higher if we could’ve got more” The objects continued to be sighted. McHouney continues “On the 23rd we recieved visitors, Mr Churchill, who invented the land ships [Ed. Churchill was responsible for pushing through the development of the tanks but others are credited with the invention] and a Mr Wells who was introduced as a scientific advisor to the Ministry, and some others.
They set up a couple of cameras but rumor was all the pictures came out black, as if the plates were exposed to light accidently.” Later, “We were all questioned about what we had seen and the log books off the Remingtons and the Marconis were taken. They told us not to talk about this to anyone, but the Boche had a new super Zepplin and we were seeing the observation car hanging down from it. We all accepted this but years later, I came to doubt it. What we saw was BIG and it would’ve taken a very big Zepplin to carry it.” [From “Boche and Balloons, My Experiences With The 302nd”, Francis McHouney, published 53/04/01 by Smythe Books, London, England] Curiously, no record of these incidents appears in official unit records of the US Army Air Corp and the last surviving member [Walter “Smitty” Smith, 301st] of the 301st, 302nd, and 303rd, died on April 1, 1968 of cancer in the Pembrooke VA Hospital in North Carolina. NOTE: The above image is CGI.
FORT BRAGG – A few years ago, while a member of the 82nd Airborne Division, I was on a routine paratroop drop with 55 other troops. After the jump, we assembled and saw a strange object in the sky. It was cylindrical in shape with steady lights running the length, that may have been windows? The UFO had no visible wing structures or means of propulsion. We could hear a low hum. The next morning several individuals from the four towns surrounding Ft. Bragg called the local radio station to report seeing the same craft. Pope Air Force Base was called but denied any craft resembling a cylinder was being flown from there. This was obvious to us. We were trained in aircraft recognition and had never seen anything that came even close to looking like a huge paper towel tube. It did look similar to the craft in the Star Trek movie that had the whales in it. I wonder if there is any other record of individuals reporting this or any similar sighting. Editors Note: The Flying Cigars are being reported and photographed from New York to Georgia several times a month. NOTE: The above image is CGI.
On March 6, 1994, an Alabama Air National Guard F-4 exploded in mid-flight over Heard County, Georgia. A Heard County fireman, Bill Thompson who is not related to John said, “Two minutes before the explosion and crash of the F-4, he saw the F-4 chasing a missile- like or cigar-shaped UFO.” Bill’s description was that the gray or silver colored UFO was about “a third to half the size of the F-4” chasing it. This, of course, suggests a UFO of the same type and size that the California VMFA-212 pilot almost collided with in 1995. Relating to the ANG explosion, in which the pilot died, the Air Force said the mishap was caused by bad welds. These inadequate welds, according to the Air Force’s official crash report, originated with the plane’s number one engine (GEOO420459).
The failure of the welds, according to the USAF was the sole reason for the upper combustion case failure that subsequently caused the F-4 to explode in mid- flight. A General Electric engineer who subsequently investigated the crash, because of a law suit against General Electric, the manufacturer of the plane’s engines, said that he thought the pilot had over-stressed the F-4, causing it to tear apart and explode. Of course, if the F-4 was chasing or suddenly encountered a small thin cigar-shaped UFO, as Fireman Bill Thompson claims, its pilot might over-stress his plane in his excitement. NOTE: The above image is CGI.
In October of 1917, Francis McHouney of the 302nd Barrage Balloon squadron, US Army Air Corp, tracked and logged several dozen “spurious flying objects [that] were not Boche or one of our guys”. Their unit had Remington Acoustical trackers (large horns that amplified sound waves and were used well into the second World War) and the then top secret Marconi Wireless Aerial Direction Finder (a predecessor of radar). “Me and the boys had moved up and around the asembling [sic] area for our next big attack against the Boche. We had heard about the new land battleships that was going to win us the war. Our unit was to put up balloons to keep the Boche from flying over. We had detectors up and manned to give [us] warning if any enemy planes were coming so that the swabbies in the landships could get them under cover”. McHouney continues, “We had heard rumor’s about fantastic Boche aero planes that seemed to be watching anywhere the landships were.
That was why we were there, to keep them away. Our balloons were up, 4 at 500 feet, about 300 feet apart. Four up at 1000 feet further back in a second line and the final four at 1400 feet, by the book as Capt. Burns would say.” [Ed. the 301st and 303rd were also present, the three units deployed in a semicircle in front of the army assembly area.] “The first time [I] saw them, I was on leave which meant I could go to the rear trenches. Me and a couple of others went to look at the land ships but couldn’t get near them cause of the MPs. We could see ’em across in the field, all covered with branches to hide them. Only branches left for miles, must’ve hauled them up from way back in the rear. Scary looking things, all bristling with guns. Jed [Ed. Jed Wilson, boyhood friend of Mchouney, they joined up together] shouted and pointed up. There was something that looked like a giant mess plate [Ed. A mess plate was a tin plate that looks very similar to a modern pie pan, about 8″ in diameter used by US Army soldiers in WWI and WWII] just hanging over the field, directly above one of the landships.
Suddenly, it rose straight up, without making a sound until it faded into the clouds.” When McHouney arrived back to his unit, he found that the Marconis had registered something BEHIND them that just appeared and then disappeared. The Remington’s had detected nothing when hurriedly turned around and aimed backwards. Over the course of the next few days, the object appeared and disappeared every few hours, causing a disturbance each time. “We were ordered to close up the spacing of the balloons and move backwards, until after a week the balloons were almost touching. A daredevil could walk around the camp on the balloons if he wanted to. We let them up to 2500 feet and used up darn near all the cables on the front and would’ve gone higher if we could’ve got more” The objects continued to be sighted. McHouney continues “On the 23rd we received visitors, Mr Churchill, who invented the land ships [Ed. Churchill was responsible for pushing through the development of the tanks but others are credited with the invention] and a Mr Wells who was introduced as a scientific advisor to the Ministry, and some others.
They set up a couple of cameras, but rumors were all the pictures came out black, as if the plates were exposed to light accidently.” Later, “We were all questioned about what we had seen and the logbooks off the Remington’s and the Marconis were taken. They told us not to talk about this to anyone, but the Boche had a new super Zepplin, and we were seeing the observation car hanging down from it. We all accepted this but years later, I came to doubt it. What we saw was BIG and it would’ve taken a very big Zepplin to carry it.” [From “Boche and Balloons, My Experiences with The 302nd”, Francis McHouney, published 53/04/01 by Smythe Books, London, England] Curiously, no record of these incidents appears in official unit records of the US Army Air Corp and the last surviving member [Walter “Smitty” Smith, 301st] of the 301st, 302nd, and 303rd, died on April 1, 1968 of cancer in the Pembrooke VA Hospital in North Carolina. Lou F. Lirpa. NOTE: The above image is CGI.
An extraordinary UFO sighting was reported one night in March, 1958, during the Algerian War, at a Foreign Legion camp at Bouamama in the Sud Constantinois. The sole witness. Legionnaire N.G., was on sentry duty outside the camp. The site where he was consisted of a fortified emplacement dug out of the ground, lightly armored and equipped with a telephone connected to the camp.
The night was cloudless and the moon was shining. All was silent on the desert landscape. No large-scale operations were being carried out in the area at the time so N.G., who had been in the Legion for three years, was not feeling especially anxious. He was sitting on the ground near the trench and had his rifle. If anything, unexpected happened, he was supposed either to fire his rifle or call the camp by telephone.
Suddenly, at a few minutes after 0.30 hours, something did happen. What it was that happened, we cannot say for sure. The witness remembers seeing a positive, physical phenomenon of enormous size. But he feels that something most unusual happened to him psychologically. And he freely admits that there might well be a difference between what he sincerely remembers and what actually took place.
It began with a whistling noise, the sort of noise you hear if you blow into the neck of a bottle. This sound seemed to him to be coming down from the sky. He immediately looked up, and saw an enormous, roundish object descending. It stopped when it was about 35-40 meters (roughly 100 to 120 ft.) above the ground, and began to hover there, motionless and silent.
