|
from
VirtuallyStrange Website
Archive File: USAF Text On UFOs
From: DON ALLEN
Date: 10-24-93 (10:41)
Fwd Date: Thu, 26 Jun 1997 02:52:31 -0400
Subject: Archive File: USAF Text On UFOs
It has been known for some time that during the late 1960’s and
early 1970’s the U.S. Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs had
some material on UFOs in its curriculum. The chapter of the
textbook “Introductory Space Science” for the class Physics 370
has been posted on CUFON for quite a while.
This file contains
expanded coverage, including a newspaper article from the
“Lemoore Advance, A letter of reply from the A.F. Academy"
transmitting copies of the two versions of Chapter 33,
Chapter
33 as it was in use from 1968 - 1970, and the
revised Chapter 33
placed in use for the Fall Quarter, 1970.
(Posted 14 MAY 1992) --
Jim Klotz
SYSOP
From the Lemoore, CA Advance October 8,
1970
AIR ACADEMY
TEXT BOOK URGES MORE STUDY OF UFO SIGHTINGS
by TED HUBBARD
Students at the U.S. Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs are being
taught to stop scoffing at the mention of UFO’s or “flying saucers”
and to keep an open mind on the subject.
This was made clear last Thursday in an interview given by Major
Stewart Kilpatrick, deputy Director of Public Information of the Air
Force Academy, Colorado Springs, to the Lemoore Advance in a lengthy
and exclusive phone interview.
The “National Enquirer,” a country-wide journal, which claims the
“largest circulation of any weekly paper in America,” headlined this
following statement,
“Air Force Academy Textbook Warns Cadets That
UFO’s May Be Spacecraft Operated by Aliens From Other Worlds”
Oct. 11 issue.
“Because so many of our readers are
interested personally in aircraft, The Advance sought to verify
what appeared to be exaggerated claims and somewhat on the
unbelievable side. This despite the reported sightings of some
strange craft over Lemoore by several witnesses a few weeks ago.
Major Kilpatrick, as second ranking officer in public affairs at
the Air Academy, is in a position to speak authoritatively for
the Air Force. He admitted at once that Plebes are taught from a
text entitled “Introductory Space Science, Volume II” and an
entire Chapter 33 deals entirely with UFO considerations. He
quoted from page 455, that “50,000 virtually reliable people
have reported sighting unidentified flying objects.”
“This leads us with the unpleasant possibility of
alien visitors
to our planet,” the 14-page chapter continues, “or at least
alien controlled UFO’s.”
According to the Academy text book:
“If such beings are visiting the
earth, two questions arise:
(1) Why haven’t they
attempted to contact us officially, and
(2) Why haven’t there
been accidents which would have revealed their presence?
“Why no contact? That question is
very easy to answer in any of several ways:
(1) We may be the object
of intensive sociological and psychological study. In such
studies you usually avoid disturbing the test subjects’
environment.
(2) You do not contact a
colony of ants - and humans may seem that way any aliens
(variation: a zoo is fun to visit, but you don’t ‘contact’
the lizards).
(3) Such contact may have
already taken place secretly, and may have taken piece on a
different plane of awareness - and we are not yet sensitive
to communications on such a plane.”
In releasing this interview in The
Lemoore Advance we are well aware that many readers will certainly
“raise an eyebrow or two.” But Major Kilpatrick insisted the above
chapter in the text is not a fairy story. At the end he seemed to go
along with the recommendations of the physics text book which
advises Air Force officers as follows:
“The best thing to do is to keep an
open and skeptical mind - and not take an extreme position on
any side of the question.”
“Introductory Space Science” closes the
chapter with the wish expressed that renewed extensive investigation
be given to the possibility of UFO’s. This will require expenditure
of a considerable sum of government funds, it explained, and in the
present public attitude of scorn and ridicule whenever “UFO’s” are
mentioned, such possibility seems almost hopeless the chapter
laments. As most people know, the
Dr. Eugene U. Condon investigation
was closed down by the Pentagon and no present official scientific
investigation is now operating in this field. In 1966 we talked with
six different Air Force pilots at Travis Air Force Base, who claimed
to have seen UFO’s but stated they did not dare report them for fear
of extreme ridicule.
At least in 1970 this Air Force attitude
seems to have changed as indicated by Major Kilpatrick interview
with The Advance. Lemoore’s representative at the Colorado Springs
Academy is Steve (Moon) Mullens, former basketball star on the Tiger
team, and alumnus of Lemoore High. We are asking him his opinion of
his science text’s presentation of the so called UFO’s.
DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE
HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES AIR FORCE
ACADEMY
USAF ACADEMY, COLORADO 80840
REPLY TO ATTN OF: OI 4 NOV 1970
In reference to your recent inquiry to the Air Force Academy
concerning Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO’s), the following
facts are provided for your information.
The subject of UFO’s is examined briefly at the end of an
Academy selective course, Physics 370, which usually attracts
approximately 20 students per semester. The UFO subject falls
under the course objective of discussing all observable or
reported physical phenomena occurring from the surface of the
sun to the surface of the planets.
When the UFO subject was first included in the course, the
subject served, from an academic point of view, to illustrate
that when contradictory data are available, the best course is
to keep an open mind and search for further data. The subject
remains an excellent vehicle to discuss the implications and
applications of many basic physical laws to “observed”
phenomena.
The source of recent news media stories concerning the study of
UFO’s at the Air Force Academy was an out-of-date chapter in the
course text entitled “Introductory Space Science”, a two-volume,
470-page unpublished work printed in a spiral notebook by the
Academy for classroom use. The last chapter in the second volume
was a 14-page chapter entitled “Unidentified Flying Objects”.
When this chapter was written and printed in 1968, the Air Force
was still collecting reports of UFO sightings under
Project Blue
Book and sponsoring the investigation of UFO’s by Dr. E. U.
Condon of the University of Colorado.
The Condon Report was completed in early 1969 with the general
conclusion that nothing has come from the study of UFO’s in the
past two decades that has added to scientific knowledge and that
further extensive study of UFO’s probably cannot be justified in
the expectation that science will be advanced.
“MAN’S FLIGHT THROUGH LIFE IS
SUSTAINED BY THE POWER OF KNOWLEDGE”
Based on the conclusions of the Condon report and its own
twenty-year UFO experience, the Air Force terminated Project
Blue Book in December 1969 with this final statement,
“As a
result of investigating UFO reports since 1948, the conclusions
of Project Blue Book are,
(1) no UFO reported,
investigated, and evaluated by the Air Force has ever given
any indication of threat to our national security;
(2) there has been no
evidence submitted or discovered by the Air Force that
sightings categorized as ‘unidentified’ represent
technological developments or principles beyond the range of
present-day scientific knowledge; and
(3) there has been no
evidence indicating that sightings categorized as
‘unidentified’ are extraterrestrial vehicles.”
