Dear readers
In yesterday's post, I briefly mentioned, in passing, Christopher (Kit) Green, in a quote from Jacques Vallee from the year 1977.
Coincidences:
Life is full of coincidences, as another book from my pile by my bed, "Mirage Men" features an interview with Kit Green in 2009!
The book is titled "Mirage Men: A Journey in Disinformation, Paranoia and UFOs," by Mark Pilkington. It was published by Constable of London in 2010. The ISBN number is 978-1-84529-857-9. There are numerous interesting stories and characters described in the book including one with American Kit Green.
Pilkington says "Kit Green is a formidable, immediately likable character...He's also fascinated by UFOs, an interest that goes back some three decades to his time as the CIA's 'keeper of the weird' at the Office for Science and Technology. Really he was a senior science analyst, but a small part of his work involved intelligence to do with remote viewing (RV,) UFOs and other hot paranormal topics of the 1970s." (p.277.)
"Kit, John and I spoke for some hours, initially about the Serpo material, which, to our surprise, Kit took more seriously than we had expected. 'There are certain facts in there,' he told us, 'certain references, that prevent me from being able to reject the material out of hand, even if the story that it's telling is patently not true.' The Serpo material, or at least some of it, Kit suggested, might have served a purpose to someone, somewhere, perhaps conveying information in heavily codified form. One of the ways you can assess the value of information is to watch who is drawn to it, and Serpo had caught the attention of some senior players in the defence intelligence field..." (p.278.)
An aside:
The Serpo material was reported to have been initially released by an anonymous informant, in November 2005 to Victor Martinez, in the USA. Over time, by 2008, some of the contents of the alleged DIA report were released to the Internet.
It is said to provide the history of ETs interacting with the Earth and the subsequent visit by a team of humans to Serpo, a planet in the Zeta Reticuli star system. (Mirage Men pp48-50.)
Whether or not the Serpo material had any validity at all was hotly debated by part of the online UFO research community. It was however, widely seen to be a hoax.
Rick Doty:
"Kit is also a close and long-standing friend of Rick Doty, who he talked about with unguarded warmth and respect, though he was forced to admit that sometimes Rick's actions could be both puzzling and frustrating." (p.278.)
"We talked about the use of quiet helicopters 'disguised' as UFOs to probe security and nuclear installations. 'I'm pretty sure that it happened' said Kit, following up by hinting that he may have met a man who claimed to have flown similar missions." (p.278.)
"...at a Denny's restaurant back in 1986 he, along with physicist Hal Puthoff and computer scientist and ufologist Jacques Vallee, distilled what they knew about the subject into what has become known as the 'core story.' Simply put, the core story, according to Kit, is this: "The ETs came here, maybe once, maybe a few times. Either through accident or design, the US Government acquired one of their craft. The only problem was that the physics that powered the craft were so advanced that for decades we humans have struggled to understand it or to replicate it." (p.279.)
"This man was serious. And, as he sees it, so is the situation. We are not alone and probably never have been. They may even be here now. The problem is, what are we supposed to do about it?" (p.280.)
An aside:The 'core story':
One site which provides discussion of the 'core story' is (click here.)
Hypothesis:
Kit then put forward an hypothesis which involved "If something really strange in the area of UFOs is true, then what do we do about conveying that information to the public? First we concede what may be the basic facts: maybe there are civilized lifeforms elsewhere in the universe; maybe they visited us in their spaceships a couple of times, and then went back home...And there may be people in the Government who believe that this did happen, and believe that the information needs to be public knowledge...But then there's another group of people in power who say, 'No, it will make them sick to know all this, we can't let the story out, it's too dangerous." (p.281.)
Kit continued the hypothesis. "The way to do it is to construct a framework whereby they can parse out the things they've heard that are not true, and you whittle it down to a manageable story. A story like this. ' There were three spaceships that came here over thirty years, and we've got one of them. We can't figure out how it works, we've crashed it because..." (pp281-282.)
The hypothesis continues, that you feed stories out "Over ten or twenty years. You put out a bunch of movies, a bunch of books...Then one day you say, "Hey, all that stuff is nonsense, relax, it's not that bad...the reality is this..." (p.282.)
"Here was a very suave, very intelligent man, a man who had been close to the secret machinations of government than anyone we were ever likely to meet. And he appeared to be telling us that the aliens were real..." (p.283.)
Comment:
The interview with Green is pretty heady stuff, I'll conduct a bit more research and post further on Green.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Curveball - an example to the UFO research community
Dear readers
Long-term readers of this blog will be aware of my fascination with intelligence agencies and their involvement in the UFO phenomenon.
I have posted on Jacques Vallee's interaction with the NSA and CIA in the 1970's (click here); Richard M Dolan's observations on the CIA, NSA and DIA (click here); FOI documents located by Lawrence Fawcett and Barry Greenwood (click here); and pointed out that you can read UFO documents held by the NSA, CIA and DIA on their own websites (e.g. click here). Lately, Mark Pilkington's book "Mirage men" covers, both a lot of history plus recent interviews with people who were in the intelligence field.
Here, in Australia, the Disclosure Australia Project, following Bill Chalker's pioneering work, interviewed the Department of Defence's own internal intelligence area expert on the UFO phenomenon (click here.)
Lastly, the recent release of the New Zealand Defence Force's UFO files revealed that it was their Defence Intelligence area which co-ordinated the New Zealand Unidentified Flying Object Investigating Committee (click here.)
Curveball:
In today's post I'd like to present a cautionary tale from a 2007 non-fiction book by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Bob Drogin, titled "Curveball" and published by Edbury Press, New York. ISBN 978-0091-9230-20. My copy from Adelaide Booksellers off the shelf.
It is not a book about UFOs but after my notes on the book, I will draw some lessons to be learnt, by the UFO research community.
1999:
In November 1999, Iraqi Ahmed Hassan Mohammed (a pseudonym) arrived in Munich, Germany and came to the attention of the Bundesenachrichtendienst (BND) (click here , Germany's intelligence service. Ahmed told the BND tales of his involvement in Iraq's germ warfare program, and included "Saddam was using German-manufactured equipment to build his WMD..." (p.28.)
The BND sent reports on Ahmen to the US Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) (click here)(p.32.) Ahmed as a source was given the code name "Curveball."
The BND initially refused to allow the DIA to interview "Curveball" (p.36) but shared information "His hands-on accounts, rich with vivid details, provided a crucial missing piece of the WMD puzzle. German intelligence shared their debriefing reports with their closest partners: U.S., British and Israeli spy services." (p.49.)
Distribution:
Gradually, the distribution of "Curveball's" information widened to include the CIA, via DIA HQ. However, what was being received by the CIA was BND summaries of Ahmed's Arabic, in German, which was then translated into English and summarised again. (p.66.)
Among Ahmed's claims was the existence of mobile germ warfare laboratories. As late as September 2002 "Not one CIA operations officer had debriefed the defector." (p.109.)
Ahmed's information continued to be passed upwards. "A National Intelligence Estimate represents the best collective judgement of the entire intelligence community...For the first time, biological weapons took the lead. The section labelled "Biological Warfare Program-Larger than Before" contained the NIE's most assertive and alarming language.And virtually every paragraph derived from Curveball's information." (p.126.)
Britain:
A British Government Joint Intelligence Committee report included "A year later, they cautioned that "our picture of Iraq's BW programme is unclear" other than "good intelligence on one facility that could be used to support BW production," meaning Curveball's worksite..." (p.128.)
Despite internal misgivings as to the fact that the "BND cannot vouch for the validity of the information" (p.142) from Curveball, on 28 January 2003 President Bush stated "From three Iraqi defectors we know that Iraq, in the late 1990's had several mobile weapon labs..." (p142.) "Curveball was "the other tangible source." None of the others had actually seen the mobile bioweapons lab. They had just heard about them. (p.144.)
On 5 February 2003 US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, addressed the United Nations Security Council, speaking out against Iraq. "Powell used the estimate (the NIE) as the foundation for his Security Council address" (p.153.) Powell's speech included the case for mobile weapons labs, "Virtually every word from Powell now was coming from Curveball..." (p.157.)
The UN's inspection team in Iraq (UNMOVIC) on 8 Feb 2003 started to check locations in Iraq mentioned by Curveball, including Djerf al Nadaf "...the complex where Curveball worked." (p.168.)
The UN team found no evidence to support the claim of mobile weapons labs.
"In late July, three deep-cover operatives...drove out of Slayer to search fro Curveball's parents." (p.229.)What they learned sent them off to the BND. An examination of Curveball's Iraqi academic record did not support his claim to have graduated first in his class (p.239.) "On other days, the bio-team pored over the defector's official government employment records...supervisors at the Chemical Engineering and Design Center had fired the young engineer in late 1995 for unspecified...offences...(pp 239-240.)
In short, Curveball's claims could not be supported.Later,it was found that "...all three of Curveball's supposed corroborating sources had lied." (p.245.)
"...Curveball was a liar, a con man, an out-and-out fabricator..." (p.277.)
Comment:
I have spent so much time above, in relating the account of this major intelligence failure for a purpose. It shows human nature at its worst. Intelligent people wanted to believe Curveball's account, so interpreted the evidence to support their belief, rather than the other way around.
In the UFO field, UFO cases are often presented in abstract form, rather than producing all the raw data for people to examine themselves. This is the case in many of the "crashed UFO" stories which have been circulating (see my previous posts here and here.)