He estimated it to be as much as 350 meters wide (1,000 ft.). As seen by him slightly from below, during the arrival and take-off phases, it seemed to be elliptical in shape, quite independently of the perspective effect that makes a disc look elliptical when observed from a point outside the disc’s center-line. Its span might, he thought, have been in the neighborhood of 250 meters. He estimated the distance between himself and the nearest edge of the object at little more than 50 meters (150 ft.).
When I asked Monsieur N.G. to extend his arms towards the ends of the object as he recalled seeing it, he held them out at an angle of about 100 between them. This estimate would fit quite well with the estimates given above of its size and its distance from him.
The object was surrounded by pale green light, and an intense conical beam of emerald-green light was coming from the center of the under-part towards the ground.
Legionnaire N.G. did not fire his rifle, nor did he pick up the telephone. He just remembers staring at the object for 45 to 50 minutes. The pale green and emerald colors were the most beautiful, relaxing and fascinating colors he had ever seen. Legionnaire N.G. had forgotten all about the war. All nervous or psychological tension had gone from his mind. He was just feeling happy.
Then came the noise again, like somebody blowing into a bottle, and the object started rising gently, until it had reached a height of about I(K) or 120 meters. Then it flew offal tremendous speed towards the North-West, climbing as it went.
What the Legionnaire then felt was a sort of sadness at the disappearance of this beautiful sight. After a few minutes this feeling began to fade, yielding place to a return of his ordinary state of consciousness, until his full mental faculties were back. He quickly picked up the telephone and reported what he had seen. To his great amazement however the officer at the camp simply replied in the manner: “Alright. We’ll see about it tomorrow morning.”
Greatly disappointed at the officer’s reaction, N.G. continued his watch until he was relieved by another man in the early hours of the morning. He again reported his experience, and this time more attention was paid to him. Some of his superiors were inclined to believe his story, because N.G., then aged 28, was a well-respected soldier and was considered serious and reliable. The majority however thought it was just a case of psychological trouble caused by the tough conditions of war in the desert.
A careful investigation was carried out at the scene of the sighting. N.G. recalls with a smile that the officers even examined the sand with a magnifying lens. No footprints, no marks, no alien material was found in the area, and no smell either.
Probably more for medical than for “ufological” reasons, the witness was thoroughly questioned by officers. He stuck to his original story, and the affair was considered to be quite amazing. He was sent lo the Military Hospital at Val dc Grace in Paris. There he was kept for a week under dose scrutiny by neurologists and psychiatrists. An electroencephalogram revealed nothing unusual. The conclusion of all the doctors was that N.G. was in a slate of good physical and mental health. He had not been notably affected by the strains caused by wartime service in Algeria. He had no tendency towards drinking and was considered to be competent for service in the Foreign Legion, which means an especially hard way of life. Indeed, no man with a tendency towards dreaming or science-fiction, or with an over-developed imagination or analytical, critical mind would he selected for service in the Legion.
Monsieur N.G., who is today a civilian, is obviously a man with a strong sense of the realities of everyday life and seems to be just the opposite of an over sensitive type or a poet.
What happened that night in Bouamama? It is just as difficult for us to believe in the physical features of the reported sighting as it is for us not to believe in the sincerity of the witness.
Monsieur N.G. obviously is not seeking publicity. He just recounts his experience, in a natural manner, to his own close relatives, and when I met him in May 1970, he looked slightly reluctant for the first few minutes, and then answered my questions without emphasis on any particular feature.
I have been unable so far to find any evidence from military sources regarding his alleged experience. The
Val de Grace Hospital in Paris does not keep documents about patients beyond a period of ten years.
The size of the reported object is so large that, if it actually was where the witness claims to have seen it, it must have been visible from the camp at an angle of about 60 . Yet nobody else reported seeing it. When 1 asked him about the possible reasons for his having been the only witness, N.G. replied that it is in no way astonishing, since most of the men in the camp were asleep in their barracks at the time. There was a legionnaire on sentry duty at the opposite end of the camp, and he could have seen the UFO at an angle of almost 40 ! And yet that sentry reported nothing. Monsieur N.G. does not think that the slope or the irregular pattern of the ground could have been sufficient to render the phenomenon invisible from the camp.
The witness seems to be conscious that something quite extraordinary happened to his mind, but he seems to believe quite positively in the geometrical features of his “sighting.” He says he has had no disease or illness of any kind since the night of the sighting, and no unusual physical or mental conditions. He has never had any other experiences involving flying saucers, cither before, or since, his experience at Bouamama. What happened to him there in 1958 has left him with the belief that “there is something,” and that “something is coming from another world to watch ours.” Regarding his amazingly peaceful state during the sighting, he uses words like: “It was like time running very slowly . . .” and “it was like being in another world.”
Since the experience he had felt a certain degree of interest in flying saucers, and recalls having read about UFOs in newspapers and magazines. In any case, the subject definitely docs not upset him and his experience, however extraordinary it may seem, has not notably changed his life.
The Bouamama case, devoid as it is of physical evidence but so puzzling in many respects, invites comparison with a number of other cases. What she wrote of the witness actually was leaves much to our imagination. It is just one more of those very special UFO sightings which lead us to think that Ufology may somehow be related to some obscure psychic phenomenon. NOTE: The above image is the witness rendering.
Caught up in the war around them, American GIs stationed in South Vietnam in June 1966 rarely had reason to speculate about UFOs — at least until the little-known Nha Trang UFO incident took place.
The Nha Trang incident if thorough documentation can be obtained, could become a UFO “classic” according to one NICAP investigator familiar with the case.
The sighting allegedly occurred during one of the most active periods of the Vietnam conflict, and understandably received little publicity at the time. Now, however, with American participation in the war concluded, numerous war-related incidents are beginning to emerge. One of these involves a startling UFO sighting witnessed by possibly thousands of soldiers stationed in Vietnam at the time.
NICAP investigator Raymond Fowler conducted an initial investigation into the sighting and was able to contact an eyewitness to the event.
Nha Trang, at the time of the reported incident, was a heavily defended base in South Vietnam located along the coastline, which has now become an important area of tourism in Vietnam and that nowadays, specifically in this area, many Nha Trang hotels and guide tours are now available for tourists. But in 1966, it served as the home base for more than 40,000 troops, including 2,000 American GIs.
The base was situated in a valley, with warehouses and an airstrip to the east, a fuel storage area and hills to the west, and docks and storage facilities located to the south along the China Sea.
According to the witness, eight bulldozers were operating that night cutting roads around “Hawk Hill,” located less than one-half mile to the west of the American compound. On another part of the base, two “sky-Raider” prop-driven aircraft were warming up on the airstrip located less than a mile to the east. At the same time, a Shell Oil tanker lay anchored in the bay about a mile to the southwest.
The witness, an enlisted soldier holding the rank of Specialist 5, had gathered with an undetermined number of fellow soldiers around 8 p.m. in an open area of the base to watch an outdoor movie.
Outdoor films had become possible only recently, according to the witness, thanks to the arrival and installation of six, new, independently-operated, 100 KW diesel-powered generators. One of these generators had been installed near the compound where the soldiers were seated and was being used to supply power for the movie projector.
The film had been underway for some time, according to the witness’s account, when suddenly, at approximately 9:45 p.m., the sky to the north lit up! The GIs glanced up and saw what at first appeared to be a flare exploding above a ridge to the north.
“At first we thought it was a flare which are going off all the time and then we found that it wasn’t” recounts a letter from the witness mailed home a few days later.
“It came from the north and was moving from real slow to real fast…Some of the jet fighter pilots which were here…said it looked to be about 25,000 feet (in altitude)… then the panic broke loose. It dropped right towards us and stopped dead still about 300 to 500 feet up. It made this little valley and the mountains around look like it was the middle of the day; it lit up everything.
“Then it went up and I mean up. It went straight up and completely out of sight in about 2-3 seconds. Everybody is still talking about it.”
