Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) and Vallee's "Capella" Project

Introduction

Twitter user @Jay09784691 keeps coming up with interesting information regarding Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS). His latest was contained in a tweet dated 6 November 2018.

"As far as I can tell there's a data warehouse from Bigelow called "Capella" (2008-2011). It's referenced in this Vallee presentation from 2014. Also BAASS ended in the 00's.Contained photos, radar data, recordings, videos, maps & satellite views. www-togepain02.cnes.fr/fileadmion/documents/15-VALLEE_sli.pdf."

Further information

I went to the slide presentation and the following are the three relevant slides:

Although these three slides do not state that the "Capella" Project belonged to BAASS, a fourth slide titled: "A brief history" (concerning data collection activities) lists NIDS and BAASS. In addition,  the 2008-2011 date range is indicative of the BAASS era, especially their contract with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) for work on the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP.)

Another file 

I then found another PDF file which contained the text of Vallee's Paris presentation. Here, on page four there is:

"In the United States the National Institute for Discovery Science ("NIDS") and the Bigelow Aerospace Corporation have initiated a series of special catalogues to safeguard their own reports from public source and from their staff. The author was tasked with the development of a data warehouse consisting of 11 separate data bases to support this research. The project is known as "Capella."

So, we are now sure that it was Vallee who developed "Capella."

Later on page six we find:

"The "Capella" Data Warehouse concept. The overall data structure for Capella has been published in both French and English on the author's website (www.jacquesvallee.com) under the title: "A system of Classification and Reliability Indicators for the Analysis of the Behavior of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena." The data warehouse uses a 6-layer system to describe the behavior of the phenomenon. It is detailed in reference 10 below, which is also available on the website."

Reference 10 is "Vallee, Jacques F. and Davis, Eric W." "Incommensurability, Orthodoxy and the Physics of High Strangeness: a 6-layer model  for anomalous phenomena." In Proceedings of the International Forum "Ciencia, Religiao e Consciencia, Fernando Pessao University, Porto (Portugal) 23-25 October 2003, pp 223-239." The paper refers to six layers of UAP information, namely:

1. Physical.
2. Anti-physical.
3. The psychology of the witnesses and the social conditions which surround them.
4. Physiological reactions.
5. Psychic.
6. Cultural.

I found no reference to "Capella" in this paper.

Classification paper

The system of classification paper was published in April 2007 and provides a classification of anomalies

It then goes on to describe a classification system for observed maneuvres, and flybys. Finally it describes a system for the report's credibility where S = reliability of source; V = did a site visit occur? and p = probability of a natural explanation. Vallee notes that this system was in use by NIDS. There is no mention of either BAASS or "Capella" in this paper.

When was "Capella" in use?

I note that the 2014 Paris presentation states, that "Capella" was in use 2008-2011. I also note that on this slide Vallee has himself stated:

"As in the case of many prior efforts, secondary level of screening and follow-up were not implemented, hence signal/noise remained poor;" and "Data mining on messy data is worse than doing nothing!"

Five more pieces of information

1. I checked copies of Vallee's books for references to "Capella" as a project (not the star named Capella). I found one and only one reference. This appeared in "Forbidden Science" Volume two page 72 which read:

"At Hynek's request I have updated my proposal for a research center, Project Capella. He is still trying to get it funded by the Oklahoma heiress."

2. Hal Puthoff, in his 8 June 2018 address to the Las Vegas SSE/IRVA conference stated:

"We as part of this program looked at some cases that were really good from Brazil. In 1977, 78, it was like Close Encounters of the Third Kind. A thousand pages of documents all done by the Brazilian Air Force investigative team, 500 photographs, 15 hours of motion film, a lot of medical injuries..."

Is this the sort of material which was coded for "Capella" databases?

3. I looked at the roles described on the LinkedIn website by a number of former BAASS employees. There I found:

a. Research analyst- French translator.
January 2009- January 2011.
"Started the translation department to develop accurate procedure to analyse and process data translation French to English."

b. Research analyst.
April 2009-May 2010.
No other information shown.

c. Senior data analyst.
March 2009 - May 2010.
"Database developer, tableau evaluation and reports."

4. Thanks to Twitter user Dennis @UAPreality for a lead to a 27 July 2014 interview on "Coast to Coast." This was between journalist George Knapp and Jacques Vallee, and titled "George Knapp the secret UFO conference that no one knows about." They discussed the 2014 Paris meeting. During this interview Vallee stated that 15 years ago he developed a data warehouse called Capella. He implemented it with Bigelow and NIDS. Vallee said that the warehouse had now grown, and he was ready now to take it to the next level. He had conversations after the Paris meeting with other experts in data bases and UFO researchers. He then said that we had missed a number of things that the data bases did not contain. He went on to mention Dick Haine's pilot reports and Chris Aubeck's ancient ufo cases. A lot had been undertaken outside of formal UFO groups, usually by a single individual assisted by a small team.

5. Thanks to Face Book user M J Banias for a lead to an article by author Diana Walsh Pasulka  This was an interview between Pasulka and Jacques Vallee, dated 21 November 2016. Part of the response by Vallee read:

"For those who have just discovered the world of "big data" because of the exploits of super computers winning at chess or GO against the best human champions, the technology seems almost magical: dump unstructured threads of information into a large binary warehouse and let "deep thinking" extract the salient patterns.

The technology works when the data itself is well-behaved, in particular for consumer trends, industrial maintenance and medical research. When the subject area lacks an ontology, as in the case of unidentified aerial phenomena, the same techniques are problematic because the software is likely to extract spurious or misleading patterns."

Has any blog reader further information on the "Capella" Project?

Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Twitter user @Jay09784691, in a tweet dated today, tweeted that:

"Harry Reid Center for Environmental Studies released a newsletter in 2010 that links BAASS with a 'Nuclear Materials Group.'"

@Jay09784691 provided a link to a seven page PDF file.