In light of these developments, the
in-class content of the course was changed to present orally the
conclusions of the Condon report and the reasons why the Air
Force cancelled Project Blue Book. It was considered
uneconomical to reprint the entire second volume for such a
limited number of students until the fall of 1970.
Beginning with the 1970 fall semester, a revised updated chapter
entitled ‘Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” has been substituted
for the old chapter so that the text now follows the oral
in-class presentation on this subject.
For your further information we are enclosing a copy of (1) the
old Chapter 33, which is no longer being used and (2) a copy of
the new, current Chapter 33 now being used by students of
Physics 370 beginning with this fall 1970 semester.
I hope this letter clarifies your questions concerning the study
and treatment of UFO’s at the Air Force Academy,
Sincerely
/s/ James F Sunderman
James F Sunderman, Colonel, USAF 2 Atchs
Director of Information
Back to Contents
(Chapter 33 of “Introductory Space Science”
Physics 370 / 1968 - 1970)
INTRODUCTORY SPACE SCIENCE - VOLUME
II - DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS - USAF
Edited by: Major Donald G. Carpenter
Co-Editor: Lt. Colonel Edward R. Therkelson
CHAPTER XXXIII
UNIDENTIFIED FLYING
OBJECTS
What is an
Unidentified Flying Object (UFO)?
Well, according to United States Air
Force Regulation 80-17 (dated 19 September 1966), a UFO is "Any"
aerial Phenomenon or object which is unknown or appears to be out of
the ordinary to the observer." This is a very broad definition which
applies equally well to one individual seeing his first noctilucent
cloud at twilight as it does to another individual seeing his first
helicopter. However, at present most people consider the term UFO
to
mean an object which behaves in a strange or erratic manner while
moving through the Earth’s atmosphere.
That strange phenomenon has evoked
strong emotions and great curiosity among a large segment of our
world’s population. The average person is interested because he
loves a mystery, the professional military man is involved because
of the possible threat to national security, and some scientist are
interested because of the basic curiosity that led them into
becoming researchers.
The literature on UFO’s is so vast, and the stories so many and
varied, that we can only present a sketchy outline of the subject in
this chapter. That outline includes description classifications,
operational domains (temporal and spatial), some theories as to the
nature of the UFO phenomenon, human reactions, attempts to attack
the problem scientifically, and some tentative conclusions. If you
wish to read further in this area,
the references provide an
excellent starting point.
33.1
DESCRIPTIONS
One of the greatest problems you encounter when attempting to
catalog UFO sightings, is selection of a system for cataloging.
No effective system has yet been devised, although a number of
different systems have been proposed. The net result is that
almost all UFO data are either treated in the form of individual
cases, or in the forms of inadequate qualification systems.
However, these systems do tend to have some common factors, and
a collection of these factors is as follows:
We make no attempt here to present
available data in terms of the foregoing descriptors.
33.2
OPERATIONAL DOMAINS - TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL
What we will do here is to present evidence that UFO’s are a
global phenomenon which may have persisted for many thousands of
years. During this discussion, please remember that the more
ancient the reports the less sophisticated the observer. Not
only were the ancient observers lacking the terminology
necessary to describe complex devices (such as present day
helicopters) but they were also lacking the concepts necessary
to understand the true nature of such things as television,
spaceships, rockets, nuclear weapons and radiation effects.
To some, the most advanced
technological concept was a war chariot with knife blades
attached to the wheels. By the same token, the very lack of
accurate terminology and descriptions leaves the more ancient
reports open to considerable misinterpretation, and it may well
be that present evaluations of individual reports are completely
wrong. Nevertheless, let us start with an intriguing story in
one of the oldest chronicles of India.... the Book of Dzyan.
The book is a group of "story-teller" legends which were finally
gathered in manuscript form when man learned to write. One of
the stories is of a small group of beings who supposedly came to
Earth many thousands of years ago in a metal craft which orbited
the Earth several times before landing.
As told in the Book,
"These beings lived to
themselves and were revered by the humans among whom they
had settled. But eventually differences arose among them and
they divided their numbers, several of the men and women and
some children settled in another city, where they were
promptly installed as rulers by the awe-stricken populace.
"Separation did not bring peace
to these people and finally their anger reached a point
where the ruler of the original city took with him a small
number of his warriors and they rose into the air in a huge
shining metal vessel. While they were many leagues from the
city of their enemies, they launched a great shining lance
that rode on a beam of light. It burst apart in the city of
their enemies with a great ball of flame that shot up to the
heavens, almost to the stars.
All those who were in the city
were horribly burned and even those who were not in the city
- but nearby - were burned also. Those who looked upon the
lance and the ball of fire were blinded forever afterward.
Those who entered the city on foot became ill and died. Even
the dust of the city was poisoned, as were the rivers that
flowed through it. Men dared not go near it, and it
gradually crumbled into dust and was forgotten by men."
"When the leader saw what he had done to his own people he
retired to his palace and refused to see anyone. Then he
gathered about him those warriors who remained, and their
wives and children, and they entered their vessels and rose
one by one into the sky and sailed away. Nor did they
return."
Could this foregoing legend really
be an account of an extraterrestrial colonization, complete with
guided missile,
nuclear warhead and radiation effects? It is
difficult to assess the validity of that explanation...just as
it is difficult to explain why Greek, Roman and Nordic Mythology
all discuss wars and contacts among their "Gods." (Even the
Bible records conflict between the legions of God and Satan.)
-
Could it be that each group
recorded their parochial view of what was actually a global
conflict among alien colonists or visitors?
-
Or is it that man has led such a
violent existence that he tends to expect conflict and
violence among even his gods?
Evidence of perhaps an even earlier
possible contact was
uncovered by Tschi Pen Lao of the
University of Peking. He discovered astonishing carvings in
granite on a mountain in Hunan Province and on an island in Lake Tungting. These carvings have been evaluated as 47,000 years
old, and they show people with large trunks (breathing
apparatus?...or "elephant" heads shown on human bodies?
Remember, the Egyptians often represented their gods as animal
heads on human bodies.)
Only 8,000 years ago, rocks were sculpted in the Tassili plateau
of Sahara, depicting what appeared to be human beings but with
strange round heads (helmets? or "sun" heads on human bodies?)