Mundrabilla:
As an Australian example, take a look at the 1988 Mundrabilla, Australia, "UFO car encounter" case. (Click here for an example of the legend.)
Most wesbites, books and magazines suggest that the case is a classic example of a UFO picking up a car and dropping it and its occupants back onto the road. However, my co-blogger, Keith Basterfield led a team in a detailed investigation of this case and published a document via the US Based Fund for UFO Research (click here) which, when carefully read, suggested that the event was, in fact, a series of events which could be re-constructed as having no UFO connection at all. However today the Mundrabilla "legend" lives on and will probably continue to do so.
My point with this post is to suggest that when faced with a UFO event, you need to demonstrate that your data comes from original on-site investigations, original interviews with the witnesses and an analysis which takes into account all of, and not just part of, the data. This doesn't always happen and too often the source of the account is an anonymous one, or a document which is no longer widely available.
Final comment from Drogin:
"Declaring Curveball a fabricator in the end was a cop-out for the CIA. It implied that U.S. Intelligence had fallen for a clever hoax. The truth was more disturbing. The defector didn't con the spies, as much as they conned themselves." (p.281.)
Final comment from me:
I'll close with a very relevant quote from paranormal researcher, Jacques Vallee, from a diary entry dated 20 March 1977. The reference to "Kit" is to Christopher (Kit) Green, a former CIA analyst with an interest in UFOs and the paranormal. Kit and Vallee met a number of times in the 1970's.
"I am unimpressed by people with secret clearances. UFOs and psychic phenomena are best studied in the field, not in the secrecy of Washington circles. Kit's colleagues make mistakes like everyone else. In fact they are probably easier to fool, compartmentalised as they are. They can even fool themselves." (Vallee, J. Forbidden Science Volume 2. Documatica Research, LLC. 2008. ISBN 978-0-615-24974-2.)
Long-term readers of this blog will be aware of my fascination with intelligence agencies and their involvement in the UFO phenomenon.
I have posted on Jacques Vallee's interaction with the NSA and CIA in the 1970's (click here); Richard M Dolan's observations on the CIA, NSA and DIA (click here); FOI documents located by Lawrence Fawcett and Barry Greenwood (click here); and pointed out that you can read UFO documents held by the NSA, CIA and DIA on their own websites (e.g. click here). Lately, Mark Pilkington's book "Mirage men" covers, both a lot of history plus recent interviews with people who were in the intelligence field.
Here, in Australia, the Disclosure Australia Project, following Bill Chalker's pioneering work, interviewed the Department of Defence's own internal intelligence area expert on the UFO phenomenon (click here.)
Lastly, the recent release of the New Zealand Defence Force's UFO files revealed that it was their Defence Intelligence area which co-ordinated the New Zealand Unidentified Flying Object Investigating Committee (click here.)
Curveball:
In today's post I'd like to present a cautionary tale from a 2007 non-fiction book by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Bob Drogin, titled "Curveball" and published by Edbury Press, New York. ISBN 978-0091-9230-20. My copy from Adelaide Booksellers off the shelf.
It is not a book about UFOs but after my notes on the book, I will draw some lessons to be learnt, by the UFO research community.
1999:
In November 1999, Iraqi Ahmed Hassan Mohammed (a pseudonym) arrived in Munich, Germany and came to the attention of the Bundesenachrichtendienst (BND) (click here , Germany's intelligence service. Ahmed told the BND tales of his involvement in Iraq's germ warfare program, and included "Saddam was using German-manufactured equipment to build his WMD..." (p.28.)
The BND sent reports on Ahmen to the US Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) (click here)(p.32.) Ahmed as a source was given the code name "Curveball."
The BND initially refused to allow the DIA to interview "Curveball" (p.36) but shared information "His hands-on accounts, rich with vivid details, provided a crucial missing piece of the WMD puzzle. German intelligence shared their debriefing reports with their closest partners: U.S., British and Israeli spy services." (p.49.)
Distribution:
Gradually, the distribution of "Curveball's" information widened to include the CIA, via DIA HQ. However, what was being received by the CIA was BND summaries of Ahmed's Arabic, in German, which was then translated into English and summarised again. (p.66.)
Among Ahmed's claims was the existence of mobile germ warfare laboratories. As late as September 2002 "Not one CIA operations officer had debriefed the defector." (p.109.)
Ahmed's information continued to be passed upwards. "A National Intelligence Estimate represents the best collective judgement of the entire intelligence community...For the first time, biological weapons took the lead. The section labelled "Biological Warfare Program-Larger than Before" contained the NIE's most assertive and alarming language.And virtually every paragraph derived from Curveball's information." (p.126.)
Britain:
A British Government Joint Intelligence Committee report included "A year later, they cautioned that "our picture of Iraq's BW programme is unclear" other than "good intelligence on one facility that could be used to support BW production," meaning Curveball's worksite..." (p.128.)
Despite internal misgivings as to the fact that the "BND cannot vouch for the validity of the information" (p.142) from Curveball, on 28 January 2003 President Bush stated "From three Iraqi defectors we know that Iraq, in the late 1990's had several mobile weapon labs..." (p142.) "Curveball was "the other tangible source." None of the others had actually seen the mobile bioweapons lab. They had just heard about them. (p.144.)
On 5 February 2003 US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, addressed the United Nations Security Council, speaking out against Iraq. "Powell used the estimate (the NIE) as the foundation for his Security Council address" (p.153.) Powell's speech included the case for mobile weapons labs, "Virtually every word from Powell now was coming from Curveball..." (p.157.)
The UN's inspection team in Iraq (UNMOVIC) on 8 Feb 2003 started to check locations in Iraq mentioned by Curveball, including Djerf al Nadaf "...the complex where Curveball worked." (p.168.)
The UN team found no evidence to support the claim of mobile weapons labs.
"In late July, three deep-cover operatives...drove out of Slayer to search fro Curveball's parents." (p.229.)What they learned sent them off to the BND. An examination of Curveball's Iraqi academic record did not support his claim to have graduated first in his class (p.239.) "On other days, the bio-team pored over the defector's official government employment records...supervisors at the Chemical Engineering and Design Center had fired the young engineer in late 1995 for unspecified...offences...(pp 239-240.)
In short, Curveball's claims could not be supported.Later,it was found that "...all three of Curveball's supposed corroborating sources had lied." (p.245.)
"...Curveball was a liar, a con man, an out-and-out fabricator..." (p.277.)
Comment:
I have spent so much time above, in relating the account of this major intelligence failure for a purpose. It shows human nature at its worst. Intelligent people wanted to believe Curveball's account, so interpreted the evidence to support their belief, rather than the other way around.
In the UFO field, UFO cases are often presented in abstract form, rather than producing all the raw data for people to examine themselves. This is the case in many of the "crashed UFO" stories which have been circulating (see my previous posts here and here.)
Mundrabilla:
As an Australian example, take a look at the 1988 Mundrabilla, Australia, "UFO car encounter" case. (Click here for an example of the legend.)
Most wesbites, books and magazines suggest that the case is a classic example of a UFO picking up a car and dropping it and its occupants back onto the road. However, my co-blogger, Keith Basterfield led a team in a detailed investigation of this case and published a document via the US Based Fund for UFO Research (click here) which, when carefully read, suggested that the event was, in fact, a series of events which could be re-constructed as having no UFO connection at all. However today the Mundrabilla "legend" lives on and will probably continue to do so.
My point with this post is to suggest that when faced with a UFO event, you need to demonstrate that your data comes from original on-site investigations, original interviews with the witnesses and an analysis which takes into account all of, and not just part of, the data. This doesn't always happen and too often the source of the account is an anonymous one, or a document which is no longer widely available.
Final comment from Drogin:
"Declaring Curveball a fabricator in the end was a cop-out for the CIA. It implied that U.S. Intelligence had fallen for a clever hoax. The truth was more disturbing. The defector didn't con the spies, as much as they conned themselves." (p.281.)
Final comment from me:
I'll close with a very relevant quote from paranormal researcher, Jacques Vallee, from a diary entry dated 20 March 1977. The reference to "Kit" is to Christopher (Kit) Green, a former CIA analyst with an interest in UFOs and the paranormal. Kit and Vallee met a number of times in the 1970's.
"I am unimpressed by people with secret clearances. UFOs and psychic phenomena are best studied in the field, not in the secrecy of Washington circles. Kit's colleagues make mistakes like everyone else. In fact they are probably easier to fool, compartmentalised as they are. They can even fool themselves." (Vallee, J. Forbidden Science Volume 2. Documatica Research, LLC. 2008. ISBN 978-0-615-24974-2.)
Monday, January 3, 2011
"UFO Down?"
Dear readers
With Adelaide's weather much cooler than last week,I continue to reduce the pile of new books by my bedside. Today's post continues the theme of "crashed UFOs," by taking a look at the new book by U.K. researcher Andy Roberts.
This is an important book, for it takes a deep look at one "crashed UFO" story from the United Kingdom. "UFO Down? The Berwyn Mountain UFO Crash" by Andy Roberts. Published by Fortean Words, Bideford, North Devon. 2010. ISBN 978-1-9057-23-60-7.