Newsletter

The PDF file was a copy of the Harry Reid Center for Environmental Studies, University of Nevada at Las Vegas, Spring 2010 Newsletter titled "HRCeNews -2010, Spring." Page three carried a short item which read:

"The Nuclear Materials Group (lead: Dr Thomas Hartmann) has established a formal collaboration with the Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS). The collaboration provides analytical assistance to BAASS for characterizing solid phases and precipitates."

Question

@Jay09784691 posed a question in his tweet:

"Do we know if BAASS studied normal issue, or were specifically tied to phenomena?"

My thoughts on this question are reflected in a statement on the Bigelow Aerospace website of September 2008.

"Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS), a sister company to Bigelow Aerospace, is a newly formed research organization that focuses on the identification, evaluation and acquisition of novel and emerging future technologies worldwide as this specifically relates to spacecraft. BAASS is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada."

A search of Nevada State records reveals that BAASS was created in January 2008. In September 2008 BAASS received a contract as a result of its bid arising from the 18 August 2008 Defense Intelligence Agency's solicitation for work on its Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP.) 

It would seem to me, that the answer to Jay's question, was that in the time period September 2008 to 2010 (at least), BAASS was focused solely on phenomena related work.

Search for more data

I conducted a search of the websites for both the University of Nevada, at Las Vegas, and the University of Nevada, at Reno, for additional references to BAASS in the 2008 to 2010 time frame, but found nothing more. 

I checked my list of Defense Intelligence Reference Documents (DIRDs) as supplied to us by KLAS-TV reporters George Knapp and Matt Adams, to see whether or not Dr Thomas Hartmann was one of the 37 named authors. He was not. (A 38th DIRD author's name was redacted.)

I found one "Research scientist/Engineer" who according to their LinkedIn profile, worked at BAASS between July 2009 and June 2010. In August 2010, {Spring 2010 is March to May 2010] this individual went to work as a Nuclear Engineering researcher at the University of Nevada, at Las Vegas. Whether or not this was in the "Nuclear Materials Group" is unknown. 

I found that Dr Thomas Hartmann was still at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and so I sent him an email, and quoted the relevant paragraph from the Spring 2010 HRCeNews. I have asked Dr Hartmann if he can provide any further details of the University/BAASS connection? I will report back if I receive any response.

Source: https://www.unlv.edu/people/thomas-hartmann-phd

Dr Hartmann is an Associate Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department. His areas of expertise are listed as "Nuclear waste forms, advanced nuclear fuels, x-ray crystallography and solid phase analysis." He holds a Diploma in Mineralogy, University of Heidelberg; and a Ph.D in Minerology from the University of Heidelberg.

Solid phase analysis

Typing the words "solid phase analysis" into a search engine leads to articles about "solid phase extraction" (SPE). Here, SPE "is a sample preparation process by which compounds that are dissolved or suspended in a liquid mixture are separated from other compounds in the mixture according to their physical and chemical properties. Analytical laboratories use solid phase extraction to concentrate and purify samples for analysis."

In short

It would seem that Jay has discovered that BAASS, in mid 2010, contracted the University of Nevada, at Las Vegas, to assist with analysis of materials.Whether these materials were related to UAP is not known for certain. However, on the basis of probability,and what we already know that BAASS was undertaking; my guess, is that it was related to UAP.

Dr James T Lacatski, AAWSAP Program Manager's career "ruined"

Who is Dr James Thomas Lacatski?

In a blog post dated 1 May 2018, and titled  "AATIP or AAWSA" I wrote, in part, about those Defense Intelligence Reference Documents" (DIRDs) which had been circulating on the Internet since December 2017. Each of the three available DIRD's made mention of the fact that the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) Program Manager, at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) was one James T Lacatski, D. Eng.

Research

I undertook some research into who James T Lacatski was, and wrote up my then findings in the 1 May 2018 blog. Since then I have been able to find out a little more about him. To recap, I found that his full name was James Thomas Lacatski with a date of birth of 9 January 1951.

Between 1984-1986 he was a joint author of a number of technical  papers about plasma engineering studies in Torsatron reactors. In 1986 he was an Engineer Assistant in the Nuclear Design Section of Duke Power Company, responsible for reactor core design, startup and operating predictions and plant support.

I failed to locate any publicly available information on him during the 1987-2003 period. In June 2004 a James Lacatski, Intelligence Officer, Missile Defense, Defense Intelligence Agency, attended a UK conference titled "Ballistic Missile Defence." In January 2005, James T Lacatski was promoted to GG-14 within the DIA.

In August 2008, Dr James T Lacatski was designated as the COR and government project leader in the DIA's AAWSAP solicitation number HHM402-08-R-0211.

In April 2009, the DIA's own internal magazine "Communique" showed him as celebrating 10 years Federal service. 

In August 2016 Lacatski attended an energy conference, and listed a DIA email address as his contact details.

I located details showing that his wife Wisal Abouo Lacatski had worked for NASA (at least around 1997.)

That then is a summary of publicly available information about James Thomas Lacatski. Using public data, I spent some time trying to contact Lacatski to ask him a number of questions about his involvement with the AAWSAP/AATIP. I was unsuccessful. Indeed, I know of no one who has successfully located and interviewed Lacatski about his knowledge in this area. He certainly has not publicly surfaced and given a widely reported interview. On a number of occasions, the former (second) AATIP manager, Luis Elizondo has referred to the former (first) manager of the program, without using his name.

A rare 1986 photograph of Lacatski

New information

On 1 November 2018, the To The Stars Academy (TTSA) website blog featured a blog post  by Luis Elizondo, titled "What We Know And What We Believe Are Not Always The Same Thing. How our perception of Fact Influences Our Worldview." Part of this blog post provides some new information about James T Lacatski (although Elizondo, again, does not name him.)

"UAP has even been associated with demons and anti-Judea Christian beliefs.