Had the soldier’s letter or his recent account of the incident stopped there, the case would probably not have come to the attention of either NICAP or the officials from Washington that reportedly visited the base the next day. But the letter and the witness’s account of the incident continues:
“That really shook everyone is that it stopped, or maybe it didn’t, but anyway our generator stopped and everything was black. At the Air Force Base about one half mile from here all generators stopped.
The engines on two planes that were the runway ready to take off stopped, and there wasn’t a car, truck, plane or anything that ran for about four minutes.”
In addition, the eight bulldozers working on nearby hills also ceased operating according to the witness.
“A whole plane load of big shots from Washington got here this afternoon to investigate. It’s on the radio over here. Is it at home? I swear if somebody says they saw a little green man I won’t argue with them.”
“Little green man” or not, the case could prove to be highly significant, despite the current lack of additional information.
Compounding this problem is the witness’s inability to recall anything more than the nicknames of those he was serving with at Nha Trang.
Of extreme interest to NICAP, and apparently of equal interest to the “big shots” from Washington,” was the associated EM effects reportedly caused by the strange UFO.
The fact that diesel and gasoline engines scattered throughout the base all ceased to operate at the same time and remained inoperative for more than four minutes provides added mystery to the event.
Included in the list of engines that ceased running at the time of the sighting, according to the witness, were those of the two “Sky Raiders” warming up on the nearby runway. One can only speculate what might have happened had they suffered a power loss while airborne.
NICAP is currently attempting to contact appropriate Army officials in an effort to obtain the names of other enlisted or officer personnel who might have witnessed the event. NICAP is also seeking to determine whether officials from Washington did in fact visit Nha Trang the next day to investigate the sighting. NOTE: The above image is CGI.
During the winter of 1964-1965 at the location of Scotland’s northern most Early Warning radar tracking station, RAF Saxa Vord in the Shetland Isles, a serious and relatively unknown incident took place which was witnessed by ground Radar personnel who were on duty at the time. The case was also documented and recorded by the Royal Air Force themselves. My source reports: Radar Operators observed a stationary return on the early warning radar which gained their interest and curiosity. The object was observed sitting motionless at a height of approximately 20,000 feet. (I asked him how the height of the return was established and he informed me that it was obtained by using the radar’s height finder on the system.) The return was a very strong signal which showed up clearly on the radar as a “real structured object”, but what caused immediate concern was the fact that this particular object could not be readily identified by the personnel on duty.
Seeing as this was during the “cold war”, the personnel had to assume that this anomalous radar return was an incoming hostile as it was now slowly approaching toward the North coast of Scotland from a North Easterly direction. There was no reply from the IFF (which was to inform them if the incoming was friend or foe) so the unknown was treated by the on duty personnel as if it were a hostile, possibly Russian. For an unspecified amount of time, the unknown object slowly continued to approach toward the Scottish coast, a few minutes followed then a QRA alert was sent to RAF Leuchars in Fife, who in turn, scrambled 2 English Electric Lightnings (which were the interceptor aircraft at that time) to intercept and identify the incoming threat. RAF Leuchars was the nearest station at this time to deal with such a request. NOTE: I did ask my source the initial range and distance from the coast, that the radar detected the anomaly from, but he could not answer me due to the fact that it may be giving away confidential and secret information, which we do respect here at UFO Scotland.
Reporting is one thing but spilling official secrets is not our aim. It has to be said that this range information will also be well outdated by now anyway. The two Lightnings were vectored, via ground controllers, towards the incoming bogey but as they approached the locale of the unknown object, my source hinted that the object seemed to become aware of this fact and what happened next suprised them all. The object just proceeded to go vertical,rapidly, directly up and up until it was lost on the height finder on the radar system. I then asked the witness “at what height the Height finder could lose track” and he reported that it was about 100,000 feet. Significant point: It is a well known fact that no aircraft on this planet at that time or during present day, had or have the capabilities of performing these types of manouveres captured on Radar or could even climb to that altitude period. The witness then told me that he believed that the anomaly was definately exhibiting intelligent control and was in his honest opinion “Not one of ours!” At one point, when the unknown was witnessed by the radar operators to go vertical instantaneously, the two operators just looked at eachother, shook their heads and said “NO”.
It was further established during the interview that Ground Radar returns were out of the question seeing as this incident took place over the North Sea and not over land. The case was apparently logged through the official channels and apparently, the scrambled Lightnings got nowhere near their targets. The whole incident still remains unexplained to date and the witness informed me that this particular incident was the only unexplained event that he had ever witnessed during his career and that he did feel that it should be logged as an important sighting pertaining to ufo research and our search for the “REAL TRUTH” NOTE: The above image is CGI.
AUGUST 13-14,1956.……….Because of the major importance of the 1980 UFO landings in Rendlesham Forest near the RAF / USA joint bases of Bentwaters and Woodbridge, another important, well documented UFO sighting at Bentwaters is often overlooked.
Observations of unidentified objects by USAF and RAF personnel, extending over 5 hours, and involving ground-radar, airborne-radar, ground visual and airborne-visual sightings of high-speed unconventionally maneuvering objects in the vicinity of two RAF stations at night make this case a true “unexplained.”. It is Case 2 in the Condon Report and is there conceded to be unexplained.
On the night of August 13-14, 1956, radar operators at two military bases in the east of England repeatedly tracked single and multiple objects which displayed high speed, as well as rapid changes of speed and direction. Two jet interceptors were sent up, and were able to see and track them in a brief series of maneuvers. According to official U.S. Air Force reports, the sightings could not be explained by radar malfunction or by unusual weather.
It began at 9:30 p.m. when Airman 2nd Class John Vaccare, of the U.S. Air Force at RAF Bentwaters, tracked one UFO on his Ground Controlled Approach radar (type AN/MPN-11A) as it flew 40-50 miles (65 to 80 km.) in 30 seconds, i.e. 4,800 to 6,000 mph (7,500 to 9,500 km./hr.).
A few minutes later Vaccare reported to T/Sergeant L. Whenry that a group of 12 to 15 unidentified targets was tracked from 8 miles (13 km.) southwest of Bentwaters to 40 miles (65 km.) northeast, at which time they “appeared to converge into one very large object, according to the size of the blip on the radar scope, which seemed to be several times larger than a B-36 aircraft [the largest operational bomber in history, with a wingspan of 230 feet or 70 m.].” The single large blip stopped twice for several minutes while being tracked, before flying off the scope.
At 10 p.m., a single unidentified target was tracked from Bentwaters as it covered 55 miles (90 km.) in just 16 seconds. This works out to over 12,000 mph (19,000 km./hr.).
Then, at 10:55 p.m., the Bentwaters GCA radar picked up an unidentified target on the same east-to-west course as the previous one, at an apparent speed of “2,000 to 4,000 mph” (3,200 to 6,400 km./hr.). Someone in the Bentwaters control tower reported seeing “a bright light passing over the field from east to west at about 4,000 feet [1,200 m.].”
At about the same time, the pilot of a C-47 twin-engine military transport plane over Bentwaters said, “a bright light streaked under my aircraft travelling east to west at terrific speed.” All three reports coincided.
Soon after, radars at Bentwaters and RAF Lakenheath reported a stationary object 20-25 miles (32-40 km.) southwest of the latter base. It suddenly began moving north at 400 to 600 mph (650 to 1,000 km./hr.), but “there was no build-up to this speed – it was constant from the second it started to move until it stopped.” It made several abrupt changes of direction without appearing to slow for its turns.
Around 11:30 p.m., the RAF launched a deHavilland Venom jet interceptor, from RAF Waterbeach. According to the U.S. Air Force UFO report:
“Pilot advised he had a bright white light in sight and would investigate. At 13 miles [20 km.] west he reported loss of target and white light. Lakenheath (radar) vectored him to a target 10 miles [16 km.] east of Lakenheath and pilot advised (that) target was on his radar and was ‘locking on.’ Pilot then reported he had lost target on his radar.
