Hush hush it's a UFO

Dear readers

Adelaide continues with its cold spell. Rain and hail yesterday. With the temperatures this low it has been an ideal time to revisit parts of my recent read "The UFO Files: The Inside Story of Real-Life Sightings" by David Clarke.

I was interested in the concept that although authorities knew the cause of a UFO sighting, the general public was kept in the dark, due to security concerns.

One example, given by Clarke, occurred on 3 November 1953 when a Vampire aircraft from RAF West Malling at 20,000 feet saw a "...very bright object straight ahead at a much higher altitude...shaped like a doughnut with 'a bright light around the periphery.'" A newspaper found that "...a Territorial Army Unit tracked 'a very large echo' on their radar moving at 60,000 feet over London." page 58.

The Secretary of State for Air said "The object seen on radar over London...has been traced to balloons released by the Meteorological Office..." page 58. Clarke comments "A declassified history of balloon operations by the USAF Missile Development Center in 1958 reveals that balloon launch number 175, launched from Holloman, New Mexico, on 27 October 1953, failed to drop into the Atlantic at the end of a scheduled 12 hour flight. Six days later it was this, cruising at high altitude over Kent, that was spotted by the RAF crew and which prompted flying saucer questions in Parliament " page 62.

What interests me was that "A former member of the Skyhook project staff,Duke Gildenberg, revealed in 2004, that British intelligence concluded this UFO was the Skyhook balloon but could not reveal the truth because the project was classified top secret at the time." page 62.

Another example noted, was when 43 Squadron in RAF Nicosia in July 1958 "...tried to intercept an unidentified, high flying aircraft, [at an estimated height] of 65,000 feet over the Mediterranean...crews assumed the aircraft which had 'a short stubby fuselage with very high aspect ratio wings' was the U-2 but the RAF could not confirm this identification as the project was highly classified at the time." page 63.

One wonders how often this type of behaviour occurs?