I experienced this first hand during my time working at the US Government's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), where certain senior government officials thought our collection of facts on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) was dangerous to their philosophical beliefs.

In fact, my AATIP predecessor's career was ruined because of misplaced fear by an elite few. Rather than accept the data as provided by a top-rank rocket scientist, they decided the data was a threat to their belief system and instead, destroyed his career because of it."

This is a very interesting statement by Elizondo, and goes a long way to explaining why Lacatski has not appeared in the public realm discussing his knowledge of the program and topic.

Update:

27 November 2021

A March 1991 Naval Research Laboratory document, titled "Density channel Tracking Study on Pulserad'" shows one James T. Lacatski, System Planning Corporation, Arlington, on the document's distribution list. Thanks to Octavian Marnescu for finding this document. 

More documents on the Boiani CE3 case found at CUFOS

Collecting material

For many years, I have had a large collection of material on the June 1959, Boiani, Papua New Guinea CE3 case involving the Reverend Father William Booth Gill.

There are numerous Australian documents in that collection, e.g. the 28 October 1959, Melbourne, Victorian Flying Saucer Research Society (VFSRS) transcript of a talk by Gill himself; and the 25 November 1959 letter to the Right Honorable R G Menzies, signed by the heads of the five main Australian flying saucer groups of that time.

The former US government Project Blue Book had a case file, based on information forwarded by the US Air Attache for Australia, one Mance C Smith, Major, USAF.

The Project Blue Book record card

US researcher Michael Swords' digitised collection contains two Reverend Gill files, one of 65 pages, and the other of 161 pages in length. Here we find photographs of the area; sketches of the village layout; location maps; and copies of the articles which appeared in such publications as the International UFO Reporter, and the English Flying Saucer Review.

Other PNG material

To add to the information on reports from that area, and based on a search through a variety of Australian government files, I compiled a catalogue of reports from Papua New Guinea, between 1953 and 1971. In addition, I located a number of relevant Australian government agency files, namely:

File series A452, control symbol 1969/4393 titled "UFOs and mysterious happenings Papua and New Guinea," 1957-1973.

File series MT1131/1,  control symbol A31/1/133 titled "Unidentified aircraft Papua and New Guinea," 1958-1959.

Barry Greenwood and CUFOS

So, when Boston researcher and historian Barry Greenwood visited the files of the Center for UFO Studies in Chicago recently, and later advised that he was sending Melbourne researcher Paul Dean and I a batch of four PDF files relating to Boiani, I eagerly awaited their arrival. In due course along they came.

PDF 1. This consisted of two pages, which were new to me. They were two photographs of the view from where Gill stood, looking away from the ocean and towards the surrounding mountains.One was a colour photograph of the scene and on the other someone had drawn shapes and notations which read "from w. door" and "from behind store." These locations can be seen in a sketch I have attached at the end of this post.

PDF 2. This consisted of a one page artist's impression of the event, which I had previously seen.

PDF 3.Here were 131 pages of documents. New to me here were:

1. A series of newspaper clippings, which included:

 "The New York Times" 29 Sep 1959 "Flying saucer spotted"

"New Zealand Herald" 17 Aug 1959 "'Saucer activity' in New Guinea"

"Sun" (Melbourne) " 29 Oct 1959 "He saw 'mystery craft in the sky'"

"Daily News" (Taranaki, New Zealand) "17 Aug 1959 "Priest reports Flying Saucers carrying 'men'"

"Sun" (Melbourne) 17 Aug 1959 "12 saw a saucer says NG Priest."

These examples of articles about the sightings, indicate that by as early as mid August 1959, details of the events at Boiani were appearing in the world press.

2. A series of correspondence which included:

a. Letters between Peter Norris of the VFSRS and the US UFO group National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP.) I show examples below:

This shows that Norris was providing copies of relevant documents, including copies of correspondence with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and members of the Australian parliament to NICAP. In addition, he provided his views on the main witness, the reverend Gill, e.g.

"In essence, Gill is scholarly, detached and conservative and I am satisfied that his report, sensational though it is, has been understated rather then exaggerated." [Norris to NICAP, 31 Oct 1959.]


b. Letters between Peter Norris of VFSRS and members of the Australian parliament:

One parliamentarian, S P Cash, MP, asked a question in the Australian Parliament on 24 Nov 1959:

"Unidentified Flying Objects
Mr Cash - My question is directed to the Minister for Air. Do the Australian and overseas Air Forces exchange information about the frequent sightings throughout the world of unidentified flying objects usually known as UFOs? Further, have RAAF officers investigated reports of recent sightings of mysterious objects in the skies over Papua and New Guinea?"

There were other pieces of correspondence in this PDF between Norris and the RAAF, but the contents of these have been known for some time.

c. Miscellaneous letters, including between the Reverend Gill and J Allen Hynek.

3. Miscellaneous items which included:

a. Various sketches eg:

In conclusion

I wish to thank Barry Greenwood for his untiring efforts to preserve such material for us all to be able to read. The additional material, new to me, which I have outlined above, adds to our understanding of the events of June 1959.

Some new information from the 27 October 2018, Centro Ufologico Nazionale talk by Luis Elizondo

Background

Former head of the US government Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP,) Luis Elizondo, gave a presentation at a meeting in Rome, organized by the Centro Ufologico Nazionale (CUN.) A video of his presentation, along with other presenters including Tom DeLonge, may be viewed here

Source: https://dpo.tothestarsacademy.com/#the-team

On 30 October 2018, researcher Joe Murgia posted a transcript of the Elizondo talk. I wish to thank Joe for undertaking this transcription. Joe's work may be viewed here  or on Twitter at@ufojoe11. Quotations from the Elizondo talk are taken, with permission and acknowledgment, from Joe's transcript. I have also viewed the video presentation myself and taken my own notes.

Items of interest

Naturally, I was particularly interested to hear of anything new, which hasn't already been made available through a range of interviews between various individuals and Elizondo. So, the following points attracted my attention.