“Lakenheath GCA reports that as the Venom passed the target on radar, the target began a tail chase of the friendly fighter. Radar requested pilot acknowledge this chase. Pilot acknowledged and stated he would try to circle and get behind the target. Pilot advised he was unable to ‘shake’ the target off his tail and requested assistance.
“One additional Venom was scrambled from RAF station. Original pilot stated: ‘Clearest target I have ever seen on radar.” The following conversation between the two Venom fighter pilots was heard by the Lakenheath watch supervisor:
“Did you see anything?” [Pilot #2]
“I saw something, but I’ll be damned if I know what it was.” [Pilot #1]
“What happened?” [Pilot #2]
“He – or it – got behind me and I did everything I could to get behind him and I couldn’t. It’s the damndest thing I’ve ever seen.” [Pilot #1]
The 1969 report by the Air Force-funded study at the University of Colorado under Dr. Edward U. Condon concluded:
“In summary, this is the most puzzling and unusual case in the radar-visual files. The apparent rational, intelligent behavior of the UFO suggests a mechanical device of unknown origin as the most probable explanation of this sighting. However, in view of the inevitable fallibility of witnesses, more conventional explanations of this report cannot be entirely ruled out.”
USAF Air Intelligence Information Report filed by Captain Edward L. Holt, August 31, 1956.
RAF CONTROLLER ACCOUNT:
This is the little-known but definitive account by F.H.C. Wimbledon, RAF Fighter Controller on duty at RAF Neatishead, Norfolk:
“I was Chief Controller on duty at the main RAF Radar Station in East Anglia on the night in question. My duties were to monitor the radar picture and to scramble the Battle Flight, who were on duty 24 hours a day, to intercept any intruder of British airspace not positively identified in my sector of responsibility.”
“I remember Lakenheath USAF base telephoning to say there was some thing “buzzing” their airfield circuit. I scrambled a Venom night fighter from the Battle Flight through Sector and my controller in the Interception Cabin took over control of it. The Interception Control team would consist of one Fighter Controller (an Officer), a Corporal, a tracker and a height reader. That is, four highly trained personnel in addition to myself could now clearly see the object on our radarscopes.”
“After being vectored onto the trail of the object by my Interception Controller, the pilot called out, “Contact,” then a short time later, “Judy,” which meant the Navigator had the target fairly and squarely on his own radar screen and needed no further help from the ground. He continued to close on the target but after a few seconds, and in the space of one or two sweeps of our scopes, the object appeared behind our fighter.
Our pilot called out, “Lost Contact, more help,” and he was told the target was now behind him and he was given fresh instructions.”
“I then scrambled a second Venom which was vectored toward the area but before it arrived on the scene the target had disappeared from our scopes and although we continued to keep a careful watch was not seen by us.”
“The fact remains that at least nine RAF ground personnel and two RAF aircrew were conscious of an object sufficiently “solid” to give returns on radar. Naturally, all this was reported and a Senior Officer from the Air Ministry came down and interrogated us.”
THE CONDON REPORT CASE:
Lakenheath, England, 13-14 August 1956
The Condon Report:
2230-0330 LST. Weather: generally clear until 0300 LST on the 14th. (For details see Section IV.)
The probability that anomalous propagation of radar signals may have been involved in this case seems to be small. One or two details are suggestive of AP, particularly the reported disappearance of the first track as the UFO appeared to overfly the Bentwaters GCA radar. Against this must be weighed the Lakenheath controller’s statement that there was “little or no traffic or targets on scope,” which is not at all suggestive of AP conditions, and the behavior of the target near Lakenheath – apparently continuous and easily tracked.
The “tailing” of the RAF fighter, taken alone, seems to indicate a possible ghost image, but this does not jibe with the report that the UFO stopped following the fighter, as the latter was returning to its base, and went off in a different direction. The radar operators were apparently careful to calculate the speed of the UFO from distances and elapsed times, and the speeds were reported as consistent from run to run, between stationary episodes. This behavior would be somewhat consistent with reflections from moving atmospheric layers – but not in so many different directions.
Visual mirage at Bentwaters seems to be out of the question because of the combined ground and airborne observations; the C47 pilot apparently saw the UFO below him. The visual objects do not seem to have been meteors; statements by the observers that meteors were numerous imply that they were able to differentiate the UFO from the meteors.
In summary, this is the most puzzling and unusual case in the radar-visual files. The apparently rational, intelligent behavior of the UFO suggests a mechanical device of unknown origin as the most probable explanation of this sighting. However, in view of the inevitable fallibility of witnesses, more conventional explanations of this report cannot be entirely ruled out. NOTE: The above image is CGI.
Dr. Michael Salla, who specializes in exposing secret space programs through his EXOPOLITICS TODAY podcasts and books, has reported the following about a secret January 7, 2023 meeting with ETs at an underground facility in the Blue Ridge Mountains. “On JANUARY 7, 2023, an alleged meeting occurred at a secret underground military facility in the Blue Ridge Mountains to discuss an extraterrestrial disclosure plan developed by an Earth Alliance of military leaders and the Galactic Federation of Worlds. Dr. Michael Salla Possible supporting evidence. We have no way of knowing if such a meeting actually occurred, but the following email we received on JANUARY 6, 2023 from a U.S. Air force veteran might give support for the claim that there was such a meeting. The veteran saw a massive UFO flying low over the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which is in the Blue Ridge Mountains, the day before the alleged intergalactic meeting.
I saw something very strange today. About 3:30 in the afternoon, clear blue skies, enjoying the ride, I was returning from Gatlinburg on 441 through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and had passed the TN line coming down the mountain when I saw a flash on the left on the ridgeline. “I then saw a massive silver, metallic object between the peaks. It seemed to be moving in the same direction as I was traveling. It disappeared and showed at the next dip in the ridgeline. I heard no sound, saw no lights or windows. I pulled over. I was trying to rationalize what I saw and couldn’t. “I think it was cigar shaped but I did not see the leading edge or trailing edge, only the center mass. I can’t wrap my head around it. I am an Air Force veteran, and have worked the flight line, and nothing about this makes sense. I was curious, frightened and strangely enough very angry afterward. I thought I’d put this out to see if someone else saw it too. ”One more thing In February 2013, a former military man told me about a secret underground military facility being built beneath the Great Smoky Mountain National Park (GSMNP). I immediately began searching for more witnesses and evidence and eventually concluded the GSMNP facility is real. So, the massive UFO seen on January 6, 2023 had to have flown over, or hovered over, that secret facility. My findings about the GSMNP underground facility, along with four others in Western North Carolina, are included in my book “Underground Military Bases Hidden in North Carolina Mountains.”
Without looking very long, we found the following whistle- blower testimony about the government’s secret chemtrail operation, Operation Indigo Skyfold, on at least a dozen alternative news websites between 2014 and 2016. Apparently, mainstream media wouldn’t touch it.
From what we pieced together from various introductions to the actual testimony, the Indigo pilot protected his identity by funneling his testimony through a trusted intermediary.
While we cannot vouch for the pilot’s testimony, nor for the man who seems to have first received it, the information is worth consideration. Here it is according to Edward Morgan who included it in an article for the Prepare for Change website. We’ve added photos and boldfacing. – The editor
“First of all, I would like to say that I do not agree with my mission assignments, but what soldier ever truly does? Several of us have considered bucking the ranks, and going AWOL from time to time. “We are kept in the dark when it comes to getting honest answers about what we are really spraying. Should they discover that we or our families are actively enquiring about the so-called ‘chemtrails’ term, then automatic and swift disciplinary action would be taken. HAARP and radar are two other non-allowed research subjects.
“Unless our children are learning about these in base schools, we cannot educate ourselves or our children through any public education system. “I would not intentionally spray my children or family with toxic aerosols, but as you must know, perhaps 80% of the pilots do not have any family or children.