Foreword:
Dr David Clarke of Sheffield Hallam University reminds us that the UFO phenomenon may be seen as a modern myth, citing the fact that in a 2001 Gallup Poll revealed that "a third of Americans, and a similar number of Britons, believe that "extraterrestrial beings have visited earth at some point in the past." (p.7)
Setting the scene - the "legend":
"The Berwyn Mountain UFO crash, as the event has become known by the media and by ufologists (those who study UFOs) took place over several hours on the night of 23 January 1974." (p.11.)
At about 8.30pm on a wet, cold Wednesday, villagers in Bala, Wales heard "...a terrible rumbling noise lasting four or five seconds. This was followed almost immediately by the sound of a massive explosion...many...recall a huge white and green light...some said a fire could be seen on the mountain...a nurse...(saw) a huge, glowing ball of light ...(she was)flagged down and stopped by a group of police and soldiers...and forcefully ordered her off the mountain...Police and military personnel appeared as if from nowhere...In the days following, a large military presence appeared...more suspicious still were the dark-suited officials who arrived in the area...Despite the rumours, the authorities refused to acknowledge that anything unusual had taken place at all...A breakthrough came in 1996, when a former soldier broke his silence to speak to ufologists. He told how the military knew in advance that a UFO was going to come down on the Berwyn Mountains...(pp17-21.)
Data:
Extracting data from the mass of witnesses' observations Roberts concluded that:
* At 8.38pm there was an earth tremor felt over a wide area
* At about this time there were several "lights" seen; which were "A large, apparently slow moving red/pink ball of fire, seen in the sky seconds after the tremor; a white glow, also seen immediately after the tremor; a red 'fire' or 'bonfire' seen immediately after the tremor, and at least two beams of white light seen between 8.38pm and 9.00pm." (p.32.)
The nurse:
Central to the case is what happened to nurse Pat Evans. Chapter five of the book is devoted to this account. Thinking that an aircraft had crashed on the mountains, she went up a mountain road, "looked across the dark moorland beneath the mountains...saw...this huge, round, orange ball sitting on the mountain..." (p.42.)
Near this light were white lights like "torch lights" (p.43). In addition she reported "vehicle lights" (p.43.) She watched the scene for 15 minutes or so and then drove home realising there was no aircraft crash.
"Several versions of the Berwyn myth claim that on her return journey to Llandderfel on the B4391, Pat was stopped and ordered off the mountain by police and military personnel. This did not happen..." (p.50.)
Roberts determined that the 'beams of white light' were apparently due to poachers on the mountain that night "Thus, we can be certain that the poachers caused the beams of light seen at Llandrillo for up to fifteen minutes after the earth tremor." (p.56.)
What of the reported military and police presence? It is true Police personnel attended the mountain that night believing that an aircraft may have crashed. Mountain rescue crew did deploy and conduct a search for a similar reason.
What of the tremor and the light in the sky? "...it was clear that the rumblings and explosion that took place at 8.38pm were caused by an earthquake and nothing else." (p65.)
"It was the terrific explosion, the noise and the physical sensations caused by the earthquake, coupled with the almost immediate sighting of a long lasting meteor that convinced many people near the Berwyn Mountains that an aircraft had crashed" (p.73.)
Who were the officials?
"...a much more likely source for the stories of mystery men is that they were the IGS team." (p.77.) (IGS stands for the Institute of Geological Sciences who visited the area to conduct numerous interviews about the earthquake.
So, Roberts' investigation concluded that everything could be explained by an earthquake, a meteor, poachers, and researchers asking about the earthquake. He still had an open mind on what the nurse observed.
Having determined what actually happened on 23 January 1974, Roberts wondered how the "legend" came to be?
"As the story developed, it slowly moved away from the original, largely factual, media reporting and became essentially a folktale, a story, or legend traditionally passed on by word of mouth, but with the 20th century additions of the medium of books, magazines, internet and TV. As with all folktales and legends each re-telling provided the opportunity for new strands of lore to be introduced, each addition slightly changing elements or emphasis of the story." (p.82.)
How did the nurses' account come to involve being stopped by a group of police and military? "UFOlogist Margaret Fry moved to North Wales...Fry interviewed nurse Pat Evans in 1995 and it was from that interview the claim arose...Although Pat Evans vehemently denied this took place and Margret Fry later agreed she had misunderstood what Pat had told her..." (p.89.)
Final conclusion:
Robert's final conclusion is that there is only one element of the whole event which eludes his mundane explanations, and this is what did Pat Evans see?
"So, while all other elements of the Berwyn Mountain UFO legend may be explained by the evidence presented in this book, I simply have no idea what Pat saw..." (p.99.)
Comments:
As I said at the beginning of this post, this is an important book. Andy is to be congratulated on getting to the bottom of this "crashed UFO" story to show that a UFO was not involved.
With Adelaide's weather much cooler than last week,I continue to reduce the pile of new books by my bedside. Today's post continues the theme of "crashed UFOs," by taking a look at the new book by U.K. researcher Andy Roberts.
This is an important book, for it takes a deep look at one "crashed UFO" story from the United Kingdom. "UFO Down? The Berwyn Mountain UFO Crash" by Andy Roberts. Published by Fortean Words, Bideford, North Devon. 2010. ISBN 978-1-9057-23-60-7.
Foreword:
Dr David Clarke of Sheffield Hallam University reminds us that the UFO phenomenon may be seen as a modern myth, citing the fact that in a 2001 Gallup Poll revealed that "a third of Americans, and a similar number of Britons, believe that "extraterrestrial beings have visited earth at some point in the past." (p.7)
Setting the scene - the "legend":
"The Berwyn Mountain UFO crash, as the event has become known by the media and by ufologists (those who study UFOs) took place over several hours on the night of 23 January 1974." (p.11.)
At about 8.30pm on a wet, cold Wednesday, villagers in Bala, Wales heard "...a terrible rumbling noise lasting four or five seconds. This was followed almost immediately by the sound of a massive explosion...many...recall a huge white and green light...some said a fire could be seen on the mountain...a nurse...(saw) a huge, glowing ball of light ...(she was)flagged down and stopped by a group of police and soldiers...and forcefully ordered her off the mountain...Police and military personnel appeared as if from nowhere...In the days following, a large military presence appeared...more suspicious still were the dark-suited officials who arrived in the area...Despite the rumours, the authorities refused to acknowledge that anything unusual had taken place at all...A breakthrough came in 1996, when a former soldier broke his silence to speak to ufologists. He told how the military knew in advance that a UFO was going to come down on the Berwyn Mountains...(pp17-21.)
Data:
Extracting data from the mass of witnesses' observations Roberts concluded that:
* At 8.38pm there was an earth tremor felt over a wide area
* At about this time there were several "lights" seen; which were "A large, apparently slow moving red/pink ball of fire, seen in the sky seconds after the tremor; a white glow, also seen immediately after the tremor; a red 'fire' or 'bonfire' seen immediately after the tremor, and at least two beams of white light seen between 8.38pm and 9.00pm." (p.32.)
The nurse:
Central to the case is what happened to nurse Pat Evans. Chapter five of the book is devoted to this account. Thinking that an aircraft had crashed on the mountains, she went up a mountain road, "looked across the dark moorland beneath the mountains...saw...this huge, round, orange ball sitting on the mountain..." (p.42.)
Near this light were white lights like "torch lights" (p.43). In addition she reported "vehicle lights" (p.43.) She watched the scene for 15 minutes or so and then drove home realising there was no aircraft crash.
"Several versions of the Berwyn myth claim that on her return journey to Llandderfel on the B4391, Pat was stopped and ordered off the mountain by police and military personnel. This did not happen..." (p.50.)
Roberts determined that the 'beams of white light' were apparently due to poachers on the mountain that night "Thus, we can be certain that the poachers caused the beams of light seen at Llandrillo for up to fifteen minutes after the earth tremor." (p.56.)
What of the reported military and police presence? It is true Police personnel attended the mountain that night believing that an aircraft may have crashed. Mountain rescue crew did deploy and conduct a search for a similar reason.
What of the tremor and the light in the sky? "...it was clear that the rumblings and explosion that took place at 8.38pm were caused by an earthquake and nothing else." (p65.)
"It was the terrific explosion, the noise and the physical sensations caused by the earthquake, coupled with the almost immediate sighting of a long lasting meteor that convinced many people near the Berwyn Mountains that an aircraft had crashed" (p.73.)
Who were the officials?
"...a much more likely source for the stories of mystery men is that they were the IGS team." (p.77.) (IGS stands for the Institute of Geological Sciences who visited the area to conduct numerous interviews about the earthquake.
So, Roberts' investigation concluded that everything could be explained by an earthquake, a meteor, poachers, and researchers asking about the earthquake. He still had an open mind on what the nurse observed.
Having determined what actually happened on 23 January 1974, Roberts wondered how the "legend" came to be?
"As the story developed, it slowly moved away from the original, largely factual, media reporting and became essentially a folktale, a story, or legend traditionally passed on by word of mouth, but with the 20th century additions of the medium of books, magazines, internet and TV. As with all folktales and legends each re-telling provided the opportunity for new strands of lore to be introduced, each addition slightly changing elements or emphasis of the story." (p.82.)
How did the nurses' account come to involve being stopped by a group of police and military? "UFOlogist Margaret Fry moved to North Wales...Fry interviewed nurse Pat Evans in 1995 and it was from that interview the claim arose...Although Pat Evans vehemently denied this took place and Margret Fry later agreed she had misunderstood what Pat had told her..." (p.89.)
Final conclusion:
Robert's final conclusion is that there is only one element of the whole event which eludes his mundane explanations, and this is what did Pat Evans see?