1. "Early 1980s. US service members in England, over a period of three days, encountered what cannot be described as anything else than extraordinary...several of these individuals that were involved In that incident, I had the privilege of debriefing myself. Furthermore, information involving this incident, within the next four months, will be forthcoming...The capabilities that were stored at that facility, were highly sophisticated and may have even led to UAP interest."

Comment: This refers to the 1980 Rendlesham, England events, well known to UAP researchers. The words "The capabilities that were stored at that facility, were highly sophisticated..." would appear to refer to nuclear weapons stored at the US base in the UK. This adds to comments made earlier by Elizondo that "Several of our nuclear silos along the northern tier, were temporally brought down."

I understand from US sources, that Robert Hastings who has focused on the relationship between nuclear weapons/bases/technology and UAPs, has spent time discussing this very issue with Elizondo. I look forward to the information to be revealed in four months time.

2. "In the late 1980's, we continued to have a steady stream of Soviet defectors. And on rare occasions they would share with us, insights into the Russian UAP program."

Comment: I hadn't personally previously heard anyone mention this as a fact.

3. In referring to a slide which showed part of an image of the August 2008 Defense Intelligence Agency solicitation for bids for work on the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications program (AAWSAP), (clearly AAWSAP and not AATIP,) Elizondo stated "This slide is verbatim what the focus of AATIP was and what $22 million purchased."

Comment: The slide itself is titled "AATIP contract focus" yet is clearly labelled a solicitation for the AAWSAP not AATIP. If Elizondo continues to mix up references to the AATIP and the AAWSAP, then what hope have mere mortals like us got, when trying to unravel the program?

4. In discussing the nature of UAPs ability re sudden acceleration, Elizondo said "The objects we're witnessing are experiencing G forces well in excess of 200."

Comment: Compare this 200 G figure, with the Elizondo's comparison to the perhaps 9 G force experienced by a fighter jet, and the 20 G force which might cause structural damage to an aircraft. 

5. Speaking of hypersonic velocity, Elizondo says "In some cases, these objects have been observed flying at 8000 mph and faster."

Comment: Here is one of the limitations of a talk of this nature. No references are cited at all for either the 200 G or 8000 mph figures. It is a pity this wasn't a written paper with precise citations.

6. "And our US government is engaged at a level that I've never seen before...These are individuals who have constituents..."

Comment: "Individuals who have constituents..." appears to refer to Senators and members of the House of Representatives of the US Congress. This would appear to reinforce the current understanding that members of Congress are actively engaging in a search for information and data.

7. A slide titled "What is happening Now with TTSA? shows a series of 12 images of what appear to be physical "samples" of some kind. Elizondo says "These are actual photographs of material in our possession."

Comment" Several of these images are readily identifiable as images of alleged UAP material, already known about by UAP researchers, e.g. the "Bob White artifact."

8. In the question and answer portion of the presentation, one questioner asks "Can you see the field?" Elizondo responds " We can. In some cases, if we know what to look for we can actually see a distortion around these craft. Surrounded it. We believe its a result of the propulsion system that's being used. In essence, an event horizon is created..."

9. Another questioner asked "When you are talking about highly advanced engineered material, it kind of implies there's an intelligence behind all those phenomena..." Elizondo said "My colleagues and I during the time of AATIP were very confident that there are certainly intelligently controlled. Now whether that means there's something inside it or its something remotely controlled  like a UAV, both are still an option."

Thanks to CUN for hosting this presentation which allows us to gain further insight into the work of To The Stars Academy, and access Elizondo's personal knowledge.

Update 6 April 2019

Centro Ufologico Nazionale

On 27 October 2018, former manager of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, Luis Elizondo gave a talk in Rome, Italy, hosted by the Centro Ufologico Nazionale (CUN.) One of his presentation slides was titled "What is happening with TTSA?"

Referring to the slide, Elizondo stated "These are actual photographs of material in our possession." A low resolution photograph of this slide was posted on Face Book, and a number of researchers, including myself, attempted to see if we could identify any of the samples shown on the slide.

 Three were readily identifiable as 7) from "Arts Parts - the bismuth/magnesium sample; 4) Tiffin-Ohio, 2003 -Ed's sample; and 11) Colorado/Nevada border 1985/1987 - the Bob White artifact.

A new, higher resolution image of the slide has now surfaced, thanks to CUN and a lead from Giuliano Marinkovec.  Here is that image:

I have separated the 12 images below:

Image 1

Image 2

Image 3

Image 4

Here is an image which appears to be the same fragment:

The comparison image comes from a report titled "Two cases of Unusual Sky-Fall Aluminum Metal from Ohio," by N A Reiter and Patricia Mason dated 24 June 2008. It describes the finding in a yard, in early Spring 2003, in Tiffin, Ohio. The fragment has become known as "Ed's" sample.

Image 5

Image 6

Image 7

The following comparison image is from Linda Moulton Howe's Earthfiles.

The fragment is said to have come from an anonymous source which stated that the material was from a UFO which crashed between the San Mateo Mountains and Sierra Blanca, West of Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947. Multiple analysis results have been published.

Image 8

In my catalogue titled "A catalogue of alleged "fragments" reportedly associated with sightings of Unidentified Flying Objects where analysis(es) was conducted," I record details of three samples/fragments from the 1980 Rendlesham Forest, United Kingdom incident. These are:

1. 1980. Fine shavings.
2. 1980. "Wad" or "stick" of plastic material.
3. 1980. Chunk of silver metal.

From the above image it is not possible to say what might be in the container.


Image 9

Image 10

Image 11

The following comparison image comes from a YouTube video.

The fragment is reported to have fallen off a UFO near the Colorado/Nevada border in either 1985 or 1987. Several analyses have been previously reported upon.

Image 12

A call for assistance

Can anyone identify the other fragments/samples?