“Indigo pilots are chosen from top ranks within the Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard. Most of the pilots are hardened to humanity and could care less killing off unwanted or leaching aspects of America and the world. I swear to you, the majority of the pilots are like machines, I call them ‘Tanker Terminators.’
“I should not be telling you this, but nearly 1/3 of all flights are being orchestrated from small unnamed islands, where newly constructed bases are being built at a rate of 8 per year. On these extremely remote islands there are HAARParrays of every possible design, with many arrays surrounding these islands within the depths of the ocean itself. The Navy has developed sophisticated underwater construction technology that allows fully autonomous robot submersibles to travel great distances, and even manufacture parts for these massive underwater arrays as they progress across the open sea floor.
“Every time that you see or hear about military exercises at sea, they’re basically there to give support and resupply their army of underwater robotic minions. There is possibly one aquatic robot per plane, and will soon be double that.
“You will never be able to Google Earth or search any of this. Other than an occasional error in blurring some island bases, or smudged images of underwater arrays, it is impossible to locate all these advanced technological devices. They even paint fake clouds over some of our island installations to keep prying eyes away.”
The ABC Program relative to UFOs has prompted me to provide details of my sighting of unidentified flying objects. This is the first time I have offered this event to any type of media. I was a member of the United States Air Force at the time that I saw nine flying discs.
I dutifully reported my sighting to the Operations Section at Travis Air Force Base as had been directed by the Senior Officer. The pilot of our aircraft was also the officer in charge of the section that I was assigned to at the time. I was the Aircraft Distribution Officer of the Far East Air Materiel Command located in Fuchu, Japan in 1947.
I had a project to take B-17 aircraft from the theater to Middletown Air Depot, Pennsylvania to have them modified to be air rescue aircraft. This involves such modification to accommodate a lifeboat attached the bomb bay which could be dropped for rescue at sea.
I was assigned to one of these trips to observe the modification process. I became a passenger on the flight of a B-17 from Japan to the Middletown Air Depot. The crew picked up a modified B-17 aircraft (without the life boat) for return to Japan.
On that return flight I had positioned myself in the nose of the aircraft. As we approached Promontory Point, Utah at 15:30 hours, 16 July, 1947, I noticed several objects rising from the Salt Flats. At first I thought they were big white birds but they were coming towards our aircraft at such great speed that I became alarmed.
However, in just a few moments they veered to the left of our aircraft, but close enough for me to identify them as nine round disks, approximately 40-60 feet in diameter with light blue underbellies.
They were in what appeared to be a V formation of three, three, and three. They passed off the left wing of our aircraft in a climbing flight. I immediately made my way to the cockpit to advise the pilot of my sighting. He had not seen them. However, the flight engineer, Technical Sergeant GJH (name withheld), Serial Number AFxxxxxx, did see them and confirmed my sighting.
We only differed on one thing. T/SGT. He saw them as they were a little lower than our aircraft and he described the top of them as sand colored. I had been in the Philippines Islands and Japan for approximately for 18 months and had not been aware of the UFO excitement in the States at that time.
The weather over the sighting area was perfectly clear and there was no way that I could have been mistaken about what I had seen. I talk about this event to my friends and others that want to listen to my experience. Since there is so much reaction to stories of such sightings, I have never gone beyond just telling about the event.
Also, I never had any further contact with T/SGT. H since he was assigned to a different organization than mine. I have kept the record of this event in my wallet all these years to make sure that the data was immediately available to me in the event someone wanted names and dates. I also put a copy of the data in my personal strongbox for safe keeping.
There is one thing that I regret about this event. I had just purchased a movie camera with a telephoto lens while in the States on this trip, and had it right in front of me at the time, and I did not think enough to take pictures of the sighting. However, on the other hand, the whole thing was over in just a few seconds and had I tried to take movies of it I may have missed the whole show. I thought this might be of interest to your group. ETW…COL. USAF [RET]
The Phobos program was an unmanned space mission consisting of two probes launched by the Soviet Union to study Mars and its moons Phobos and Deimos.
Phobos 2 became a Mars orbiter and returned 38 images with a resolution of up to 40 meters. Both probes suffered from critical failures.
Phobos 1 and 2 were of a new spacecraft design, succeeding the type used in the Venera planetary missions of 1975-1985, last used during the Vega 1 and Vega 2 missions to comet Halley.
Phobos 1 was launched on July 7, 1988 and Phobos 2 on July 12, 1988, each aboard a Proton-K rocket. They each had a mass of 2600 kg (6220 kg with orbital insertion hardware attached).
The program featured co-operation from 14 other nations including Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, France, West Germany, and the United States (who contributed the use of its Deep Space Network for tracking the twin spacecraft).
Phobos ll arrived in January 1989 and entered an orbit around Mars as the first phase towards its real destination, a small Martian moon called Phobos.
The mission was flawless until the craft aligned itself with the moon.
On March 28, 1989 an elliptical object was detected moving towards the satellite seconds before it failed.
All indications were that the elliptical object had attacked the satellite which was now dead and left spinning out of control.
On March 28, 1989 Tass, the official Soviet news agency stated:
“Phobos II failed to communicate with Earth as scheduled after completing an operation yesterday around the Martian moon Phobos. Scientists at mission control have been unable to establish stable radio contact.”
But the next day a top official of the Soviet Space Agency (Glavkosmos) said: “Phobos II is 99% lost for good.”
It is important to note that he stated the entire satellite was gone and not just contact with it.
Of great interest to Ufologists was an image captured either on, or above the surface of Mars. Commonly called the shadow, whatever caused this has never been determined. If it was indeed a craft, it was of immense size.
On March 31, 1989, headlines dispatched by the Moscow correspondents of the European News Agency (EFE) stated:
“Phobos 2 Captured Strange Photos of Mars Before Losing Contact With Its Base.”
Vremya revealed yesterday that the space probe Phobos II, which was orbiting above Mars when Soviet scientists lost contact with it on Monday, had photographed an UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT on the Martian surface seconds before losing contact.”
Scientists described the UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT as a thin ellipse 20 KILOMETERS LONG!
It was further stated that the photos could not be an illusion because it was captured by 2 different color cameras as well as cameras taking infrared shots.
One controller at the Kaliningrad control center concluded that the probe was now spinning out of control. It would seem that something struck or shot the Phobos II Probe.
In the October 19, 1989 issue of Nature Magazine, Soviet scientists concluded that the craft could be spinning because it was impacted.
It has long been rumored that Mars and its moon Phobos are alien colonies. The surface of Mars is covered with strange shapes/buildings that do not appear to be natural such as the pyramids, square buildings, runways, etc.
One structure shows the face of a man with a helmet looking into space. It can be seen at the National Space Science Data Center, Viking photo with catalog number 76-A-593/17384 Titled “HEAD.”
Another photo is 070-A-13. There are now eleven Viking photographs (and growing) of this obviously intelligently constructed monument on the surface of Mars.
The “HEAD” and other artificial features such as the pyramids were combined by electrical engineer and imaging specialist Vincent DiPietro and a Lockheed computer scientist.
The composite images seemed to show that the features on the surface of Mars had been artificially sculpted… Just maybe, WE ARE NOT ALONE!
The information that you are about to read, about a UFO incident, was supplied to Vangard Sciences by Mr.Warren York. This information was obtained through the government Freedom of Information Act.
This UFO incident allegedly occurred at Alsworth AFB in South Dakota, about 7 miles southwest of Nisland, Dakota.
At 2059hrs., 16 Nov. 1977, Airmen 1C Phillips, Lt. A.Lims Security Control, telephone WSC. reported an O2 alarm activation at L-9.
Lims SAT #1, A-1C Jenkins & A-1C Raeke were dispatched, (Trip #62, ETA 2135hrs.)
At 2147hrs., A-1C Phillips telephones WSC and reported that the situation at L-9 had been upgraded to a COVERED WAGON PER REQUEST OF Capt. Stokes, Larry D., FSO.