- below image.
And even more recently, in the Bible, Genesis (6:4) tells of
angels from the sky mating with women of Earth, who bore them
children. Genesis 19:3 tells of Lot meeting two angels in desert
and his later feeding them at his house. The Bible also tells a
rather
unusual story of Ezekiel who witnessed what has been
interpreted by some to have been a spacecraft or
aircraft
landing near the Chebar River in Chaldea (593 B.C.).
Even the Irish have recorded strange visitations. In the
Speculum Regali in Konungs Skuggsa (and other accounts of the
era about 956 A.D.) are numerous stories of "demonships" in the
skies. In one case a rope from one such ship became entangled
with part of a church. A man from the ship climbed down the rope
to free it, but was seized by the townspeople. The Bishop made
the people release the man, who climbed back to the ship, where
the crew cut the rope and the ship rose and sailed out of sight.
In all of his actions, the climbing man appeared as if he were
swimming in water. Stories such as this makes one wonder if the
legends of the "little people" of Ireland were based upon
imagination alone.
About the same time, in Lyons (France) three men and a women
supposedly descended from an airship or spaceship and were
captured by a mob. These foreigners admitted to being wizards,
and were killed. (No mention is made of the methods employed to
extract the admissions.) Many documented
UFO sightings occurred
throughout the Middle Ages, including an especially startling
one of a UFO over London on 16 December 1742. However, we do not
have room to include any more of the Middle Ages sightings.
Instead, two "more-recent" sightings are contained in this
section to bring us up to modern times.
In a sworn statement dated 21 April 1897, a prosperous and
prominent farmer named Alexander Hamilton (Le Roy, Kansas,
U.S.A.) told of an attack upon his cattle at about 10:30 PM the
previous Monday. He, his son, and his tenant grabbed axes and
ran some 700 feet from the house to the cow lot where a great
cigar-shaped ship about 300 feet long floated some 30 feet above
his cattle. It had a carriage underneath which was brightly
lighted within (dirigible and gondola?) and which had numerous
windows. Inside were six strange looking beings jabbering in a
foreign language.
These beings suddenly became aware
of Hamilton and the others. They immediately turned a
searchlight on the farmer, and also turned on some power which
sped up a turbine wheel (about 30 ft diameter) located under the
craft. The ship rose, taking with it a two-year old heifer which
was roped about the neck by a cable of one-half inch thick, red
material. The next day a neighbor, Link Thomas, found the
animal’s hide, legs and head in his field. He was mystified at
how the remains got to where they were because of the lack of
tracks in the soft soil. Alexander Hamilton’s sworn statement
was accompanied by an affidavit as to his veracity. The
affidavit was signed by ten of the local leading citizens.
On the evening of 4 November 1957 at Fort Itaipu, Brazil, two
sentries noted a "new star" in the sky. The "star" grew in size
and within seconds stopped over the fort. It drifted slowly
downward, was as large as a big aircraft, and was surrounded by
a strong orange glow. A distinct humming sound was heard, and
then the heat struck. A Sentry collapsed almost immediately, the
other managed to slide to shelter under the heavy cannons where
his loud cries awoke the garrison.
While the troops were scrambling
towards their battle stations, complete electrical failure
occurred. There was panic until the lights came back on but a
number of men still managed to see an orange glow leaving the
area at high speed. Both sentries were found badly burned...one
unconscious and the other incoherent, suffering from deep shock.
Thus, UFO sightings not only appear to extend back to 47,000
years through time but also are global in nature. One has the
feeling that this phenomenon deserves some sort of valid
scientific investigation, even if it is a low level effort.
33.3
SOME THEORIES AS TO THE NATURE OF THE UFO PHENOMENON
There are very few cohesive theories as to the nature of UFO’s.
Those theories that have been advanced can be collected in five
groups:
Mysticism
It is believed by some
cults that the mission of UFO’s and their crews is a spiritual
one, and that all materialistic efforts to determine the UFO’s
nature are doomed to failure.
Hoaxes and Rantings due to Unstable
Personalities
Some have suggested that
all UFO reports were the results of pranks and hoaxes, or were
made by people with unstable personalities. This attitude was
particularly prevalent during the time period when the Air Force
investigation was being operated under the code name of
Project
Grudge. A few airlines even went as far as to ground every pilot
who reported seeing a "flying saucer."
The only way for the pilot to regain
flight status was to undergo a psychiatric examination. There
was a noticeable decline in pilot reports during this time
interval, and a few interpreted this decline to prove that UFO’s
were either hoaxes or the result of unstable personalities. It
is of interest that NICAP (The National Investigations Committee
on Aerial Phenomena) even today still receives reports from
commercial pilots who neglect to notify either the Air Force or
their own airline.
There are a number of cases which indicate that not all reports
fall in the hoax category. We will examine one such case now. It
is the Socorro, New Mexico sighting made by police Sergeant
Lonnie Zamora. Sergeant Zamora was patrolling the streets of
Socorro on 24 April 1964 when he saw a shiny object drift down
into an area of gullies on the edge of town. He also heard a
loud roaring noise which sounded as if an old dynamite shed
located out that way had exploded. He immediately radioed police
headquarters, and drove out toward the shed.
Zamora was forced to stop about 150
yards away from a deep gully in which there appeared to be an
overturned car. He radioed that he was investigating a possible
wreck, and then worked his car up onto the mesa and over toward
the edge of the gully. He parked short, and when he walked the
final few feet to the edge, he was amazed to see that it was not
a car but instead was a weird egg-shaped object about fifteen
feet long, white in color and resting on short, metal leg.
Beside it, unaware of his presence
were two humanoids dressed in silvery coveralls. They seemed to
be working on a portion of the underside of the object. Zamora
was still standing there, surprised, when they suddenly noticed
him and dove out of sight around the object. Zamora also headed
the other way, back toward his car. He glanced back at the
object just as a bright blue flame shot down from the underside.
Within seconds the egg-shaped thing rose out of the gully with
"an earsplitting roar."
The object was out of sight over the
nearby mountains almost immediately, and Sergeant Zamora was
moving the opposite direction almost as fast when he met
Sergeant Sam Chavez who was responding to Zamora’s earlier radio
calls. Together they investigated the gully and found the bushes
charred and still smoking where the blue flame had jetted down
on them. About the charred area were four deep marks where the
metal legs had been. Each mark was three and one half inches
deep, and was circular in shape.
The sand in the gully was very hard
packed so no sign of the humanoids’ footprints could be found.