The 4 December 1980, Perth, radar/visual case - new data

Ray Brooke

In a previous post I mentioned the passing of South Australian UAP researcher Ray Brooke, and the fact that Ray's daughter Louise had given me some of Ray's UAP papers. Buried in these papers were details of the Perth radar/visual case of 4 December 1980, some of which I had never heard of before.

Background

It turns out that five years after the event was briefly summarised in "The ACUFOS Bulletin" of January 1981, Peter Zehmeister of the group South-West UFO Research & Investigations (Tasmania) had quietly conducted an investigation into the incident. Ray Brooke had acquired a copy of Peter's investigation papers.

Media articles

One of the things which Peter had done, was to contact the West Australian Newspaper Limited and obtain relevant press clippings from them. namely:

1. The "West Australian" dated 5 December 1980.

"Mystery objects tracked.

Unidentified Flying Objects were tracked on radar at Perth airport yesterday. Air traffic Controllers made two or three visual sightings between 8am and 11am. Danielle Russell (12) of Jennings Way, Lockridge saw four objects moving quickly across the sky from north to south about 11am. She said "When I first  saw them through the lounge-room window I thought they were birds or a plane. They were changing colour from red, blue and green."

The Regional Director of transport, Mr Ellis Kell, said last night that the silver tumbling discs were tracked on radar at a height of more than  8000 metres until they disappeared at more than 20,000m.

There were no aircraft or weather balloons in the area to explain the sighting.

A spokesman at RAAF Pearce, Wing Commander Ian Lindsay, said last night that an object picked up by radar at the base between 1pm and 1.30pm turned out to be a weather balloon. It had been released after the airport sightings. A Macchi jet had gone up after Perth Airport reported the first sightings, but had seen nothing."

2. The "West Australian" dated 6 December 1980.

"Riddle of UFOs unsolved.

The mystery of the Unidentified Flying Objects that were seen and tracked on radar on Thursday may never be solved. The RAAF is handling the investigation but is concerned only with establishing that there were no aircraft or obvious objects such as weather balloons in its air space.

Two or three sightings of the objects were made at Perth Airport by air traffic controllers between 8am and 11am. They were tracked on radar at a height of more than 8000 metres till they disappeared at more than 20,000 metres. 

It has been established that there were no aircraft in the area. An RAAF spokesman said that the atmospheric conditions were unusual on Thursday and this could have accounted for the sightings."

3. The "Western Mail" dated 5 December 1980.

"Mystery objects baffle RAAF

Four unidentified flying objects, sighted over Perth, have the RAAF baffled. The UFOs were seen by Mr Graham Moyle, an air traffic controller at Perth Airport. And the Department of Transport confirmed that they had been tracked on radar from 8000 metres to 20,000 metres. Then they disappeared.

Wing Commander Ian Lindsay, Administrative staff officer at Pearce Air Base, said the RAAF had "eliminated all sequences of events" in their air space and could not account for the UFOs. They also sent up a Macchi jet after Perth Airport reported the first of three visual sightings. But the pilot saw nothing.

The airport sightings were made between 8am and 11am yesterday and a 12 year old girl also reported seeing four objects speed across the sky about 11am. Danielle Russell of Jennings Way, Lockridge said they were changing colour from red, blue and green. "At first I thought they were birds or a plane."

A spokesman for the Commonwealth Department of Transport in Perth said the objects may have disappeared from the radar screen at 20,000 metres after moving into a "cone of silence" a sort of radar blind spot, or because they were out of range of the equipment being used to track them. Or they might have just disappeared."

Air traffic control "daily journal"

Another item which Peter was able to secure was a copy of the Air Traffic Control "Daily Journal" which recorded details of events from that day. This was supplied to him by Duncan S. Asquith-Ellis, of the Department of Aviation, Perth Airport. 

2338 [GMT 3 Dec 1980 - KB]  UFO Reported by TWR. First sighted by RFF 15 min ago glinting in sun. Sighted by TWR. Radar had a paint for 5 mins (From 097 degrees/6nm -  into cone of silence of radar). Tower also lost sight of it then (5min ago). Radar estim G/s 120 kts in S/E direction (against wind). Painting quite clearly seen until cone of silence. PE FPO advised PR radar not yet manned. 

0330 [GMT 4 Dec 1980 - KB] Mrs? Russell 2796181 reported watching 4 discs "tumbling" and flashing in the sun.Moving from a very high posn near Lockridge moving towards PH AD. PE FPO will ask UFO Officer. PH radar reports 4 returns 045 degrees/5 PH AD moving SE 20 kts. Will check with PE App.

Lockridge and Perth Airport

0340 PH TWR sights 4 objects. Radar positions of 4 returns agrees with TWR sightings.

0405 PH radar advise the tracks taken by these 4 would be identical with 2338 sighting.

0422 Radar adv PE had return on QUAD radar 18nm due south of PE @ 26,000ft. TWR sighted an object vertically above Rwy 20 paralleling centreline to S. 5min later altitude now 72000 ft."

Pearce (in suburb of Bullsbrook) and Perth Airport

You need to know the following to be able to decipher parts of the above text:

All times are GMT. 

PH = Perth  AD = Aerodrome  PE = RAAF Pearce  FPO = Flight Planning Office  NM = Nautical mile  QUAD = Quadrant radar RFF = Fire fighting unit. 

Ground observers

On Friday 20 October 1985 Peter interviewed the Russells. His notes read as follows:

" Q1. Mrs Russell, I was wondering if you could tell me the events of 4 December 1980?

 A.  I was sitting in the lounge, and my daughter was looking out the lounge room window north towards Broome, and she said, what's that up in the sky, and we didn't take much notice of her, you know, we made the usual small remarks about  "Superman" and what not, and the look on her face was pretty intense so we looked  and sure enough there were these four objects there. And they seemed to b changing colour, they went from red, to green, but they were spinning you know, and as they were spinning the colours where they were catching the light or not, but the colours were changing. They actually did a ballet up there with very intricate passing and maneuvering. They were up there for quite some time.