"So, while all other elements of the Berwyn Mountain UFO legend may be explained by the evidence presented in this book, I simply have no idea what Pat saw..." (p.99.)
Comments:
As I said at the beginning of this post, this is an important book. Andy is to be congratulated on getting to the bottom of this "crashed UFO" story to show that a UFO was not involved.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
New book alert - Randle
Good morning from Adelaide, South Australia on a wonderful Sunday, with a predicted maximum of 25 degrees Celsius. I'm posting this while drinking coffee and having breakfast on the Norwood Parade, one of Adelaide's fine eating places.
Crash:
Another review of a book from my bedside pile. This one is "Crash: When UFOs Fall From the Sky - A History of Famous Incidents, conspiracies, and Cover-ups." The author is Kevin D Randle (Click here for his blog)
The book is published by New Page Books (click here for their website)2010. ISBN 978-1-60163-100-8. 320 pages. My copy came off the shelf from Dymock's Bookshop, Adelaide.
All of us would regard the 1947 Roswell, New Mexico, UFO event as a "crash." Perhaps you would be surprised to learn that "...some lists of UFO crashes top 200, and many are racing toward 300." (p.10.)
Randle's view is that "Most of the UFO crash tales are mistakes, misidentifications, or the reports of single witnesses. But once we push through that mass, we still have a solid core of reports that are not easily explained or rejected." (p.19.)
The purpose of this book is to "Examine the tales of UFO crashes, present the best information available today, and provide some answers." (p.10.)
You will not be surprised then, that the main body of the book (pages 11-292) is a chronology of UFO crashes - from 840 AD in Lyons, France to 27 July 2009 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Chapter one:
For example, chapter one presents 31 pre-1947 events (12 alone during the 1896-1897 US "airship" wave.) The first entry is dated 840AD, Lyons, France and describes a mob lynching men and a woman from a "cloudship." Having just read "Wonders in the Sky" ( see my post here) by Vallee and Aubeck, whose catalogue of 500 wonders does not list this case as 840AD but circa 815AD, I thought at first that perhaps Randle's research hadn't begun on a good note. Randle concludes "...only a reference to a ship that sails on clouds suggests the reason for making this some sort of UFO report. The description could refer to many things, and none of them require an alien spacecraft." (p.13.)
The 12 cases during the period 1896-1897, include, based on Randle's assessments, "a practical joke *Dec 3 1896); "it could have all been a drug-induced dream" (Apr 9 1897); "a hoax" (Apr 15 1897); and "a hoax" (Apr 17 1897.)
A discussion of the Tunguska, Siberia event of 30 June 1908, which has featured in numerous UFO periodicals is ascribed by Randle as "In fact, a cometary impact is the best of the answers available today."
There are a number of observations from 1946, Sweden and Norway, associated with the "Ghost rockets" era, but very few details are given about each case.
Chapter two:
Chapter two "1947-Pre Roswell" starts off with the May 31 1947 Nogal Canyon, New Mexico crash and the infamous Santilli "alien autopsy film" which was shown to be a hoax. It is a lesson in the complex nature of some claimed UFO evidence and the time needed to unravel some cases.
Roswell:
In chapter three, the Roswell, New Mexico event, of course, receives a very detailed examination. Randle explores the first hand testimony which he has gathered, rebuts explanations put forward by other researchers, and concludes "There is a very good chance that it was extraterrestrial. We have yet to find the absolute solution, or the absolute smoking gun, but someday we will." (p.94.)
Another reported UFO crash in July 1947, that in the Plains of San Agustin results in Randle concluding that "All of this tells us that the idea of a crash on the Plains of San Augustin in early July 1947 has no solid evidence..." (p.100.)
In the following chapters case after case is reported, analysed and conclusions drawn. Here are some of Randle's conclusions.
Aztec, New Mexico Mar 25 1948
"All of this, from Scully to Carr to Steinmann, seems to suggest that a saucer crashed...Others, such as Cahn, McClelland, Jones and Minshall, seem to suggest the story is a modern fable that might be traceable to a P-38 crash somewhere in the mid-1940s." But then says "It seems, based on the best information we currently have, that the crash at Aztec is actually a stand-in for Roswell. If that is true, then the comments made by some that Scully's book frightened top brass at the Pentagon, was because they knew the truth and any discussion of a UFO crash in New Mexico could lead to Roswell." (pp122-123.)
Spitsbergen Island, Norway Sep 12 1952
"When all is said and done, there seems to be no evidence that the crash took place, and the origin of the story seems to be a newspaper that made up the details." (p.152.)
Helgoland, Germany Nov 1 1952
"The shifting nature of the data, the recycled nature of it, and the heavy borrowing from the Aztec case suggests that the report is nothing more than a hoax." (p.155.)
Ubatuba, Brazil Sep 1957
"We are left with several samples of magnesium that are unique. There is nothing in them to suggest the extraterrestrial, yet there is a hint that these samples might not have been made on Earth." (p.189.)
Las Vegas, Nevada Jul 18 1962
"Something extraordinary happened on the night of Apr (sic) 18 1962...It was a craft from another world. There is no doubt about it." (p.204.)
Kecksberg, Pennsylvania Dec 9 1965
"I confess that at this point I'm so confused...The fireball answer seems logical...The satellite answer does not seem logical...The UFO answer seems logical...the case must remain open." (P.239.)
Shag Harbour, Canada Oct 4 1967
"They...proved that something unusual;l happened on the night of October 4, 1967...None of this proves that this sighting was of an extraterrestrial craft..." (p.253.)
Needles, California May 4 2008
"In the end there are two solutions to this. One is the extraterrestrial, but that seems to be the least likely. The other is that this was an experimental object..." (p.289.)
Australian cases:
There are two Australian cases in the chronology.
Gin-Gin, Queensland Jun 20 2009 (for full story click here)
"Although this has been added to some UFO crash lists, witnesses described the object as a fireball that set nearby trees on fire. A search of the area failed to find any debris, or what might have started the fire. The most likely explanation, however, is more mundane. Meteorites rarely cause fires, but space junk sometimes does..." (pp289-290.)
Guyra, New South Wales Dec 7 1999 (for full story click here)
"Reports to radio stations suggested that something had crashed into the reservoir near Guyra. It had skipped across the surface of the lake and left a gouge of flattened reeds...Speculation about the object ran from the natural to the mundane, including returning space junk." (p.282.)
Comments:
I found that I enjoyed this book. There are certainly some cases which have survived rigorous investigation, despite most being of little value. The book can be used as a reference tool, entries read when you need to research a particular case, or straight through as a comparison of a variety of cases, and explanations.
All in all, a very useful addition to the bookshelf.
Crash:
Another review of a book from my bedside pile. This one is "Crash: When UFOs Fall From the Sky - A History of Famous Incidents, conspiracies, and Cover-ups." The author is Kevin D Randle (Click here for his blog)
The book is published by New Page Books (click here for their website)2010. ISBN 978-1-60163-100-8. 320 pages. My copy came off the shelf from Dymock's Bookshop, Adelaide.
All of us would regard the 1947 Roswell, New Mexico, UFO event as a "crash." Perhaps you would be surprised to learn that "...some lists of UFO crashes top 200, and many are racing toward 300." (p.10.)
Randle's view is that "Most of the UFO crash tales are mistakes, misidentifications, or the reports of single witnesses. But once we push through that mass, we still have a solid core of reports that are not easily explained or rejected." (p.19.)
The purpose of this book is to "Examine the tales of UFO crashes, present the best information available today, and provide some answers." (p.10.)
You will not be surprised then, that the main body of the book (pages 11-292) is a chronology of UFO crashes - from 840 AD in Lyons, France to 27 July 2009 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Chapter one:
For example, chapter one presents 31 pre-1947 events (12 alone during the 1896-1897 US "airship" wave.) The first entry is dated 840AD, Lyons, France and describes a mob lynching men and a woman from a "cloudship." Having just read "Wonders in the Sky" ( see my post here) by Vallee and Aubeck, whose catalogue of 500 wonders does not list this case as 840AD but circa 815AD, I thought at first that perhaps Randle's research hadn't begun on a good note. Randle concludes "...only a reference to a ship that sails on clouds suggests the reason for making this some sort of UFO report. The description could refer to many things, and none of them require an alien spacecraft." (p.13.)
The 12 cases during the period 1896-1897, include, based on Randle's assessments, "a practical joke *Dec 3 1896); "it could have all been a drug-induced dream" (Apr 9 1897); "a hoax" (Apr 15 1897); and "a hoax" (Apr 17 1897.)
A discussion of the Tunguska, Siberia event of 30 June 1908, which has featured in numerous UFO periodicals is ascribed by Randle as "In fact, a cometary impact is the best of the answers available today."
There are a number of observations from 1946, Sweden and Norway, associated with the "Ghost rockets" era, but very few details are given about each case.
Chapter two:
Chapter two "1947-Pre Roswell" starts off with the May 31 1947 Nogal Canyon, New Mexico crash and the infamous Santilli "alien autopsy film" which was shown to be a hoax. It is a lesson in the complex nature of some claimed UFO evidence and the time needed to unravel some cases.
Roswell:
In chapter three, the Roswell, New Mexico event, of course, receives a very detailed examination. Randle explores the first hand testimony which he has gathered, rebuts explanations put forward by other researchers, and concludes "There is a very good chance that it was extraterrestrial. We have yet to find the absolute solution, or the absolute smoking gun, but someday we will." (p.94.)