An official investigation was launched that same day, and all
data obtained supported the stories of Zamora and Chavez. It is
rather difficult to label this episode a hoax, and it is also
doubtful that both Zamora and Chavez shared portions of the same
hallucination.
Secret Weapons
A few individuals have
proposed that UFO’s are actually advanced weapon systems, and
that their natures must not be revealed. Very few people accept
this as a credible suggestion.
Natural Phenomena
It has also been
suggested that at least some, and possibly all of the UFO cases
were just mis-interpreted manifestations of natural phenomena.
Undoubtedly this suggestion has some merit. People have
reported, as UFO’s, objects which were conclusively proven to be
balloons (weather and skyhook), the planet Venus, man-made
artificial satellites, normal aircraft, unusual cloud
formations, and lights from ceilometers (equipment projecting
light beams on cloud bases to determine the height of the
aircraft visual ceiling).
It is also suspected that people
have reported mirages, optical illusions, swamp gas and ball
lightning (a poorly-understood discharge of electrical energy in
a spheroidal or ellipsoidal shape...some charges have lasted for
up to fifteen minutes but the ball is usually no bigger than a
large orange.) But it is difficult to tell a swamp dweller that
the strange, fast-moving light he saw in the sky was swamp gas;
and it is just as difficult to tell a farmer that a bright UFO
in the sky is the same ball lightning that he has seen rolling
along his fence wires in dry weather.
Thus accidental mis-identification
of what might well be natural phenomena breeds mistrust and
disbelief; it leads to the hasty conclusion that the truth is
deliberately not being told. One last suggestion of interest has
been made, that the UFO’s were plasmoids from
space... concentrated blobs of solar wind that succeeded in
reaching the surface of the Earth. Somehow this last suggestion
does not seem to be very plausible; perhaps because it ignores
such things as penetration of Earth’s magnetic field.
Alien Visitors
The most stimulating
theory for us is that the UFO’s are material objects which are
either "Manned" or remote-controlled by beings who are alien to
this planet. There is some evidence supporting this viewpoint.
In addition to police Sergeant Lonnie Zamora’s experience, let
us consider the case of
Barney and Betty Hill. On a trip through
New England they lost two hours on the night of 19 September
1961 without even realizing it. However, after that night both
Barney and Betty began developing psychological problems which
eventually grew sufficiently severe that they submitted
themselves to psychiatric examination and treatment.
During the course of treatment
hypnotherapy was used, and it yielded remarkably detailed and
similar stories from both Barney and Betty. Essentially they had
been hypnotically kidnapped, taken aboard a UFO, submitted to
two-hour physicals, and released with post-hypnotic suggestions
to forget the entire incident. The evidence is rather strong
that this is what the Hills, even in their subconscious, believe
happened to them. And it is of particular importance that after
the "post-hypnotic block" was removed, both of the Hills ceased
having their psychological problems.
The Hill’s description of the aliens was similar to descriptions
provided in other cases, but this particular type of alien
appears to be in the minority. The most commonly described alien
is about three and one half feet tall, has a round head
(helmet?), arms reaching to or below his knees, and is wearing a
silvery space suit or coveralls. Other aliens appear to be
essentially the same as Earthmen, while still others have
particularly wide (wrap around) eyes and mouths with very thin
lips.
And there is a rare group reported
as about four feet tall, weight of around 35 pounds, and covered
with thick hair or fur (clothing?). Members of this last group
are described as being extremely strong. If such beings are
visiting Earth, two questions arise: why haven’t they
attempted to contact us officially?
The answer to the first question may
exist partially in Sergeant Lonnie Zamora’s experience, and may
exist partially in
the Tunguska meteor discussed in Chapter
XXIX. In that chapter it was suggested that the Tunguska meteor
was actually a comet which exploded in the atmosphere, the ices
melted and the dust spread out.
Hence, no debris. However, it has
also been suggested that the Tunguska meteor was actually an
alien spacecraft that entered the atmosphere too rapidly,
suffered mechanical failure, and lost its power supply and/or
weapons in a nuclear explosion. While that hypothesis may seem
far fetched, sample of tree rings from around the world reveal
that, immediately after the Tunguska meteor explosion, the level
of radioactivity in the world rose sharply for a short period of
time.
It is difficult to find a natural
explanation for that increase in radioactivity, although the
suggestion has been advanced that enough of the meteor’s great
kinetic energy was converted into heat (by atmospheric friction)
that a fusion reaction occurred.
This still leaves us with no answer
to a second question: why no contact? That question is
very easy to answer in several ways:
1) we may be the object
of intensive sociological and psychological study. In such
studies you usually avoid disturbing the test subjects’
environment
2) you do not "contact" a
colony of ants, and humans may seem that way to any aliens
(variation: a zoo is fun to visit, but you don’t "contact"
the lizards)
3) such contact may have
already taken place secretly
4) such contact may have
already taken place on a different plane of awareness and we
are not yet sensitive to communications on such a plane
These are just a few of the reasons.
You may add to the list as you desire.
33.4
HUMAN FEAR AND HOSTILITY
Besides the foregoing reasons, contacting humans is downright
dangerous. Think about that for a moment! On the microscopic
level our bodies reject and fight (through production
antibodies) any alien material; this process helps us fight off
disease but it also sometimes results in allergic reactions to
innocuous materials. On the macroscopic (psychological and
sociological) level we are antagonistic to beings that are
"different". For proof of that, just watch how an odd child is
treated by other children, or how a minority group is socially
deprived, or how the Arabs feel about the Israelis (Chinese vs.
Japanese, Turks vs. Greeks, etc.)
In case you are hesitant to extend
that concept to the treatment of aliens let me point out that in
very ancient times, possible extraterrestrials may have been
treated as Gods but in the last two thousand years, the evidence
is that any possible aliens have been ripped apart by mobs, shot
and shot at, physically assaulted, and in general treated with
fear and aggression.
In Ireland about 1,000 A.D., supposed airships were treated as "demonships."
In Lyons, France, "admitted" space travelers were killed. More
recently, on 24 July 1957 Russian anti-aircraft batteries on the
Kouril Islands opened fire on UFO’s. Although all Soviet
anti-aircraft batteries on the Islands were in action, no hits
were made. The UFO’s were luminous and moved very fast. We too
have fired on UFO’s. About ten o’clock one morning, a radar site
near a fighter base picked up a UFO doing 700 mph. The UFO then
slowed to 100 mph, and two F-86’s were scrambled to intercept.