I came in and phoned the airport, and they said they were tracking them. I phoned the airport and they phoned Pearce. Apparently  Pearce did have a plane up, but we did not hear any more about it, because the media chose to use my daughter's name. She was only twelve at the time. But apart from being told that they were tracking and they did have a plane up, nobody said yea, we saw it too. We have got a six foot wall around our home, we had a barbecue and we  watched them, for, it must have been for a good 2-3 minutes after I made the  phone call. But the strange thing about it was, that it was a beautiful day, it was not hot, everything was deadly quiet! There wasn't even a bird! No birds made any noise it was just no noise at all, everything seemed to stop.

Q2. Are there usually birds in the area?

A2. Oh yes, we are a part of the bush. There wasn't a sound. We all remarked on that.

Q3. What were the shapes of the objects?

A3. They were circular.

Q4 Did they seem to change shape at all?

A4. No, no change of shape at all, only this sort of a "ballet dance": and going round each other. It was very disciplined very disciplined. And at terrific speed, and then they sort of came over the house, and stopped above us. They just sort of stayed there, and we said we have got a boarding kennels for cats here and as I said oh perhaps they have some monkeys on board they want to drop off. They hovered there for about three or four seconds and then they went at terrific speed south. 

Q5. Was there any physical reaction at all?

A5 No, nothing.We were awed, just completely fascinated by this.

Q6. How did you feel when all this was going on?

A6. Ah, we were interested and fascinated,but no displacement, we talked about it a lot afterward. No we did not have any adverse effects at all. I always said I was a skeptic, from seeing that I definitely agree that there was something.

Q7. So obviously you have not seen anything like this before?
A7. No, but about six or seven months later we were at the drive in and this thing hovered around the screen and shot off north. But that particular road is known for that sort of thing, there is always sightings there.

Q8. What actually caught your attention to these craft in the first place?

A8. Just my daughter looking out the window, she just looked up and said what that up in the sky? We didn't rush but we eventually looked out the window and they they were. It couldn't have been a plane coming down from the north because there were four of them to start with and it was the change in colour in them all the time, they were silver, green, red, blue and they were spinning, they seemed to be spinning.

Q9. Do you think there may have been an aura or blurry layer around these craft?

A9. No., They were very high and were very sharp in my vision. They really stood out. The sky was completely blue. There were no clouds. They were definite object up there. They left across us to the south. They came from the north and went south. North would be Broome. Then I rang the tower, all they said is that they were tracking, that they had picked up some interference and that they would phone Pearce. Danielle is here now, she's 17 now and she may be able to tell you some more.

Q. Can you remember what happened on the morning of Dec 4 1980?

A. I was sitting on the couch, and I looked out of the window and i said to my mum and sister what's that in the sky? And they started cracking jokes and everything and I said no, there is something up there. It's not a plane and they looked and then we all went outside. I was about 12 at the time.

Q. Could you be able to describe what you actually saw on the morning?

A. There were our or five of them. There was one in the middle and the rest were around him. They were all changing colours and going from the outside into the middle to where the other one was and coming back out again. They were sort of dancing all the time.

Q. Did they conform to any shape at all? In their maneuvers.

A. No really, there was one in the middle and the rest were dancing around him.

Q. So there was one stationary craft and the rest were dancing around him?

A. Yes."

Other sightings

Peter was able to retrieve details of other reported sightings for the relevant time period. These were:

3 Dec 1980 Wanneroo 1955hrs

Oval, brilliant white light fluctuating to grey. 2 miles east of Lanejandabup. Middle ring rotating around main body. Shining red, blue, green, flashing light causing eye strain. Seen for 20  minutes. Airliner to south-east.

4 Dec 1980 Lockridge 1035hrs

Danielle (12) saw four objects changing colour red, blue, green, rapidly from north to south.

4 Dec 1980 Burrendah 1120-1130hrs

Mrs M Gamble saw brilliant white object, oval in shape with a "dart" on top. Stopped in flight. Quivered. Rose up quickly then descended.Disappeared low to the south.

4 Dec 1980 Kelmscott 2035hrs

S Chiverton saw a red ball of light south of Kelm. Moving slowly, then hovered about 90ft above power lines near a small lake.

5 Dec 1980 Lesmurdie 1915-1930hrs

Five objects in an inverted v formation appeared to be observing a jumbo jet approaching Perth Airport. Then four left, one stationary. Took up positions around the jet. Moved into straight line, then formed 2 different v formations with the previously stationary object. 

The 1965 Margaret Brock Lighthouse photographs

Introduction

Thanks to the hard work of the Swedish Archives for the Unexplained (AFU); UK researcher Isaac Koi; Boston based researcher Barry Greenwood and myself, I am now able to go through digitised issues of the Australian magazine named "Panorama." This magazine was published by one Fred Stone of Adelaide.

Background

I have been working on a series of "cold case" analyses of classic Australian sightings for many years, and one of the cases which I have been hoping to find some more original source material on, has been the 17 March 1965 sighting, and series of photographs, taken on a ship near the Margaret Brock Lighthouse off the coast of South Australia. Two issues of "Panorama" have provided just such source material.

The event

The most original source is the "Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate" dated 23 March 1965. The text of the article reads as follows, and there were two accompany photographs.

"Mystery object

"Moon object" pictures.

These photographs, taken at sea off the Victorian coast last Wednesday, show what appears to be an object moving around the moon. 

They were brought to Newcastle by the man who took them, Mr Walter Jacobs, 38 of The Terrace, Newcastle, an assistant steward on the BHP ore freighter Iron Duke. Mr Jacobs, an amateur photographer, said he saw the object by accident when he began to photograph a moon-cloud effect. He said he developed the negatives in his cabin on the trip to Newcastle. He became convinced the light was an object. Crew mates who saw the prints had speculated on it being a space vehicle.