Another reported UFO crash in July 1947, that in the Plains of San Agustin results in Randle concluding that "All of this tells us that the idea of a crash on the Plains of San Augustin in early July 1947 has no solid evidence..." (p.100.)
In the following chapters case after case is reported, analysed and conclusions drawn. Here are some of Randle's conclusions.
Aztec, New Mexico Mar 25 1948
"All of this, from Scully to Carr to Steinmann, seems to suggest that a saucer crashed...Others, such as Cahn, McClelland, Jones and Minshall, seem to suggest the story is a modern fable that might be traceable to a P-38 crash somewhere in the mid-1940s." But then says "It seems, based on the best information we currently have, that the crash at Aztec is actually a stand-in for Roswell. If that is true, then the comments made by some that Scully's book frightened top brass at the Pentagon, was because they knew the truth and any discussion of a UFO crash in New Mexico could lead to Roswell." (pp122-123.)
Spitsbergen Island, Norway Sep 12 1952
"When all is said and done, there seems to be no evidence that the crash took place, and the origin of the story seems to be a newspaper that made up the details." (p.152.)
Helgoland, Germany Nov 1 1952
"The shifting nature of the data, the recycled nature of it, and the heavy borrowing from the Aztec case suggests that the report is nothing more than a hoax." (p.155.)
Ubatuba, Brazil Sep 1957
"We are left with several samples of magnesium that are unique. There is nothing in them to suggest the extraterrestrial, yet there is a hint that these samples might not have been made on Earth." (p.189.)
Las Vegas, Nevada Jul 18 1962
"Something extraordinary happened on the night of Apr (sic) 18 1962...It was a craft from another world. There is no doubt about it." (p.204.)
Kecksberg, Pennsylvania Dec 9 1965
"I confess that at this point I'm so confused...The fireball answer seems logical...The satellite answer does not seem logical...The UFO answer seems logical...the case must remain open." (P.239.)
Shag Harbour, Canada Oct 4 1967
"They...proved that something unusual;l happened on the night of October 4, 1967...None of this proves that this sighting was of an extraterrestrial craft..." (p.253.)
Needles, California May 4 2008
"In the end there are two solutions to this. One is the extraterrestrial, but that seems to be the least likely. The other is that this was an experimental object..." (p.289.)
Australian cases:
There are two Australian cases in the chronology.
Gin-Gin, Queensland Jun 20 2009 (for full story click here)
"Although this has been added to some UFO crash lists, witnesses described the object as a fireball that set nearby trees on fire. A search of the area failed to find any debris, or what might have started the fire. The most likely explanation, however, is more mundane. Meteorites rarely cause fires, but space junk sometimes does..." (pp289-290.)
Guyra, New South Wales Dec 7 1999 (for full story click here)
"Reports to radio stations suggested that something had crashed into the reservoir near Guyra. It had skipped across the surface of the lake and left a gouge of flattened reeds...Speculation about the object ran from the natural to the mundane, including returning space junk." (p.282.)
Comments:
I found that I enjoyed this book. There are certainly some cases which have survived rigorous investigation, despite most being of little value. The book can be used as a reference tool, entries read when you need to research a particular case, or straight through as a comparison of a variety of cases, and explanations.
All in all, a very useful addition to the bookshelf.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Please welcome new blog contributors
Hi
It is my pleasure to welcome our newest Blog contributors, Dominic McNamara and Larraine Cilia, of UFO-PRSA.
Please take a moment to visit their website at http://www.ufosociety.net.au/
It is my pleasure to welcome our newest Blog contributors, Dominic McNamara and Larraine Cilia, of UFO-PRSA.
Please take a moment to visit their website at http://www.ufosociety.net.au/
"Wonders in the skies"
Dear readers,
Well, Adelaide, South Australia is in for two very hot days. Today's forecast maximum is 39 degrees Celsius, and tomorrow is going up to 43 degrees. Time to retreat to an air-conditioned room with a good book.
Today's post is about such a book; in fact a new book by Jacques Vallee. Any new book by Vallee is worth waiting for. His new book is co-authored by Chris Aubeck, and is titled "Wonders in the sky: Unexplained Aerial Objects from Antiquity to Modern Times." Published in 2010 by Jeremy F Tarcher (Penguin.) New York. ISBN 978-1-58542-820-5.
Foreword:
The foreword to the book is written by David J Hufford, Professor Emeritus of Humanities and Psychiatry, Penn State College of Medicine.
Hufford's PhD was in the field of Folklore, and Hufford reminds us that he "...was taught that such beliefs were both non-empirical and non-rational...However, I was pursuing the heretical idea that folk belief traditions might actually incorporate accurate observations, and that if they did they might point to important new knowledge."
Hufford comments that Vallee's book "Passport to Magonia" "...recognised the difference between the core phenomenonology of reports and the local language and interpretations that clothed that core in traditional accounts." (p.2.)
Hufford praises Vallee and Aubeck. "Their rigorously scientific insistence allows Vallee and Aubeck to retain the most challenging and interesting aspects of these events without the distraction of premature commitment to any particular interpretation."
The book:
Speaking about reports of UFOs, the authors believe that "Influenced by books and movies, most people have jumped to hasty conclusions: they believe that unidentified flying objects are spaceships from another planetary civilization..." (p.7.)
They state that "The phenomenon did not begin in the 1940's, or even in the nineteenth century. It is much older that that." (p.7.)
The book presents a catalogue of 500 reported sightings "...from antiquity to the year 1879..." The cut=off year was deliberately chosen so as to be able to exclude any possibility of observations being due to "...airplanes, dirigibles, rockets and the often-mentioned opportunities for misrepresentation represented by military prototypes." (p.8.)
The authors "...have emerged with four major observations:
1. Throughout history, unknown phenomena variously described as prodigies or celestial wonders, have made a major impact on the senses and the imagination of the individuals who witnessed them.
2. Every epoch has interpreted the phenomena in its own terms, often in a specific religious or political context. People have projected their world view, fears, fantasies, and hopes into what they saw in the sky. They still do so today.
3. Although many details of the events have been forgotten or pushed under the colorful rug of history, their impact has shaped human civilization in important ways.
4. The lessons drawn from these ancient cases can be usefully applied to the full range of aerial phenomena that are still reported and remain unexplained by contemporary science." (p12.)"
The authors argue that "...if the phenomenon has existed in fairly constant form for a very long time, it becomes harder to hold to a simplistic "ET visitation" scenarios to explain it." (p.13.)
The collation of material about older cases has been undertaken by "...several teams of historians, anthropologists, folklore specialists and philologists..." (p.19) aided by the availability of the Internet.
Citing historical references, the authors argue that claimed sightings have always changed the course of history.
Content:
The book is divided into three parts:
Part I: A chronology of wonders, pages 27-352.
Part II: Myths, legends and chariots of the Gods. Pages 353-449.
Part III: Sources and methods.
Part I:
The 500 "Wonders" start with an observation in about 1460BC in Lebanon, where a "star" defeats the Nubians (p.29.) Each entry provides a date, a location, the text and a source. Many entries have comments added by the authors.
Among the "Wonders" we find 'moving stars'; 'abductions'; 'hovering objects'; 'heat generating globe'; 'self-propelled cloud'; and many other descriptions.
Part II:
This section of the book looks at "...the stories we have rejected from the main chronology, under four major categories..." (p.354.)These are:
"1. Deceptive story, hoax, fictional account or tall tale.
2. Religious vision.
3. Natural astronomical phenomenon.
4. Optical illusion or atmospheric effect."
This section provides an examination of some of the weird and wonderful tales which have emerged in the past, and which keep circulating despite evidence that the account is incorrect.
Part III:
The authors relate how they screened and selected the material for inclusion in the book. Their rules for inclusions included credibility; specific rather than general date/time and elimination of known hoaxes.
Conclusion:
Finally, the authors describe some of the things which they have learnt from undertaking this work. "...from all this work, how significant are the findings, do they teach us anything new about the modern phenomena generally called "UFOs" and is there more yet to be discovered?" (p.477.)
Comments:
This book was a delight, both to browse through as soon as I received it, and to read through thoroughly which I now have made time to do. I have always looked favourably on the concept that the UFO phenomenon has deep roots and that the July 1947 "start" was only of the modern interpretation of what was being seen. I have always found compelling the arguments for a long history for the phenomenon, and to find it including other elements of the paranormal.
Two Australian cases feature in the 500 "Wonders."
Mount Wingen - case 408
"March 1828, Mount Wingen, Australia
Cigar shaped object lands
A mysterious flying object was said to have descended upon Mount Wingen at the Burning Mountain Nature Reserve. It was "cigar-shaped and had a funny silver colour" and made a loud banging noise. According to the report, "when it landed it set fire to all the vegetation and killed the cattle."
Allegedly, tall strangers appeared in the town at the same time. "They never said anything but always pointed to the things they wanted."
The event must have caused quite a stir as the folk of Wingen began linking it with strange disappearances among them: "Quite often people just disappeared and dogs and domesticated animals disappeared too," wrote the informant, referring to the tale his grandfather used to tell.
Source: Australian Post, June 17, 1989, and W Chalker, Project 1947, Australian Aboriginal Culture & Possible UFO connections (1990.)"