Eventually one F-86 closed on the
UFO at about 3,000 feet altitude. The UFO began to accelerate
away but the pilot still managed to get within 500 yards of the
target for a short period of time. It was definitely saucer
shaped. As the pilot pushed the F-86 at top speed, the UFO began
to pull away. When the range reached 1,000 yards, the pilot
armed his guns and fired in an attempt to down the saucer. He
failed, and the UFO pulled away rapidly, vanishing in the
distance.
This same basic situation may have
happened on a more personal level. On Sunday evening 21 August
1955, eight adults and three children were on the Sutton Farm
(one-half mile from Kelly, Kentucky) when, according to them,
one of the children saw a brightly glowing UFO settle behind the
barn, out of sight from where he stood. Other witnesses on
nearby farms also saw the object. However, the Suttons dismissed
it as a "shooting star", and did not investigate. Approximately
thirty minutes later (at 8:00 pm), the family dogs began barking
so two of the men went to the back door and looked out.
Approximately 50 feet away and
coming toward them was a creature wearing a glowing silvery
suit. It was about three and one-half feet tall with a large
round head and very long arms. It had large webbed hands which
were equipped with claws. The two Suttons grabbed a twelve gauge
shotgun and a .22 caliber pistol, and fired at close range. They
could hear the pellets and bullet ricochet as if off of metal.
The creature was knocked down, but jumped up and scrambled away.
The Suttons retreated into the
house, turned off all inside lights, and turned on the porch
light. At that moment, one of the women who was peeking out of
the dining room window discovered that a creature with some sort
of helmet and wide slit eyes was peeking back at her. She
screamed, the men rushed in and started shooting. The creature
was knocked backwards but again scrambled away without apparent
harm. More shooting occurred (a total of about 50 rounds) over
the next 20 minutes and the creatures finally left (perhaps
feeling unwelcome?) After about a two hour wait (for safety),
the Suttons left too.
By the time the police got there, the aliens were gone but the
Suttons would not move back to the farm. They sold it and
departed. This reported incident does bear out the contention
though that humans are dangerous. At no time in the story did
the supposed aliens shoot back, although one is left with the
impression that the described creatures were having fun scaring
humans.
33.5
ATTEMPTS AT SCIENTIFIC APPROACHES
In any scientific endeavor, the first step is to acquire data,
the second step to classify the data, and the third step to form
hypothesis. The hypothesis are tested by repeating the entire
process, with each cycle resulting in an increase in
understanding (we hope). The UFO phenomenon does not yield
readily to this approach because the data taken so far exhibits
both excessive variety and vagueness. The vagueness is caused in
part by the lack of preparation of the observer...very few
people leave their house knowing that they are going to see a
UFO that evening. Photographs are overexposed or underexposed,
and rarely in color. Hardly anyone carries around a radiation
counter or magnetometer. And, in addition to this, there is a
very high level of "noise" in the data.
The noise consists of mistaken reports of known natural
phenomena, hoaxes, reports by unstable individuals and mistaken
removal of data regarding possible unnatural or unknown natural
phenomena (by overzealous individuals who are trying to
eliminate all data due to known natural phenomena). In addition,
those data, which do appear to be valid, exhibit an excessive
amount of variety relative to the statistical samples which are
available. This has led to very clumsy classification systems,
which in turn provide quite unfertile ground for formulation of
hypothesis.
One hypothesis which looked promising for a time was that of
ORTHOTENY (i.e., UFO sightings fall on "great circle" routes).
At first, plots of sightings seemed to verify the concept of orthoteny but recent use of computers has revealed that even
random numbers yield "great circle" plots as neatly as do
UFO
sightings.
There is one solid advance that has been made though. Jacques
and Janine Vallee have taken a particular type of UFO -
namely those that are lower than tree-top level when sighted -
and plotted the UFO’s estimated diameter versus the estimated
distance from the observer. The result yields an average
diameter of 5 meters with a very characteristic drop for short
viewing distances. This behavior at the extremes of the curve is
well known to astronomers and psychologists as the "moon
illusion." The illusion only occurs when the object being viewed
is a real, physical object. Because this implies that the
observers have viewed a real object, it permits us to accept
also their statement that these particular UFO’s had a
rotational axis of symmetry.
Another, less solid, advance made by the Vallee’s was
their plotting of the total number of sightings per week versus
the date. They did this for the time span from 1947 to 1962, and
then attempted to match the peaks of the curve (every 2 years 2
months) to the times of Earth-Mars conjunction (every 2 years
1.4 months). The match was very good between 1950 and 1956 but
was poor outside those limits. Also, the peaks were not only at
the times of Earth-Mars conjunction but also roughly at the
first harmonic (very loosely, every 13 months).
This raises the question why should
UFO’s only visit Earth when Mars is in conjunction and when it
is on the opposite side of the sun. Obviously, the conjunction
periodicity of Mars is not the final answer. As it happens,
there is an interesting possibility to consider. Suppose
Jupiter’s conjunctions were used; they are every 13.1 months.
That would satisfy the observed periods nicely, except for every
even data peak being of different magnitude from every odd data
peak. Perhaps a combination of Martian, Jovian, and Saturnian
(and even other planetary) conjunctions will be necessary to
match the frequency plot...if it can be matched.
Further data correlation is quite difficult. There are a large
number of different saucer shapes but this may mean little. For
example, look at the number of different types of aircraft which
are in use in the U. S. Air Force alone.
In is obvious that intensive scientific study is needed in this
area; no such study has yet been undertaken at the necessary
levels of intensity needed. Something that must be guarded
against in any such study is the trap of implicitly assuming
that our knowledge of Physics (or any other branch of science)
is complete. An example of one such trap is selecting a group of
physical laws which we now accept as valid, and assume that they
will never be superceded.
Five such laws might be:
-
Every action must have an opposite and equal reaction.
-
Every particle in the universe
attracts every other particle with a force proportional to
the product of the masses and inversely as the square of the
distance.
-
Energy, mass and momentum are
conserved.
-
No material body can have a
speed as great as
c, the speed of light in free space.
-
The maximum energy,
E,
which can be obtained from a body at rest is E=mc², where
m
is the rest mass of the body.
Laws numbered 1 and 3 seem fairly
safe, but let us hesitate and take another look. Actually, law
number 3 is only valid (now) from a relativistic viewpoint; and
for that matter so are laws 4 and 5. But relativity completely
revised these physical concepts after 1915, before then
Newtonian mechanics were supreme. We should also note that
general relativity has not yet been verified.