Bright glow

"The ship was approaching Margaret Brock Lighthouse, between Adelaide and Melbourne, when I went on deck to take the moon pictures," Mr Jacobs said. "It was a few moments after 10pm. The moon was fairly low in the sky in the direction of Adelaide. I looked through the camera at the moon, which was behind the clouds and saw a light on the left hand side of it. "It was a bright yellow-orange glow. At first I thought it was a planet."

"As I started to photograph it the light began to travel. it swung under the moon and up the other side." He adjusted the camera's shutter speed and when he looked again the light was above the moon. He took one picture, and by the time he took another, in two seconds, the "object" had shot high above the moon. He took other pictures. 

Like saucer

Mr Jacobs said he was more concerned about getting a good picture than wondering what the object was, and he went below. The object seemed stationary then. "It wasn't until I printed the photographs that I began to wonder. In one you can see a knob on the bottom and a depression on the top - the usual description of a flying saucer," he said.

A "Newcastle Morning Herald" representative accompanied Mr Jcobs to Newcastle University and saw Professor C D Ellyet, head of the Physics Department and Dean of the Faculty of Science. After studying the photographs Professor Ellyet said the phenomena was probably caused by the reflection or refraction of the moonlight by ice crystals in the clouds. This would explain how the "object" changed shaped with time, he said. Movement of the light around the moon could be explained by the movement of air and the ice crystals in the clouds.Mr Jacobs' photographs were the best and clearest he had seen of such a phenomena, he added.

Footnote

Professor Ellyet emphasizes he was putting forward a theory and that "in these cases one can never be certain." No satisfactory answer had been put forward for some sightings made in the sky over the years.

Adelaide "News"

The 5 April 1965 issue of the Adelaide "News" carried  the following photograph, and accompanying text.

"He shot a 'saucer'

"I didn't believe  in all the space talk, but now I am convinced I photographed a flying object of monstrous size," Mr Walter Jacobs said today. Mr Jacobs a steward on the freighter "Iron Duke" which berthed at Port Adelaide on Saturday, took seven pictures  of a bright orange object in the sky off south-east coast on the night of March 17th.

Mr Jacobs disagreed with statements that the object in his picture could have been an aeroplane using a strong spotlight or a satellite illuminated by the moon. "It was much too big and moved too quickly for an aircraft. The light was bright orange nothing like a spotlight" he said. The photo clearly shows the object was in front of the moon. 

Two clouds

Mr G P Danvers of Cheltenham, today reported having seen the similar "object" over Adelaide about the same time. He was conducting a Mini-Tour party at Observation Point when they sighted a light orange coloured "flying saucer." It appeared to be spinning around the moon. As the party watched it slowly changed shape and was ultimately revealed to be two dark clouds parting with the moonlight breaking through the gap. He said today the wind affecting the edges of the cloud was believed to have made the "flying saucer" appear to spin round the moon.

Adelaide "Advertiser"

The 5 April 1965 issue carried the following text.

"Film taken of S Aust sky object

A sky "object" with the characteristics usually attributed to "saucers" has been clearly photographed over S Aust. Astronomical experts in SA have been unable tom positively identify the object, which took the form of a bright orange glow with a "dent" on top and "knot" on the bottom. All have agreed, however, that the description given could not be explained as a planet.

Photographs of the object were taken by Mr Walter Jacobs, a steward on the freighter "Iron Duke" which berthed at Port Adelaide on Saturday. The photographs show what appears to be a glowing object moving around the moon. Mr Jacobs who is an amateur photographer, said he saw the object shortly after 10pm on March 17th when he began to photograph a moon cloud effect while at sea on the way to Newcastle. The ship was approaching the Margaret Brock Lighthouse, between Adelaide and Melbourne.

"It was a bright, yellow orange glow, at first I thought it was a planet." "As I started to photograph it, the light began to travel. It swung "under" the moon and up the other side." He took one picture and by the time he took another, two seconds, the object had shot upwards vertically from the moon and "was high above it." He took more pictures. "I went below and it wasn't until I printed the photographs that i began to wonder" he said. "You can see a knob on the bottom and a depression on top -the usual description of a flying saucer."

The Professor of Physics at the uni of Adelaide, Pro J H Carver, said that the described behaviour of the object was  consistent with that of an aircraft equipped with a very strong spotlight. An RAAF spokesman said, however, that to the best of his knowledge there had not been any planes using powerful spotlights in the area at that time.

The Astronomical Society Senior Vice pres said "The only planet neat the moon at this time was Mars and that this would have been stationary and not behaving n the manner described." Another astronomer unnamed said he felt the object could have been a satellite. But a WRE spokesman said the sharp upward trail described by Mr Jacobs did not coincide with the path which a satellite might take."

"Panorama"

Volume 4 number 2 pages 2 and 19,of this magazine, firstly carried the text of the 5 April 1965 issue of the Adelaide "Advertiser" then continued:

"Your editor interviewed Mr Jacobs who added these further facts. He had watched it for 7 minutes and it was still there when he went below. We cannot understand why he did not draw the attention of the rest of the crew to the unusual object, and especially when the man on the bridge above who did not see it. Also another man who was on deck who said he did not see it.

He said it was very large and he felt it would carry a crew of 40-50 people. The camera which he took the object with was a Japanese Minoca and the shot was taken at F2 60 on a black and white 35mm film.

We sort (sic) to get copies of the photos from him  and at first he consented but later after discussing the matter with other people said he  would first try and sell them to USA magazines but would later give us photos, which he did.

We were not at all surprised by this as he was  interviewed by TV and shots were shown on the interview. Also he was taken to see other people after this event, and it was from this he rang us up to withdraw his original offer. However next day he showed us the negatives and we examined them as best we could and he gave us some photos on condition that we did not reproduce the,. We regret therefore we cannot reproduce anything without his consent,and further feel that his desire to "cash in" on them unfortunately does lessen the authenticity of the films; in that people will naturally concur that it is a gimmick. However we feel ourselves at this moment that until we see the whole 7 shots at close range on reproduced photos we accept his story with reservations, for until such a close examination of them is made it is hard to determine what the object rally is, although it certainly has all the general characteristics of the saucers. We have drawn below the various drawings he gave us of the object and its movements, and also our own drawing of it as shown in the reproduced picture in the "Advertiser.""