Security Option 11 was initiated by WSC and Base CSC. BAF (Backup Security Force) #1&&2, was formed. At 2340hrs., 16 Nov. 77, the following information was learned:
Upon arrival (2132hrs.) at Site #L-9. LSAT. Jenkins & Raeke, dismounted the SAT vehicle to make a check of the site fence line.
At this time Raeke observed a bright light shinning vertically upwards form the rear of the fence line of L-9. (There is a small hill approximately 50 yards behind L-9)
Jenkins stayed with the SAT vehicle and Raeke proceeded to the source of the light to investigate. As Raeke approached the crest of the hill, he observed an individual dressed in a glowing, green metallic uniform and wearing a helmet with visor.
Raeke immediately challenged the individual, however; the individual refused to stop and kept walking towards the rear fence line of L-9. Raeke aimed his M-16 rifle at the intruder and ordered him to stop.
The intruder turned towards Raeke and aimed an object at him which emitted a bright flash of intense light. The flash of light struck Raeke’s M-16 rifle, disintegrating the weapon and causing second and third degree burns to his hands.
Raeke immediately took cover and concealment and radioed the situation to Jenkins, who in turn radioed a 10-13 distress to Line Control. Jenkins responded to Raeke’s position and carried Raeke back to the SAT vehicle. Jenkins then returned to the rear fence line to stand guard.
Jenkins observed two intruders dressed in the same uniforms, walk through the rear fence line of L-9. Jenkins challenged the two individuals, but they refused to stop. Jenkins aimed and fired two rounds from his M-16 rifle.
One bullet struck one intruder in the back and one bullet struck one intruder in the helmet. Both intruders fell to the ground, however, approximately 15 seconds later, Jenkins took cover and the light missed Jenkins.
The two intruders returned to the east side of the hill and disappeared. Jenkins followed the two and observed them go inside a saucer shaped object approximately 20′ in diameter and 20′ thick. The object emitted a glowing greenish light.
Once the intruders were inside, the object climbed vertically upwards and disappeared over the Eastern horizon. BAF #1 arrived at the site at 2230hrs., and set up a security perimeter. Site Survey Team arrived at the site (0120hrs.) and took radiation readings, which measured from 1.7 to 2.9 roentgens.
Missile Maintenance examined the missile and warhead, and found the nuclear components missing from the warhead. Col. Speaker, Wing Cmdr. arrived at the site and set up an investigation. A completed follow-up report of this incident will be submitted by order of Col. Speaker.
FOLLOW-UP INFORMATION: Raeke was treated at the base hospital for second and third degree radiation burns to each hand.
Raeke M-16 rifle could not be located at the site.
It was a beautiful hot sunny day and the sky was blue with all round good visibility which was really great as it was the Torbay airshow over this weekend. I had been sitting on Preston Beach for hours on end photographing all the aircraft hoping to capture some anomalous objects in the process. The tide had suddenly changed and the water was now at my feet, so I had to quickly move to a different location to photograph the last display which was the Red arrows. I moved from the beach and sat in a grassy area across the road which had a great vantage point away from everyone else as it was rather busy. I was very excited to see the Red Arrows and I sat there in anticipation waiting patiently for their arrival. Moments later I finally heard them approaching from behind and I looked up and saw them fly directly overhead.
The main event had now begun and I was really determined to capture an anomalous object near them like I have captured many times in the past. I immediately started taking photographs while enjoying their colorful aerobatic display. They were in formation when suddenly without warning a black anomalous object shot right through the middle of their formation at terrific speed. I could hardly believe what I was seeing this object must have been going at least 1000mph as it passed dangerously close to the Red Arrows as it shot off and disappeared from view. Fortunately, I had managed to capture this fast-moving anomalous object with my Nikon P900 camera which was set to burst mode. I had successfully captured an anomalous object near the Red Arrows once again like in previous years. These alien crafts are ever-present within our skies when will the British government come forward and admit to this alien presence? The photographs were taken at 5:33 PM on the 3rd of June 2023, at Preston Paignton Devon England.
Another Anomalous Object Captured At Torbay Airshow 2023
It was the next day, 6-4-23, of the Torbay airshow and once again it was the perfect weather conditions for the air display. On the previous day, I had captured an anomalous object flying through the formation of the Red Arrows, so I was pretty eager to photograph them once again and see if I could capture another anomalous object in close proximity to their Hawk T1 planes while they performed their incredible aerobatic display over the area. I had watched all the other aircraft from the beach, and once again the tide had changed and the sea was at my feet, so just like the day before I swiftly moved to the grassy area where I sat down and waited for the Red Arrows to fly over the area and begin their display. It was not long after that when they came roaring overhead, and I started taking photographs using my Nikon P900 camera.
Five of the Red arrows were side by side, trailing smoke when the same anomalous object that I had captured the previous day flew right past the Red Arrows into their trailing smoke and then flew upwards followed by two smaller objects that soon flew away from view. I was completely gobsmacked that I had actually captured this bizarre object yet again passing dangerously close to the Red Arrows with several other smaller anomalous objects. This area of Torbay seems to be a hot spot for these anomalous objects and I normally photograph them flying out of the water at Daddyhole Plain and Hopes Nose regularly. The British government needs to come forward and explain why there is such a high presence of these alien craft in this particular area of Torbay.
This news broke on The Debrief website on June 5, 2023. It was written by Leslie Kean and Ralph Blumenthal. We will give you a link to the lengthy news article, but here is how it begins, plus important excerpts. – The editor
“A former intelligence official turned whistleblower has given Congress and the Intelligence Community Inspector General extensive classified information about deeply covert programs that he says possess retrieved intact and partially intact craft of non-human origin.
“The information, he says, has beenillegally withheld from Congress, and he filed a complaint alleging that he suffered illegal retaliation for his confidential disclosures, reported here for the first time.
“Other intelligence officials, both active and retired, with knowledge of these programs through their work in various agencies, have independently provided similar, corroborating information, both on and off the record.
“The whistleblower, David Charles Grusch, 36, a decorated former combat officer in Afghanistan, is a veteran of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). He served as the reconnaissance office’s representative to the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force from 2019-2021. From late 2021 to July 2022, he was the NGA’s co-lead for UAP analysis and its representative to the task force. . .
“Grusch said the recoveries of partial fragments through and up to intact vehicles have been made for decades through the present day by the government, its allies, and defense contractors. Analysis has determined that the objects retrieved are “of exotic origin (non-human intelligence, whether extraterrestrial or unknown origin)…
“Karl E. Nell, (R) a recently retired Army Colonel and current aerospace executive who was the Army’s liaison for the UAP Task Force from 2021 to 2022 and worked with Grusch there, characterizes Grusch as “beyond reproach.”
Jonathan Grey is a generational officer of the United States Intelligence Community with a Top-Secret Clearance who currently works for the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC), where the analysis of UAP has been his focus. . . The non-human intelligence phenomenon is real. We are not alone. Retrievals of this kind are not limited to the United States. . . This is a global phenomenon. . .
“NASIC, headquartered at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, is the Department of Defense’s primary Air Force source for foreign air and space threat analysis. . .”
“I’m told there are technologies in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean that give the United States in particular a very good idea of how fast objects move, especially objects that display a huge magnetic anomaly because they’re metallic.
“And, people have briefed me on the underwater telemetry of these objects and they’ve described objects moving as fast as 800 knots under water. And I mean the fastest submarine, I think, is probably what, 40 to 50 knots, if you’re lucky.
“And these objects are going to incredible depths, whatever they are. The other thing that was made very, very clear to me, they are intelligently controlled. They are engaging with these submarines. They are moving toward them, moving around them, operating intelligently around them.” ROBERT COULTHART.
Dr. Robert W. McGwier, was doing classified National Security work onboard the USS Hampton when there was a stunning encounter with an underwater UFO in the late 1990s. Here is his account of that event. – The editor
“We were on our way and all of a sudden I hear this sound. It’s really strange because it’s clear that what is going on is something is whizzing by us and it’s moving so fast. I just can’t believe it because this submarine is limited in the speed it can go by the incompressibility of the water in front of us. And this thing blew by us like we were standing still.