I was disappointed that the source for this entry was not some newspaper in 1828, but had only been set down in 1989. I turned to the reference by Bill Chalker at http://www.theozfiles.com/history_australian-ufo-history.html retrieved 27 December 2010.
"About six kilometres north of Wingen an underground coal seam has been burning for possibly 5,000 years...Kisha, who wrote a psychic column for the Australasian Post, recorded a bizarre story of a strange flying object landing at Burning Mountain (or Mount Wingen). She attributed the following text to a man named Ted:
"Grandad used to say that it was cigar-shaped and had a funny silver colour. When it landed it set fire to ll the vegetation and killed the cattle. The noise was dreadful and there was a series of loud bangs. Grandad also spoke of tall strangers appearing in town. They never said anything but always pointed to the things they wanted." Quite often people just disappeared and dogs and domesticated animals disappeared too.
"We always thought that Grandad's stories were good but he knew they were true and never made light of them."
"Kisha did not indicate a date for the events in Ted's grandfather's tale, but presumably its vintage would have to be at least contemporary with the first settler awareness of the burning mountain back in 1828."
Unfortunately, this account is ultimately sourced to a man called Ted who related it to a psychic named Kisha who published it in the Australasian Post magazine dated 17 June 1989.
25 July 1868, Parrammata, New South Wales - case 474.
"Mr Frederick William Birmingham, an engineer and local council alderman...saw what he described as an "Ark" ...a distinct voice, said, slowly, 'That's a machine to go through the air'...the machine then...descended...to the grass..." Birmingham was then "...lifted off the grass and gently carried through the air and into the upper part of the machine..." He was shown various things and given a set of papers "...the witness later experienced paranormal phenomena."
Source: Memorandum Book of Fred Wm. Birmingham, the Engineer to the Council of Parramatta. The authors of the Wonders add "The following account based upon a transcript of a manuscript that has never been located, must be taken with great caution."
Overall comments:
The book is an excellent example of the dedicated work undertaken by a number of people, in locating, screening and compiling material, from often hard to locate sources. I will be returning from time to time to browse sections of the material.
If you are at all interested in pre-1879 aerial phenomena, or simply wish to check if that ancient days story of yours has been determined to have been a hoax, then I would strongly recommend this book to you.
My copy came through the Special Orders section of , Dymocks Bookshop, Adelaide, and took three weeks to reach me.
Well, Adelaide, South Australia is in for two very hot days. Today's forecast maximum is 39 degrees Celsius, and tomorrow is going up to 43 degrees. Time to retreat to an air-conditioned room with a good book.
Today's post is about such a book; in fact a new book by Jacques Vallee. Any new book by Vallee is worth waiting for. His new book is co-authored by Chris Aubeck, and is titled "Wonders in the sky: Unexplained Aerial Objects from Antiquity to Modern Times." Published in 2010 by Jeremy F Tarcher (Penguin.) New York. ISBN 978-1-58542-820-5.
Foreword:
The foreword to the book is written by David J Hufford, Professor Emeritus of Humanities and Psychiatry, Penn State College of Medicine.
Hufford's PhD was in the field of Folklore, and Hufford reminds us that he "...was taught that such beliefs were both non-empirical and non-rational...However, I was pursuing the heretical idea that folk belief traditions might actually incorporate accurate observations, and that if they did they might point to important new knowledge."
Hufford comments that Vallee's book "Passport to Magonia" "...recognised the difference between the core phenomenonology of reports and the local language and interpretations that clothed that core in traditional accounts." (p.2.)
Hufford praises Vallee and Aubeck. "Their rigorously scientific insistence allows Vallee and Aubeck to retain the most challenging and interesting aspects of these events without the distraction of premature commitment to any particular interpretation."
The book:
Speaking about reports of UFOs, the authors believe that "Influenced by books and movies, most people have jumped to hasty conclusions: they believe that unidentified flying objects are spaceships from another planetary civilization..." (p.7.)
They state that "The phenomenon did not begin in the 1940's, or even in the nineteenth century. It is much older that that." (p.7.)
The book presents a catalogue of 500 reported sightings "...from antiquity to the year 1879..." The cut=off year was deliberately chosen so as to be able to exclude any possibility of observations being due to "...airplanes, dirigibles, rockets and the often-mentioned opportunities for misrepresentation represented by military prototypes." (p.8.)
The authors "...have emerged with four major observations:
1. Throughout history, unknown phenomena variously described as prodigies or celestial wonders, have made a major impact on the senses and the imagination of the individuals who witnessed them.
2. Every epoch has interpreted the phenomena in its own terms, often in a specific religious or political context. People have projected their world view, fears, fantasies, and hopes into what they saw in the sky. They still do so today.
3. Although many details of the events have been forgotten or pushed under the colorful rug of history, their impact has shaped human civilization in important ways.
4. The lessons drawn from these ancient cases can be usefully applied to the full range of aerial phenomena that are still reported and remain unexplained by contemporary science." (p12.)"
The authors argue that "...if the phenomenon has existed in fairly constant form for a very long time, it becomes harder to hold to a simplistic "ET visitation" scenarios to explain it." (p.13.)
The collation of material about older cases has been undertaken by "...several teams of historians, anthropologists, folklore specialists and philologists..." (p.19) aided by the availability of the Internet.
Citing historical references, the authors argue that claimed sightings have always changed the course of history.
Content:
The book is divided into three parts:
Part I: A chronology of wonders, pages 27-352.
Part II: Myths, legends and chariots of the Gods. Pages 353-449.
Part III: Sources and methods.
Part I:
The 500 "Wonders" start with an observation in about 1460BC in Lebanon, where a "star" defeats the Nubians (p.29.) Each entry provides a date, a location, the text and a source. Many entries have comments added by the authors.
Among the "Wonders" we find 'moving stars'; 'abductions'; 'hovering objects'; 'heat generating globe'; 'self-propelled cloud'; and many other descriptions.
Part II:
This section of the book looks at "...the stories we have rejected from the main chronology, under four major categories..." (p.354.)These are:
"1. Deceptive story, hoax, fictional account or tall tale.
2. Religious vision.
3. Natural astronomical phenomenon.
4. Optical illusion or atmospheric effect."
This section provides an examination of some of the weird and wonderful tales which have emerged in the past, and which keep circulating despite evidence that the account is incorrect.
Part III:
The authors relate how they screened and selected the material for inclusion in the book. Their rules for inclusions included credibility; specific rather than general date/time and elimination of known hoaxes.
Conclusion:
Finally, the authors describe some of the things which they have learnt from undertaking this work. "...from all this work, how significant are the findings, do they teach us anything new about the modern phenomena generally called "UFOs" and is there more yet to be discovered?" (p.477.)
Comments:
This book was a delight, both to browse through as soon as I received it, and to read through thoroughly which I now have made time to do. I have always looked favourably on the concept that the UFO phenomenon has deep roots and that the July 1947 "start" was only of the modern interpretation of what was being seen. I have always found compelling the arguments for a long history for the phenomenon, and to find it including other elements of the paranormal.
Two Australian cases feature in the 500 "Wonders."
Mount Wingen - case 408
"March 1828, Mount Wingen, Australia
Cigar shaped object lands
A mysterious flying object was said to have descended upon Mount Wingen at the Burning Mountain Nature Reserve. It was "cigar-shaped and had a funny silver colour" and made a loud banging noise. According to the report, "when it landed it set fire to all the vegetation and killed the cattle."
Allegedly, tall strangers appeared in the town at the same time. "They never said anything but always pointed to the things they wanted."
The event must have caused quite a stir as the folk of Wingen began linking it with strange disappearances among them: "Quite often people just disappeared and dogs and domesticated animals disappeared too," wrote the informant, referring to the tale his grandfather used to tell.
Source: Australian Post, June 17, 1989, and W Chalker, Project 1947, Australian Aboriginal Culture & Possible UFO connections (1990.)"
I was disappointed that the source for this entry was not some newspaper in 1828, but had only been set down in 1989. I turned to the reference by Bill Chalker at http://www.theozfiles.com/history_australian-ufo-history.html retrieved 27 December 2010.
"About six kilometres north of Wingen an underground coal seam has been burning for possibly 5,000 years...Kisha, who wrote a psychic column for the Australasian Post, recorded a bizarre story of a strange flying object landing at Burning Mountain (or Mount Wingen). She attributed the following text to a man named Ted:
"Grandad used to say that it was cigar-shaped and had a funny silver colour. When it landed it set fire to ll the vegetation and killed the cattle. The noise was dreadful and there was a series of loud bangs. Grandad also spoke of tall strangers appearing in town. They never said anything but always pointed to the things they wanted." Quite often people just disappeared and dogs and domesticated animals disappeared too.
"We always thought that Grandad's stories were good but he knew they were true and never made light of them."
"Kisha did not indicate a date for the events in Ted's grandfather's tale, but presumably its vintage would have to be at least contemporary with the first settler awareness of the burning mountain back in 1828."
Unfortunately, this account is ultimately sourced to a man called Ted who related it to a psychic named Kisha who published it in the Australasian Post magazine dated 17 June 1989.
25 July 1868, Parrammata, New South Wales - case 474.
"Mr Frederick William Birmingham, an engineer and local council alderman...saw what he described as an "Ark" ...a distinct voice, said, slowly, 'That's a machine to go through the air'...the machine then...descended...to the grass..." Birmingham was then "...lifted off the grass and gently carried through the air and into the upper part of the machine..." He was shown various things and given a set of papers "...the witness later experienced paranormal phenomena."