"Panorama" Volume 4 number 3 pages7-8 continued the story.

"The Jacobs photo of UFO over Adelaide

We have received many inquiries regarding this photo  of which we gave a resume in our last edition, and since which we had time to make more intense investigations. Frankly we are not happy about this photo, because of the co-related evidence  which at times became quite contradictory. So much so that we wrote to the "Advertiser" which published the photos, but our letter was not published. So we point out here to our readers some of the highlights.

We admit that initially we were very impressed by the photos and the story told in the paper and over TV by Mr Jacobs, but after two lengthy interviews with him we feel we must in all honesty place our findings before the public for a clearer evaluation of the case.

It has been suggested that Mr Jacobs when interviewed by Mr Norris of the AFSRS hinted that he tried  to fool us or leas us astray. Rather a strange thing for a man who was trying to convince the public of what he had seen and witnessed  and who told us he was trying to sell them to interested journals. Surely he would have been only too anxious to make every point of his story true rather than mislead people.

Firstly the photos. The first five shots which he showed us on the negatives were taken as the "object" was approaching the moon-cloud. He then altered his timing and shot the one which was shown in the paper and the TV "above the moon cloud..." The previous five were by no means as clear and defined as the one shown. In all this it must be remembered that the ship was moving whilst this was taken and this factor must be taken into account as regards the photo.

The lighthouse according to Mr Jacobs was 50 miles away, but when interviewing the crew they all stated that it was only 15 miles away. Here a contradiction of fact.

He insisted he did not realize it was an unusual object until he developed the photos, if so why was he aware enough to change the timing.

The one man who was beside him and to whom he called his attention to it, was no longer on the ship. He had been signed off at Newcastle before the ship had returned to Adelaide. Mr Jacobs gave the photo to the Advertiser. Also the captain of the ship has been changed. The man on the bridge who may have seen the sighting if it was so unusual as Jacobs claimed, said in an interview that he did not see anything unusual.

Mr Jacobs said he went down after taking the photo to the TV room and shot some shots of the TV. These were on the negatives, but when he showed us the "spot" where he had taken the photo from on the side of the ship, the TV room was immediately BEHIND him and within arms reach. Being a hot night so he said, it was more than likely the door would be open as it was not air conditioned. Even if not, it is rather strange he did not turn around and knock or call out to those in the room to see what he had taken.

His excuse here as stated before "he did not realize it was an unusual object." Yet when being interviewed he was quite certain he "saw the top part spinning around whilst the bottom section was also lit up." Surely such an odd behaviour of a "cloud" would cause one to know it was something out of the ordinary and create a desire to call witnesses. Yet he called no one from the TV room behind , or consider it unusual until later when he realized he had shot some unusual object.

The position of the lighthouse from the point of photography must not be overlooked for under certain cloud conditions the light from this may have had some contributing factors.

One factor was Mr Jacobs' contradictory statements re the value of the pictures. he was most anxious to impress us he had no need to "make money" out of it. For on the first day he said 40 pounds per week on the ship. The next day he said his salary was 52 pounds pw. He had admitted he had been practicing in getting good photos and had been successful in "selling" some recent ones to the Navy and the BHP Oil Co., but kept re-insisting he was not out to make money on this one. However on the second day in the interview he said he was going to see if he could sell the photos to some American interests who paid big money. he had been "advised" to this by a Sydney representative of the same.

Of course we do not blame him for cashing on on his efforts. If these are genuine, but we felt that before he could expect our society to pass them as such, he should be willing to give some complete copies of the whole sequence of the event, instead of the one single photo of the object above the cloud.

We are well aware other groups here have been elated by this case and as one of their investigators exclaimed rather ecstatically "Oh its wonderful" yet we prefer to keep out feet on the ground and as much as we would like to prove this as one of the most outstanding photos taken in Australia, yet we are not prepared to lower out standards as investigators or make an attempt to bolster up this case on a false premise and thus deceiving the public, when we feel the facts when taken altogether are not as clear as they could be or we would very much like them to be. For we want good saucer photos but not any which cannot stand the test of keen investigation and scrutiny.

Should further evidence prove we are wrong we shall be most glad to admit we have been wrong, meanwhile we prefer to be cautious."

Information

1. The Margaret Brock Lighthouse used to be situated near the township of Kingston South East, South Australia, which was 26 kilometres north east of the lighthouse. Kingston SE is situated at latitude 36.84 degrees south and longitude 139.85 degrees east.

2. The 17th March 1965 was a Wednesday.

3. The astronomical software "Stellarium" shows that on the relevant date and time from the ship's position the following astronomical objects were positioned:

The sun had set. The planets Jupiter, Venus and Saturn were below the horizon. The moon was at 35 degrees elevation at an azimuth of 47 degrees (ie close to north-east). The planet Mars (orange in colour) was at 38 degrees elevation, and at 34 degrees azimuth.

Comments

1. I searched online and in hard copy for images of all seven photographs. I failed to find the complete series available anywhere.

2. Upon first seeing the photographs which appeared in the media, my initial impression was that we were looking at an internal lens reflection of the moon.

3. In 1968 I worked for the Postmaster Generals' Department of the Australian Government. One of the staff there, a gentleman named Ken Ellis, advised me that he had been the radio operator on the "Iron Duke" in March 1965. He informed me that the story told by Mr Jacobs was in fact a hoax. That Mr Jacobs had taken pictures of the moon and clouds, and when developed saw that he had captured a lens reflection of the moon, and had then made up the story he told the media and Fred Stone. I have no reason to doubt Mr Ellis' information.