“Now, I’m not going to throw anybody else under the bus, but I guarantee you the following happened. A person with knowledge of onboard systems came out and said:
Oh, My God, this god-damn thing is going faster than the speed of sound underwater!!!
“That’s faster than the speed of sound in air. Nothing can move faster than the speed of sound in air underwater because water is incompressible.”
THANKS TO Ross Coulthart. He is a multi-award-winning investigative journalist who has worked more than 30 years with newspapers and television news, including The Sydney Morning Herald in Australia, ABC-TV and 60 Minutes. He’s also an author. His most recent book, “IN PLAIN SIGHT,” is about his UFO investigations. The top segment is a revealing snippet about underwater UFOs from one of his podcast interviews.
These are the events that occurred on March 13, 1997 as uncovered by Michael Tanner and myself: 1. FORMATION OF HOVERING ORBS – First observed in a hexagram pattern at about 7:30 p.m. over the Superstition Mountains area east of Phoenix in the characteristic 8+1(or 2) formation of amber orbs and was next seen in two separate arc patterns with “trailing lights” over Gila River area at about 9:50 and again at 10:00 at the southern edge of Phoenix where they were seen by thousands and videotaped by a handful who had camcorders close enough at hand to catch the fleeting minutes of their displays. These amateur videos have immortalized the orb formations, becoming known around the world as The Phoenix Lights.
These are the very same lights that started the controversy over “flares” and that will be taken up in the next chapter. The last appearance of the hovering orbs of the night was made over a now recognized “hot-spot” of Rainbow Valley arrayed in a “V” formation at about 2:00 a.m. on March 14th (and again appeared on January 14, 1998). 2. “V” FORMATION OF FLYING ORBS – First seen leaving the Henderson-Las Vegas area and entering Arizona at high speed, a V-formation of five to seven orbs, variously seen as bright blue-white to a yellow-white, came through the Prescott Valley area at low altitude by 7:50 p.m., turning south, where by 8:28, were videotaped (displaying their characteristic movement within the formation) at the north end of the valley that comprises the Phoenix metro area.
In an apparent slower mode of flight, the orbs appeared at that point as amber in color as the formation moved along Interstate 10 angling toward Tucson after having been visually seen (not on radar) to intersect air traffic coming in on approach to Sky Harbor International Airport. After hovering for several minutes over a car full of witnesses driving north on I-10 at 65 mph, the formation was then picked up by observers in the Oracle area who reported the orbs’ color as red to red-orange before the formation split up, going in separate directions while skirting the edges of the Tucson metropolitan area. At various points independent of this very specific formation, individual orbs were seen to shoot across the metro Phoenix valley with some moving away from and then re-docking with one or more of the Very Large Objects (VLOs) which came through later in the night.
3. CHEVRON VLO (narrow angle) – Observed first as a “V” formation of five white lights moving slowly and silently toward Prescott Valley from the northwest at about 8:15 p.m., the “chevron” was soon clearly seen as a single object. The huge craft made a pivot turn over the witnesses’ home there while the lights shifted into an arc formation while the lights turned red and then it shot off at blinding speed toward Phoenix. At that time the next set of witnesses in central Phoenix saw the object coming directly toward them (estimated at Mach 2 or 3) while still in the “turbo” mode arc configuration, and then, as if to slow back down again, was seen to change back into a “V” whereupon it cruised silently and slowly right over their heads (only 100 to 200 feet above at 10 or 15 mph). The craft was later seen to zigzag through the valley, even changing altitude at various points and hovering for five minutes at the edge of Sky Harbor before proceeding south (right over the Village Lab building) to Interstate-10.
After following I-10 several miles to Picacho Peak, the enormous craft (estimated at 900 feet or more on each leading edge and more than a mile in length to its “taillights”) hovered once again for 10 to 15 minutes until there was no further track of it. According to Michael, this is a possible docking point for this craft and the giant triangle that followed it down I-10 some fifteen minutes later. This same “chevron” or similar craft was seen traveling east to west over north Phoenix at about 10:50 p.m. 4. BOOMERANG VLO (wide angle) – This “V” formation, consisting of five groups of three lights, was confirmed to be a single huge object by various Prescott-area witnesses, being equivalent to a formation of five 747s flying absolutely lock-step in formation toward Phoenix. The craft was seen to make a southerly turn at about 8:25, once again, in the Prescott Valley area, after first approaching from the northwest.
This VLO was later seen (although not clearly enough to identify) by an America West pilot who called Sky Harbor tower wondering what “those nine lights were”, and an amateur astronomer in Phoenix who wrote it off as a formation of conventional airplanes. It is possible that this craft was the same as the giant triangle(wide angle) described below. 5. TRIANGULAR VLO (narrow angle) – This is the one seen by the family in Chandler. It may be the same Triangle or Deltoid craft seen by others as a wide angle craft. It had definite structure complete with panels in a grid along with lights at each of the three corners and a larger center light. Multiple witnesses confirm its northwest to southeast flight path through the eastern part of the valley with some observers seeing one or more orbs leaving and then re-docking with this VLO at various points.
This particular craft was seen to “split in two” by a resident in Gilbert, south of Chandler. 6. BIG BLACK TRIANGLE (wide angle) – By all accounts the largest of the VLOs in the March 13th parade of craft, this gigantic craft was first seen at close range over north Phoenix between 8:30 and 8:45 where the key witnesses (real estate people who subdivided the area) estimated its size to be as much as two miles wide as its wingtip lights fell over two parallel streets that are 1.8 miles apart. Its flight path brought it low to the ground at this point (less than 2,000 feet) where it was seen to not only have dozens of lights along its leading edges, but also a row of windows wherein the silhouettes of “people” were observed! At some point further south, other witnesses reported that they saw nothing but the row of windows with beings (also in silhouette) as all of the lights were turned off at that point.
By the time the VLO was seen over I-10 south of Casa Grande, however, three large lights were seen to be turned on, one at each corner, with smaller lights on along with the leading headlight. The witnesses here reported that it took them one to two minutes to drive under this immense ship while they were driving at 80 mph! They estimated the width of this VLO to be at least two, possibly three miles wide and big enough for a C5-A Galaxy or “Condor” troop transport (the largest conventional aircraft known) to land upon it! The craft had definite structure to it and the family of witnesses described its color as a flat blue-black like the color of a shotgun barrel. They also reported seeing rectangular “panel-like” structures on the underside of this craft. Another large triangle was seen moving just north of Thunderbird Road at around 10:45 p.m., but the configuration of the triangle was different.
That triangle had a V-cut into its trailing edge to give it a very distinctive look. 7. GIANT DISCOID VLO – Witnessed first by a retired airline pilot, his sons and a friend, and seen coming down Scottsdale Road at about 10:20 p.m., this huge circular craft, featuring amber lights around its perimeter (at an estimated one mile in diameter) was seen to make a purposeful turn toward Sky Harbor at about Camelback Road where it also intersected air traffic before disappearing from view over South Mountain. The corroborating central Phoenix witness, also a former pilot (Vietnam) and retired U.S. Marshal, described how the craft both reflected the city lights on its underbelly and blocked out the stars with its upper half, attesting to its being a single craft of spectacular “mile-wide” proportions. This witness also claimed to have videotaped what he saw from the roof of his apartment building, but his tapes mysteriously disappeared in what may amount to a genuine “men-in-black (MIB)” episode.
This craft may also have docked with the “chevron” craft and cloaked in “visual stealth” mode in its earlier pass through Phoenix at about 8:20 to 8:30, but this is purest speculation. The two craft reappeared (or two similar ones) in June and were photographed together at high altitude over Phoenix by the same witnesses with a 35mm camera while also viewing them with binoculars. A separate set of unconnected witnesses also reported the sighting of a huge discoid craft (bigger than Sun Devil Stadium at ASU) hovering at treetop level right off of the west end of the Sky Harbor runways at between 2:00 and 3:00 a.m. one morning about two weeks before March 13th.