Thus we have the peculiar situation
of five laws which appear to deny the possibility of intelligent
alien control of UFO’s, yet three of the laws are recent in
concept and may not even be valid. Also, law number 2 has not
yet been tested under conditions of large relative speeds or
accelerations. We should not deny the possibility of alien
control of UFO’s on the basis of preconceived notions not
established as related or relevant to the UFO’s.
33.6
CONCLUSION
From available information, the UFO phenomenon appears to have
been global in nature for almost 50,000 years. The majority of
known witnesses have been reliable people who have seen
easily-explained natural phenomena, and there appears to be no
overall positive correlation with population density. The entire
phenomenon could be psychological in nature but that is quite
doubtful.
However, psychological factors
probably do enter the data picture as "noise." The phenomenon
could also be entirely due to known and unknown phenomena (with
some psychological "noise" added in) but that too is
questionable in view of some of the available data.
This leaves us with the unpleasant possibility of alien visitors
to our planet, or at least of alien controlled UFO’s. However,
the data are not well correlated, and what questionable data
there are suggest the existence of at least three and maybe four
different groups of aliens (possibly at different states of
development). This too is difficult to accept. It implies the
existence of intelligent life on a majority of the planets in
our solar system, or a surprisingly strong interest in Earth by
members of other solar systems.
A solution to the UFO problem may be obtained by the long and
diligent effort of a large group of well financed and competent
scientists, unfortunately there is no evidence suggesting that
such an effort is going to be made. However, even if such an
effort were made, there is no guarantee of success because of
the isolated and sporadic nature of the sightings.
Also, there may be nothing to find,
and that would mean a long search with no profit at the end. The
best thing to do is to keep an open and skeptical mind, and not
take an extreme position on any side of the question.
REFERENCES
-
33-1. Davison, L. Flying saucers: AN
Analysis of the Air Force Project Blue Book Special Report No.
14. (Third Edition) Ramsey, New Jersey: Ramsey-Wallace Corp.,
July 1966
-
33-2. Edwards, F. Flying Saucers -
Serious Business. New York: Bantam Press, 1966
-
33-3. Fuller, J. “Flying Saucer
Fiasco” Look. 14 May 1968, 58.
-
33-4. ______. The Interrupted
Journey, New York: Dial Press, 1966.
-
33-5. Hall, R. (editor). The UFO
Evidence. WAshington, D.C.: National Investigations Committee on
Aerial Phenomena, May, 1964.
-
33-6. Jung, C. Flying Saucers; A
Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies. Translated by R.F.
Hull. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1959.
-
33-7. Kehoe, D. The Flying Saucer
Conspircay. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1955.
-
33-8. ____. Flying Saucers: Top
Secret. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1960.
-
33-9. Lorenzen, C. The Great Flying
Saucer Hoax. New York: William Frederick Press, 1962.
-
33-10. Markowitz, W. “The Physics
and Metaphysics of Unidentified Flying Objects,” Science. 15
September 1967, 1274.
-
33-11. Menzel, D. and L. Boyd. The
World of Flying Saucers: A Scientific Examination of a Major
Myth of the Space Age. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1963.
-
33-12. Michel, A. Flying Saucers and
the Straight Line Mystery. New York: Criterion Books, 1958.
-
33-13. Ruppelt, E. The Report on
Unidentified Flying Objects. Garden City, New York: Doubleday,
1956.
-
33-14. Tacker, L. Flying Saucers and
the U.S. Air Force. Princeton, New Jersey: D. Van Nostrand,
1960.
-
33-15. Terry, D. “No Swamp Gas for
Him, Thank You,” St. Louis Dispatch, 2 June 1966, 4F.
-
33-16. Vallee, J. Anatomy of a
Phenomenon: Unidentified Objects in Space - A Scientific
Appraisal. Chicago: Henry Regenry, 1965.
-
33-17. Vallee, J. and J. Vallee.
Flying Saucers a Challenge to Science. New York: Henry Regenry,
1966.
-
33-18. Whitney, D. Flying Saucers.
New York: Cowles Communiactions, 1967.
Back to Contents
(Chapter 33 of “Introductory Space
Science” Physics 370 / Fall Quarter 1970)
33.1 Introduction
In this text, an attempt has been made to discuss all observable
phenomena from the surface of the sun to the surface of the
planets, particularly the planet Earth. It must be admitted,
however, that some phenomena have been overlooked and that
others are not presently explainable. In this latter category we
find “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena.”
This is a very broad, all-inclusive subject since the
“unidentified” depends on the experience and education of the
observer—to an aborigine, an airplane may be “unidentified”
while to the meteorologist even such rare phenomena as thousands
of reports of “unidentified aerial phenomena” in the past
quarter century and a number of these reports are still listed
as “unidentifiable.” This may be due to poor reporting,
incomplete investigation, or to deficiencies in our
understanding of the atmosphere and the universe at large. The
possibility that our scientific knowledge could be increased by
study of these phenomena has led several organizations to
explore the subject further.
The popular literature uses the more restrictive term
“Unidentified Flying Objects” instead of the general
“Unidentified Aerial Phenomena.” Although there is insufficient
evidence that the phenomena are real physical “objects” or
indeed that they are “flying”, we will adopt the popular
terminology to avoid confusion.
Consequently we will define an
“Unidentified Flying Object” (UFO) as any reported aerial
phenomenon or object which is unknown or appears out of the
ordinary to the observer.
While there are purported UFO reports dating from ancient times,
the subject of UFOs really was thrust upon the American public
shortly after World War II when Kenneth Arnold on 24 June 1947
reported seeing nine “saucerlike” objects near Mount Rainier.
This was the first in a series of UFO reports which has
continued to the present. The newly organized U.S. Air Force was
assigned the mission of determining if the UFOs represented a
threat to the national security. The investigation was conducted
under
Project Sign, later Project Grudge, and finally
Project
Blue Book which ended on 17 December 1969.
Because of a rash of UFO reports in 1952 and fears that military
communications channels could be clogged by enemy instigated UFO
reports, a spacial scientific panel chaired by the late Dr. H,
P. Robertson was established under government sponsorship in
January 1953 to study the UFO problem.
The panel concluded that
there was no evidence in the available data that UFOs were a
threat to national security. These scientists recommended that a
campaign be conducted to produce better public understanding of
the situation and also to remove the aura of mystery surrounding
the subject. This latter goal has not yet been completely
achieved.