Source: Memorandum Book of Fred Wm. Birmingham, the Engineer to the Council of Parramatta. The authors of the Wonders add "The following account based upon a transcript of a manuscript that has never been located, must be taken with great caution."
Overall comments:
The book is an excellent example of the dedicated work undertaken by a number of people, in locating, screening and compiling material, from often hard to locate sources. I will be returning from time to time to browse sections of the material.
If you are at all interested in pre-1879 aerial phenomena, or simply wish to check if that ancient days story of yours has been determined to have been a hoax, then I would strongly recommend this book to you.
My copy came through the Special Orders section of , Dymocks Bookshop, Adelaide, and took three weeks to reach me.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Cold case 13 Jan 1965 Qantas aircrew - solved
Hi
Catalogues:
I have been collecting UFO reports and cataloguing them since the 1970's. My catalogues are available on the net at http://www.project1947.com/47cats.htm
One of my catalogues is "A catalogue of Australian observations of UFOs from aircraft crew members and passengers."
One of the cases has always held my special interest, and was the reported observation of a UFO by the crew of an Australian Qantas aircraft, off the coast of New Zealand, inbound to Sydney, Australia on 13 January 1965. When the Disclosure Australia Project examined the Australian Government UFO files, there was some information on the case on RAAF file 580/1/1 part 4. A digitised image of the relevant two pages is available from the National Archives of Australia website at http://www.naa.gov.au/ Open the website, click on "RecordSearch," click on "search now as a guest," in the "keywords" box type the words "flying objects" and click on search. Scroll down to 580/1/1 part 4 and go to pages 121-122.
I always wanted to find out further details but didn't think this was possible, given the lack of complete information in the Australian RAAF file. However, with the recent release of some of the New Zealand Defence Force's UFO files (they still haven't released their Defence Intelligence UFO files) I was able to learn more. Particularly, that the Qantas sighting triggered a military response in NZ fearing there were inbound unidentified aircraft involved, and a search for unidentified surface ships.
New Zealand Defence Force file:
File AIR 244/10/1 Volume 1 is titled "Reports of UFOs" and covers the years 1959 to 1983. It holds a number of documents regarding the Qantas report.
Document one is a telex dated 13 Jan 1965 and labelled "Confidential."
"Attention DAFI RNZAF DCAS and RNZAF staff liasion officer. Further to Telecon DDOps RNZAF and S Intel HQOPCOM concerning sighting of UFOs by Qantas crew flight 363 Captain Shannon on 13 Jan. Following are pertinent points obtained from interview:-
Para One. Aircraft position 41S 167E Course 275M Height 20000 feet Time 130845Z Shortly after sunset.
Para two. Weather: Strata cloud tops 7000 feet, clear otherwise, vis 30-40, Nil jet streams, front approx 169E.
Para three. Objects: Single vapour trail appeared to north west traveling east at approximately mach one plus becoming seven distinct contrails apparently made by large aircraft in loose formation. Altitude angle from observers approximately 30 degrees. Height estimated as H35-45000 feet. Trail dissipated from rear.
Para four. Observers: All crew members observed trails from various parts of the aircraft and agree with little variation to above. Source considered reliable.
Para five. Other information: Second pilot also recalls that at approximately longitude 166E this morning on the Sydney-Wellington flight he noticed what he considered as eleven ships in group on his radar screen.
Para six. For DAFI: RNZAF advise surveillance radars at Wellington and Ohakea recording nothing at height within 15-200 mls except quote angels unquote south of Wellington speed approx 100kts. NZ press are aware of sighting has been reported and RNZAF has suggested to them that weather phenomena is possible explanation, at this stage."
There is a hand written file reference of 244/10/1.
Document two is an Air Department NZ Aeronautical Message Form dated 13 Jan 1965 and is handwritten. The hand notes read:
"Qantas flight 373. Chch-Syd ETA Syd 1153Z. Capt (illegible word) Shannon. Sighted 0850Z. Approx 300m due west Wlton 41S 168E. 2150 Mon 30000 ft 10 secs. 10 deg Due E-W.
Week before 2 objects Just above horizon E-W Mile apart. 2 weeks ago Flying crane (?) 50 ft off hilltop. Back of Wightmans Valley."
Document three is handwritten notes most of which are illegible. Can read "DCAS rang Ops" "requesting info" and "airborne."
Document four is a telex dated 13 Jan 1965.
"For RNZAF Ops
Phone number to contact Capt Shannon 15 mins after arrival is NU042 Sydney airport."
Document five is a single page handwritten note which is very hard to decipher. Readable are the words "130845Z," "20000," "275M," "Twilight," "35-40000," "Shannon in NZ tomorrow," "Check Qantas," "Comment-twilight."
Document six is two pages of "Minute sheet" with handwritten notes. Readable words are "QF324/028 Dave Shannon," "WN," "1825ETA," "John Hawthorne," "NAC," Supervisor in charge," "1930," "John Drew," "Twilight," 'Satellite" and "Very bright."
Document seven is a copy of document one.
Document eight is a copy of document one with additional hand written notes "DDOps," "Copy given to US Air A."
Document nine is a copy of document 4 with handwritten note "OPsz" and "244/10/1."
Document ten is a one page RNZAF Message from HOBSONVILLE to RNZAFHQ WN Date/time group is 141600Z. Date stamped 14 Jan 1965. "Confidential."
"A Purple 1 January 14
B Brown 1 January 13
C Airborne132340Z on task 140100Z off task 141315Z Waterborne 141440Z x area searched 120nm either side of line joining Hobsonville and 36 south 167 east, plus 100nm either side of line joining 34 south 166 east 43 south 166 east.
X Unusually large number of high density cloud contacts. Up to 10 at one time were obtained up to a range of 70nm."
Document eleven is a "NZ Armed Forces Combined Message Form. File ref 244/10/1. From RNZAFHQ WN to DEPAIR "Confidential"
"Attention DAFI. HQOPCOM 131415Z refers
Para One. In view ref to radar repsonse in HQOPCOM signal para 5 search of area by maritime aircraft on Jan 14 revealed nothing except an unusually large number of high density cloud radar contacts. Up to 10 at one time were obtained at ranges up to 70NMS.
Para two. D of I RNZAF interviewed Captain Shannon at Wellington evening Jan 14. Shannon enlarged on report but nothing significant added.
Para three. Unless you have further information we propose to let matter drop. Press report has resulted in flood of UFO sightings."
Drafted by Hanson D of I."
Document twelve is a Department of Civil Aviation Area radar log Wellington ACC. 13 June 1965. It contains a table of times and notes as follows:
"2147 Radar echo 155 degM 70NM On heading of 180 deg M est speed 120kts
2152 Seven slow moving echoes bearing 150degM 20-40NM all leaving trails but suspect "Angels."
2158 Heading 150degM turning into 180degM at 40NM
2210 Response sighted at 132degM 50NM heading 135degM
2215 Response sighted at 180degM 55NM heading 180degM est speed 150kts
2220 Nat 371 asked if he could sight echo in his vicinity. No sighting.
2230 Echo speed approximately 100kts on comparison with DC3 speed. Echoes in SE quadrant continued to appear and disappear.
2305 Radar released.
Document thirteen is a memo from Air Traffic Control Centre, Dept Bldg, Stout Street, Wellington 14th January 1965 To Secretary for Civil Aviation Attention DOTS and CATS.
"Unidentified aircraft"
As requested herewith Air Traffic Controllers report detailing the action taken by this unit on the unidentified aircraft seen by Qantas flight Christchurch to Sydney on 13th January 1965."
Signed L Mexted Station ATC Officer.
"Minute to the SATCO Wellington from ACC. Date 14th January 1965.
Unidentified aircraft approaching Wellington.
132040 Radar released to technician.
132105 Air Traffic Control Officer at Auckland Control advised that Qantas outbound from Christchurch to Sydney had sighted seven high flying aircraft inbound Wellington at approximately 45000 ft Position 41south 168east at 2050.
132107 Asked technician to switch radar back to us. Discussed matter with Ohakea Air Traffic Control Officer.
132110 Endeavoured to contact Duty Air Staff Operations Officer.
132115 Wing Commander Tucker advised by phone. At the same time technician warned that a delay of thirty minutes required due defect at Radar head. Wing Commander Tucker required radar be made available regardless of delay, Technician instructed accordingly.
132130 Radar on and available. Radar search commenced. Mr Bowman arrived on duty. Commander Tucker phoned intention of using Air Traffic Control as co-ordination centre. Air Commodore Gill also on his way to Air Traffic Control Centre.
132145 Wing Commander Tucker arrived at the Centre and took control. Auckland Centre asked for more details. Pilot, Captain Shannon reported condensation trails but could add nothing further except ETA and aircraft call sign.
132150 Various radar echoes plotted in South East quadrant-suspected Angel. Liaison maintained throughout with Ohakea S.R.E. and echoes compared when relevant.
132200 Broadcasting news phoned requesting details of seven unidentified aircraft seen approaching Wellington. Air Commodore Gill instructed me to confirm the report but to add that the matter had been investigated and what was in fact seen was a peculiar cloud formation caused by a Jet Stream over the Tasman sea area. Mr Bowman and myself continued radar search throughout the period using long and short ranges and double checking of all echoes. An outbound DC3 bound Christchurch asked to visually check echo in his vicinity. Nothing sighted though, by comparison of blips this apparent angel was moving 100kts. We were plagued with string Angel paints. No aircraft echoes seen.