8. MILITARY JET/UFO INTERCEPTION ATTEMPTS – We have to date identified four such events (there may be more) that clearly point to the conclusion that the Phoenix Lights UFO incident of March 13, 1997 was certainly no secret “black ops” or classified military exercise as many people would like to believe. A woman who lives next to Luke Air Force Base in the west part of the valley surfaced to report that at least 6 pairs of jets and as many as 8 were “scrambled” out of the base on the night of March 13th, something she could never recall witnessing before. One researcher called Luke AFB and asked someone who was out on the flight line if anything was seen by base personnel, and, unofficially, he answered that “they” were all over the place. The response from Luke spokesmen and their response to FOIA requests indicate that they were receiving phone calls about the lights, but never scrambled any jets to pursue them.
Witnesses say different. Here are the witness reports: A) Crown King at 5:30 p.m. – A formation of 3 huge “Vs” were seen hovering over this pine-topped mountain and were soon joined by a diamond-shaped or triangular craft which appeared “out of thin air” (at first seen as an amber light). As the four objects were hovering together, two jets were seen to come low from the south (from the direction of Luke AFB) at which point the UFOs went into a “stack”, collapsed upon each other while going “into a ball”, then totally disappeared! This would be called a case of high strangeness. Finding nothing there, the two jets circled the Crown King area and returned in the direction of the base. Similar disappearing acts of formations of “Vs”, one over Lake Mead that afternoon and on March 27th over Elmont, New York were reported to Village Labs after seeing the article published in USA Today. B) Central Phoenix at 8:15 p.m.
– A pair of F-15s were dispatched from Luke AFB to attempt an interception of one or more of the Vs approaching or entering the valley at that time. This was reported to NUFORC by a ground crewman at Luke who stated that the aircraft were equipped with gun cameras and that one of the pilots had to be helped out of his plane because he was so shaken by his encounter. A cursory check revealed that Luke AFB no longer has F-15s in its inventory and only has the F-16 aircraft. However, at one time both were maintained at Luke. Could these F-15s have been visiting aircraft? There is still some attempt to locate the civilian witness who corroborated this story. C) North Phoenix at 9:30 p.m. – One of the witnesses who had earlier witnesses with his wife the giant wide-angle triangle reported that when he was later at home, he saw in the distance what appeared to be the return of the triangle, this time with only three lights on, one at each corner.
As the UFO hovered near the Deer Valley Airport in northwest Phoenix, he saw two military jets approach the triangle, with one jet seen to pass one side of it and the other seen to fly up under it, veering down at the last moment to avoid midair collision. D) Luke AFB at 10:00 p.m. – (The original Event 4 – the first aircraft/UFO encounter to be reported). A truck driver who had been watching two unusual amber lights move ahead of him to the south for fully two hours as he drove down I-17 from Camp Verde, reported that as he neared his destination, a materials plant near Luke AFB, the two UFOs seemed to have stopped their movement and were hovering. Once at the plant, while waiting for his truck to be unloaded, he stood on a pile of materials to watch what were now seen as two identical, toy-top like amber orbs (like hot air balloons without hanging baskets) having a white iridescent sheen and a band of red pulsating light, with the nearest to him being one to two miles distant right near the runway at Luke.
Suddenly, two F-16s, followed by a third, “blasted out of Luke with their afterburners on full”, made a steep bank directly over the witness and headed straight for the nearest UFO. At the moment the lead jets were about to close on the UFO, it shot straight up and disappeared “in an instant” as the jets passed right through the very spot where the object had been hovering. The second UFO also vanished, as it was no longer hovering in the northwest.
Just one day after the public reveal of the above emblem on the official Department of National IntelligenceNIM-Aviation website on September 26, 2022, it was removed. We first learned this from someone who has proved repeatedly to have insider information when he emailed us this message:
“Apparently they took this emblem down this morning (9-27-22). My understanding is they say it was AN UNOFFICIAL release by someone internal to this organization. The significance of this explanation is they do not claim it was a hacker, and that evidently it existed internally.”
When we returned to the NIM-Aviation website, we found that he was right. The emblem with the UFO image had been scrubbed from that website.
Then Phyllis Galde, editor-in-chief of “Fate” magazine, sent us a link to a September 30, 2022 article by Kyle Mizokami in “Popular Mechanics” about the vanished emblem.
Before the emblem disappeared, Mizokami found two versions of it on the NIM-Aviation website. The second one actually has two UFO images within it; one is faint and in the background. Mizokami found it on a message from the “Executive Director” of NIM-Aviation.
I was driving home from work in Fort Macleod Alberta to my house in Lethbridge Alberta, when I came to the top of Monach Couliee which is just north of Lethbridge approx. 10 min. I saw a disc shaped craft flying slowing in the sky just north of the highway. It appeared to be a sky blue with fake camo white clouds scattered roughly around the hull trying to match the existing sky at the time, but it was easy to notice. I grabbed my cell phone from my passenger seat and started recording the craft out the front windshield of my truck. As I continued driving and took another video out the drivers window as the craft was on a northern path away from Lethbridge and I was still heading east. I didn’t stop the truck as I was in a hurry to get home for my Christmas party at my main place of employment as a heavy equipment tech at the western star dealership in Lethbridge.
As the craft flew out of sight of my cell phone camera. I continued driving home. Approx. 5 min later, as I was heading south near Coalhurst Alberta, I noticed 2 sets of 2 fighter jets flying at a high rate of speed in the exact direction the disc craft was heading, I got my phone out fast enough to start recording the second set of 2 jets as they were flying so fast. When I got home to show my wife and my parents the 3 videos, I thought I recorded, only 1 second of all 3 videos was found on my phone. That was the 5th sighting I had that year of craft and strange bright spheres, and 7th total now be in my life. Canada has no air force base south of Lethbridge, so the jets must have been sent from Great falls, Montana. When I was younger my dad worked at CFB Suffield, and we lived in Medicine Hat. The closest Canadian base would be Cold Lake, north of Edmonton with any fighter jets to respond. Hopefully they captured footage of it, of course we probably won’t even find out! NOTE: The above image is CGI.
SAN DIEGO – The International Society for UFO Research (ISUR) has received intriguing information from a former Air Wing Marine once stationed at Miramar Air Station. In November of 1995, a pilot in his squadron, VMFA-212 (F/A-18Cs) had a near-collision with a slender cigar-shaped UFO. Interestingly, the UFO was recorded on the plane’s “Heads-Up Display video” according to this former enlisted Marine who viewed the tape. Excerpts, with names, addresses and phone numbers deleted from several e-mail exchanges between ISUR and the ex-Marine follow. Ex-Marine’s initial description of a “12:00 noon,” November 1995, incident: I was in the Marine Corps. Two of our pilots had just gotten back from a flight. One of them called for intelligence and me (flight scheduling rep). He showed us the Heads Up Display video from the flight.
He was engaging the other pilot in a dogfighting exercise when a “cigar-shaped” object zipped past the F-18. We slowed it down to a crawl, but it was traveling so fast initially that it was a blur even at the speed we viewed. The object came so close to the jet, the pilot thought it would hit him. Later in the video, the F-18 in front is preparing to bank right. Just before he does a glare on the video banks quickly to the left about 2 seconds before either jet made a move. I personally acquired the flight clearance the day before and there should not have been any activity even in the area. However, it was never explained and shortly declassified. Everyone discarded the situation as either a mistake by someone on the ground or a natural phenomenon. According to what the pilot, and the rest of us saw on the video, the object was approximately 12 feet in length and 3 feet wide.
The name of the squadron was VMFA-212 (F/A-18Cs). The video has probably been copied over, deleted or discarded. On February 22 and 23, 1999 several UFOs were reported in the Miramar Air Station area. Thanks to ISUR and board member John Thompson. NOTE: The above image is CGI.