FALL SEMESTER 1970
After this, Project Blue Book continued to receive and evaluate
UFO reports, but the conclusions reached were not always
accepted by “UFO-logists” and the general public. The Air Force
was often accused of trying to cover up the UFO problem and of
withholding information allegedly indicating that UFOs are
extraterrestrial. Consequently, a panel headed by Dr. Brian
O’Brien was empowered to review Project Blue Book in 1966. While
this commission reaffirmed that there was no apparent security
threat posed by the existence of unexplained UFO reports, it
suggested that a detailed study of some of the reports might
produce something of scientific value.
The commission recommended that a
few selected universities be engaged to provide scientific teams
for prompt investigation of selected UFO sightings.
Consequently, in 1966, the U.S. Air Force sponsored a $500,000
investigation led by Dr. Edward U. Condon of the University of
Colorado to make a scientific investigation of UFOs, not
necessarily to identify UFOs but only to determine if there is
scientific merit in the study of them.
33.2
Hypotheses to Explain UFOs
In any scientific investigation, we establish an hypothesis or
hypotheses, collect data, analyze the data in light of our
hypotheses and then refute or confirm our hypotheses or conclude
that we have insufficient data to do either.
Approximately 6% of the UFO reports collected by Project Blue
Book are officially listed as “unexplained.” If we propose to
“explain” these remaining cases we must first set up a list of
possible explanations. There is always the danger in this
procedure that the true explanation for a particular event is
not contained in the given set of a priori hypo-theses. With
this note of caution before us, we adopt a set of hypotheses
proposed by Dr. James McDonald of the University of Arizona:
1. Hoaxes, fabrications,
and frauds.
2. Hallucinations, mass hysteria, rumor phenomena.
3. Advanced terrestrial technologies.
4. Lay misinterpretations of well understood
physical phenomena.
5. Poorly understood physical phenomena.
6. Poorly understood psychological phenomena.
7. Extraterrestrial visitation.
8. Messengers of salvation and occult truth.
Let us examine each of these in
light of the data collected over the past twenty-plus years.
1. Hoaxes, fabrications,
and frauds. There is no question that some UFO reports are
hoaxes, fabrications, and frauds perpetrated by persons
playing pranks with candles in plastic cleaning bags,
persons faking photographs, persons seeking notoriety or
recognition, and practical jokers. The UFO literature is
replete with examples of all types. However, confirmed
hoaxes are only a small percentage of the total number of
UFO reports, Most reports are by reliable witnesses and show
no evidence of fabrication or fraud.
2. Hallucinations, mass hysteria, rumor phenomena.
There is evidence that UFO reports occur in waves and that a
rash of sightings in a localized area may be due to
increased public sensitivity to an initial report, Some
reports received at these times may indeed be inspired by
the increased attention to UFOs and not true sightings at
all.
However, the large number of
multi- observer reports from independent observers, and
reports from military personnel, airline pilots, policemen,
scientists and other qualified witnesses makes it unlikely
that many UFO reports are the results of hallucinations,
mass hysteria, and rumor phenomena. Psychologists and
sociologists are unable to estimate what portion of UFO
reports may be due to such causes but analysis of the
credentials of witnesses in most reports would indicate that
the number must be small.
3. Advanced terrestrial technologies (e.g. test
vehicles, satellites, re- entry phenomena, secret weapons).
The noted space scientist Arthur C. Clarke has observed that
any sufficiently advanced technology will appear
indistinguishable from magic. Thus advanced terrestrial
technologies are certainly the cause of some reports. The
reported characteristics of UFOs do not appear to have
changed markedly over the years while man has made great
technological progress.
Thus while some current UFO
reports may be attributable to space vehicle re-entries or
satellite launches, the reports in the forties and early
fifties cannot be attributed to these causes.
Similarly, advanced weapon systems in the development and
test stages (secret weapons) now would give rise to a
different type of UFO report from those of earlier eras. The
variety and world-wide distribution of UFO reports make it
unlikely that the reports are due to sightings of products
of an advanced terrestrial technology.
4. Lay misinterpretations of well-understood physical
phenomena (e.g. meteorological, astronomical, optical). From
our definition of UFOs it is obvious that a large number of
reports will fall in this category. Misidentification of
aircraft landing lights, blinking and flashing lights during
aerial refueling operations, weather balloons, meteors,
movements of the planets Venus and Jupiter, searchlight
reflections on low cloud ceilings and lens flares in
photographs are a few possibilities.
The reader can undoubtedly
suggest others and find still more in the UFO literature. In
his article, “The Physics and Metaphysics of Unidentified
Flying Object" (Science, 157, pp. 1274-1279 - 15
September 1967)
Dr. William Markowitz discusses the UFO
problem in light of the currently accepted physical laws. In
particular, he considers the following five basic laws:
a. Every action must
have an equal and opposite reaction.
b. Every particle in the universe attracts every
other particle with a force proportional to the product
of their masses and inversely as the square of the
distance between them.
c. Momentum and mass-energy are conserved.
d. No material body can travel at c, the speed of
light in free space.
e. The maximum energy which can be obtained from
a body at rest is governed by Einstein’s famous
equation, E = mc2
To date these laws have enabled
physicists to predict and control many phenomena for
practical purposes. They can also be valuable in analyzing
UFO reports. The details in most UFO reports do not cause
any conflict with these laws and lead us to conclude that
UFOs may well just be misidentified ordinary phenomena.
However, some reports seem at
variance with one or more of these laws, leading us to
question either the reliability of the UFO reports or the
reliability of our physical laws. Since our physical laws
are more firmly established both in theory and by
experiment, the validity of the physical law is usually a
more acceptable alternative to the scientist. We must
realize, however, that any physical law may be subject to
change with the discovery of new evidence.
5. Poorly understood physical phenomena (e.g. rare
atmospheric electrical effects, cloud phenomena, plasmas of
natural or technological origin). Attempting to explain UFO
reports by some poorly understood phenomenon is risky at
best, and probably is impossible until the phenomenon is
better understood. Lenticular clouds as explanations for
certain UFO reports may be on firm grounds, but attempts to
explain UFOs in terms of mirages, ball lightning (a
sphere-shaped plasma blob usually associated with electrical
storms), atmospheric inversion layers, or anomalous
propagation of radar signals are much less tenable.
Some UFO reports may be
explainable by these phenomena, but it is impossible to make
positive identifications based on our present limited
understanding of the phenomena. Consequently, all such
explanations should be considered only tentative. There may
be still other atmospheric phenomena which are observed so
rarely that they remain uninvestigated and unnamed.
6. Poorly understood psychological phenomena.
Psychologists are the first to admit that there are many
aspects of psychic phenomena that have not been adequately
explored. Few data are available to determine how these
phenomena may relate to the UFO problem, but we must at
least allow for the possibility that there may be some
effects.
7. Extraterrestrial
visitation. Dr. Condon states in the summary of
Scientific
Study of Unidentified Flying Objects that convincing and
unequivocal evidence of extraterrestrial visitation would be
the greatest single scientific discovery in the history of
mankind. While this may be a slight exaggeration, it at
least points out why this hypothesis adds so much excitement
and controversy to the UFO problem. Despite numerous UFO
reports concerning purported space vehicles and alien
visitors, there remains doubt as to the veracity of these
reports. Such reports do, however, contain a number of
strange elements that are verifiable.
One would prefer hard evidence
in the form of a tail fin, a jettisoned propulsion unit, a
crashed UFO, several good photographs, etc. Such physical
evidence does not seem to exist, despite stories to the
contrary. Several scientists have concluded that the priori
probability of extraterrestrial visitation appears to be
exceedingly low in terms of present scientific knowledge.
Although no conclusive proof as to the validity of this
hypothesis can be drawn from the evidence at hand, a panel
of the National Academy of Sciences has concluded that on
the basis of present knowledge, the least Likely explanation
of UFOs is the hypothesis of extraterrestrial visitations by
intelligent beings.
8. Messengers of salvation and occult truth. Certain
cults have adopted the belief that the mission of UFOs is
spiritual and that all Physical efforts to determine the
nature of UFOs must necessarily fail. While such may be the
case, evidence to support it is clearly lacking. Further
discussion of this hypothesis is beyond the scope of this
text.
33.3 Conclusion
Having presented the arguments for each of the hypotheses,
possible conclusions are now considered. It is apparent that
no single hypothesis can account for all UFO reports.
Hypotheses 1, 2, 3, and 4 are
obviously valid and, as a group, account for a large number of
UFO reports. However, the evidence is insufficient to conclude
that all UFO reports can be attributed to these causes.
Hypothesis 8 is unlikely to yield to
any form of scientific analysis, so we eliminate it from further
consideration. If hypotheses 5, 6, and 7 are scientifically the
most interesting since they offer the possibility of new
knowledge about ourselves and our environment.
As indicated above, hypotheses 5 and
6 require additional research on poorly understood phenomena
before conclusions can be reached as to their bearing on the UFO
problem. At this time, there appears to be insufficient evidence
available to either confirm or refute hypothesis 7.
One additional note of caution must
be included at this point. In most of this chapter, we have
discussed primarily the scientific implications of the UFO
question. However, the Lorenzens contend that UFOs are primarily
an emotional problem, secondly a political problem, and only
incidentally, a scientific problem. They feel that when the
emotional and political problems have been resolved, the entire
UFO problem will yield to scientific investigation.
Is such scientific investigation likely to be conducted? At
least one major scientific study has been made. Dr. Condon and
his University of Colorado Project ended their Scientific Study
of Unidentified Flying Objects in late 1968 with the general
conclusion that nothing has come from the study of UFOs in the
past two decades that has added to scientific know-ledge and
that further extensive study of UFOs probably cannot be
justified in the expectation that science will be advanced. This
conclusion and the entire report were endorsed by a select panel
from the National Academy of Sciences.
Based on the conclusions of
The Condon Report and its own
twenty-year UFO experience, the Air Force terminated
Project
Blue Book in December 1969 with this final statement,
“As a result of investigating
UFO reports since 1948, the conclusions of Project Blue Book
are,
(1) no UFO reported,
investigated, and evaluated by the Air Force has ever
given any indication of threat to our national security
(2) there has been no
evidence submitted or discovered by the Air Force that
sightings categorized as ‘unidentified’ represent
technological developments or principles beyond the
range of present-day scientific knowledge
(3) there has been no
evidence indicating that sightings categorized as
‘unidentified’ are extraterrestrial vehicles”
Consequently there is presently no
official government agency investigating UFO reports. Dr.
McDonald and several private UFO investigative agencies have
decried alleged inadequacies of the Condon report and Project
Blue Book and urge that the entire subject be re-investigated.
Specifically, Project Blue Book, during its existence, was
criticized for superficial investigation of UFO reports, low
level of scientific competence among its personnel, and
unreasonable explanations concerning specific UFO reports.
Criticisms of the Condor report
include the contention that the conclusions reached are not
supported by the bulk of the evidence in the report itself and
that the firing of two staff members for “incompetence” before
the completion of the final report raises questions concerning
the objectivity and completeness of the study. While some of the
criticism may possibly be justified, it is unlikely that any new
official scientific studies will be forthcoming, primarily
because the conclusions of the Condon report have been so widely
accepted.
The UFO problem must now compete on its scientific merit with
all the other pressing scientific problems facing mankind. To
receive attention from scientists and the requisite economic
support, the potential rewards from UFO research must be shown
to be commensurate with the resources expended. Although the
Condon committee cautioned that nothing worthwhile was likely to
result from such research, it suggested that all of the agencies
of the federal government and private foundations should be
willing to consider UFO research proposals along with the others
submitted to them on an open minded, unprejudiced basis.
REFERENCES
1. Air Force Regulation 80-i7,
Unidentified Flying Objects, 19 Sept 66, (Rescinded 25 March
1970),
2. Binder, Otto , What We Really Know About Flying Saucers,
Greenwich, Conn: Fawcett Publications, 1967,
3. Condon, Edward U., Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying
Objects, New York: Bantam Rooks, 1967.
4. Lorenzen, Carol and Jim, UFO’s-The W@ole Story. New York:
Signet Books, 1969.
5. Markowitz, William, “The Physics and Metaphysics of
Unidentified Flying Objects,” Science, Vol. 157 pp. 1274-1279,
15 Sept 67.
6. McDonald, James E., Unidentified
Flying Objects-Greatcst Scientific Problem of Our Times.,
Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh Subcommittee, NICAP, 1967.
7. McDonald, James E., “UFO’s—An International Scientific
Problem,” speech presented 12 Mar 68 at the Canadian Aeronautics
and Space Institute, Astronautics Symposium, Montreal, Canada.
8. OASD(PA) News Release No. 1077-69, Project “Blue Book”
Terminated.
9. Saunders, D.R. and R.R. Harkins, UFO’s? Yes, Where the Condon
Committee Went Wrong, New York: Signet Books, 1968.
** End of article **
* SLMR 2.1a * =-=-=-=-=-=> Fido UFO Echo Moderator <<=-=-=-=-=-=
--- GEcho 1.00
Origin: Land of Imagica - Deltona Florida - (407) 860-6257 -
(1:3618/24)
Back to Contents
|