132305 Air Commodore Gill released radar watch.
Signed P L McDermott Air Traffic Control Officer."
Analysis:
The event:
At 0845 GMT on 13 January 1965, the crew of a Qantas aircraft, flying from Christchurch, New Zealand, and Sydney, Australia reported seeing an unusual event in the sky.
The aircraft was at 20,000 feet off the West coast of New Zealand.
The crew reported seeing, in clear sky, at an angular elevation of thirty degrees above the plane, just after local sunset, a single vapour trail to the north west traveling east, which became seven distinct contrails.
The only possible mention of the duration of the event is in document two, where a figure of 10 secs is shown.
The response:
There were two responses from the New Zealand end. Firstly, there was a search by radar for confirmation that "...seven distinct contrails apparently made by large aircraft in loose formation..." were in fact inbound unidentified aircraft. Despite the radar observation at 2152 of "Seven slow moving echoes... (document 12) no confirmation of any unidentified aircraft was made.
Secondly, a maritime aircraft was dispatched to examine the area of ocean off the West coast, mentioned in document one para five, for "eleven ships." No such ships were located.
Summary
It would appear to me, that there were no "unidentified seven aircraft" and no "unidentified eleven ships" involved in this event.
What did the Qantas crew observe at 0845Z, 2045hrs local time? There was one vapour trail which broke into seven trails, at an uncertain height above the aircraft. If the 10 seconds mentioned in document two is in fact the duration of the event, then I would suggest it was a meteor breaking up in the Earth's atmosphere.
Note addeed 26 July 2015.
Amateur astronomer Ted Molczan has an interest in visually observed satellite re-entries. I asked him to take a look at this case, and see if it could be explained in terms of a re-entry. Here is his response.
"I found no known re-entries that correlate with the sighting from 41S 167E, on 1965 Jan 13, near 08:45 UTC.
Of the 254 re-entry sightings I have catalogued, nearly 8 percent occurred on a date that differs from the USAF's catalogued date, typically by +/-1 day, rarely more than +/-2 days; therefore, I always check listed re-entries within 2 days of a suspected sighting. In this case, there were four, during Jan 11-14, none of which correlate.
Based on duration and described appearance, the 08:45 UTC sighting may have been of a meteor that broke up. I cannot rule out the possibility that it was the re-entry of an object of which there is no public record.
It was not unusual for the USAF to lose track of objects for long periods, during which they could decay without any record. Eventually, the USAF would estimate the date of decay, which could be far from reality. Those are called administrative decays. There are many in the USAF's catalogue, but experience may be required to recognize them as such.
A couple of recent examples of USAF limitations that could cause re-entries not to be catalogued:
On 2014 Sep 03 UTC, an uncatalogued piece of operational debris of a Russian spy satellite re-entered over the U.S., which was widely seen by the public. The USAF did not acknowledge the decay properly, and mistakenly catalogued the decay of the parent object on that date, despite it having made a controlled landing in Russia ~10 h earlier, on the day before (Sep 02 UTC). This is probably the only reasonably accurate news report on the events:
http://www.space.com/27318-russian-military-spy-satellite-fall.html
On 2014 Dec 28 UTC, a Falcon 9 2nd stage, that had been lost by the USAF, decayed over South America, and dropped several pieces of debris on Brazil. The decayed object was identified within hours by a fellow hobbyist, days before the USAF belatedly issued updated orbital elements and acknowledged the decay in its catalogue."
Thanks Ted.
Catalogues:
I have been collecting UFO reports and cataloguing them since the 1970's. My catalogues are available on the net at http://www.project1947.com/47cats.htm
One of my catalogues is "A catalogue of Australian observations of UFOs from aircraft crew members and passengers."
One of the cases has always held my special interest, and was the reported observation of a UFO by the crew of an Australian Qantas aircraft, off the coast of New Zealand, inbound to Sydney, Australia on 13 January 1965. When the Disclosure Australia Project examined the Australian Government UFO files, there was some information on the case on RAAF file 580/1/1 part 4. A digitised image of the relevant two pages is available from the National Archives of Australia website at http://www.naa.gov.au/ Open the website, click on "RecordSearch," click on "search now as a guest," in the "keywords" box type the words "flying objects" and click on search. Scroll down to 580/1/1 part 4 and go to pages 121-122.
I always wanted to find out further details but didn't think this was possible, given the lack of complete information in the Australian RAAF file. However, with the recent release of some of the New Zealand Defence Force's UFO files (they still haven't released their Defence Intelligence UFO files) I was able to learn more. Particularly, that the Qantas sighting triggered a military response in NZ fearing there were inbound unidentified aircraft involved, and a search for unidentified surface ships.
New Zealand Defence Force file:
File AIR 244/10/1 Volume 1 is titled "Reports of UFOs" and covers the years 1959 to 1983. It holds a number of documents regarding the Qantas report.
Document one is a telex dated 13 Jan 1965 and labelled "Confidential."
"Attention DAFI RNZAF DCAS and RNZAF staff liasion officer. Further to Telecon DDOps RNZAF and S Intel HQOPCOM concerning sighting of UFOs by Qantas crew flight 363 Captain Shannon on 13 Jan. Following are pertinent points obtained from interview:-
Para One. Aircraft position 41S 167E Course 275M Height 20000 feet Time 130845Z Shortly after sunset.
Para two. Weather: Strata cloud tops 7000 feet, clear otherwise, vis 30-40, Nil jet streams, front approx 169E.
Para three. Objects: Single vapour trail appeared to north west traveling east at approximately mach one plus becoming seven distinct contrails apparently made by large aircraft in loose formation. Altitude angle from observers approximately 30 degrees. Height estimated as H35-45000 feet. Trail dissipated from rear.
Para four. Observers: All crew members observed trails from various parts of the aircraft and agree with little variation to above. Source considered reliable.
Para five. Other information: Second pilot also recalls that at approximately longitude 166E this morning on the Sydney-Wellington flight he noticed what he considered as eleven ships in group on his radar screen.
Para six. For DAFI: RNZAF advise surveillance radars at Wellington and Ohakea recording nothing at height within 15-200 mls except quote angels unquote south of Wellington speed approx 100kts. NZ press are aware of sighting has been reported and RNZAF has suggested to them that weather phenomena is possible explanation, at this stage."
There is a hand written file reference of 244/10/1.
Document two is an Air Department NZ Aeronautical Message Form dated 13 Jan 1965 and is handwritten. The hand notes read:
"Qantas flight 373. Chch-Syd ETA Syd 1153Z. Capt (illegible word) Shannon. Sighted 0850Z. Approx 300m due west Wlton 41S 168E. 2150 Mon 30000 ft 10 secs. 10 deg Due E-W.
Week before 2 objects Just above horizon E-W Mile apart. 2 weeks ago Flying crane (?) 50 ft off hilltop. Back of Wightmans Valley."
Document three is handwritten notes most of which are illegible. Can read "DCAS rang Ops" "requesting info" and "airborne."
Document four is a telex dated 13 Jan 1965.
"For RNZAF Ops
Phone number to contact Capt Shannon 15 mins after arrival is NU042 Sydney airport."
Document five is a single page handwritten note which is very hard to decipher. Readable are the words "130845Z," "20000," "275M," "Twilight," "35-40000," "Shannon in NZ tomorrow," "Check Qantas," "Comment-twilight."
Document six is two pages of "Minute sheet" with handwritten notes. Readable words are "QF324/028 Dave Shannon," "WN," "1825ETA," "John Hawthorne," "NAC," Supervisor in charge," "1930," "John Drew," "Twilight," 'Satellite" and "Very bright."
Document seven is a copy of document one.
Document eight is a copy of document one with additional hand written notes "DDOps," "Copy given to US Air A."
Document nine is a copy of document 4 with handwritten note "OPsz" and "244/10/1."
Document ten is a one page RNZAF Message from HOBSONVILLE to RNZAFHQ WN Date/time group is 141600Z. Date stamped 14 Jan 1965. "Confidential."
"A Purple 1 January 14
B Brown 1 January 13
C Airborne132340Z on task 140100Z off task 141315Z Waterborne 141440Z x area searched 120nm either side of line joining Hobsonville and 36 south 167 east, plus 100nm either side of line joining 34 south 166 east 43 south 166 east.
X Unusually large number of high density cloud contacts. Up to 10 at one time were obtained up to a range of 70nm."
Document eleven is a "NZ Armed Forces Combined Message Form. File ref 244/10/1. From RNZAFHQ WN to DEPAIR "Confidential"
"Attention DAFI. HQOPCOM 131415Z refers
Para One. In view ref to radar repsonse in HQOPCOM signal para 5 search of area by maritime aircraft on Jan 14 revealed nothing except an unusually large number of high density cloud radar contacts. Up to 10 at one time were obtained at ranges up to 70NMS.
Para two. D of I RNZAF interviewed Captain Shannon at Wellington evening Jan 14. Shannon enlarged on report but nothing significant added.
Para three. Unless you have further information we propose to let matter drop. Press report has resulted in flood of UFO sightings."
Drafted by Hanson D of I."
Document twelve is a Department of Civil Aviation Area radar log Wellington ACC. 13 June 1965. It contains a table of times and notes as follows:
"2147 Radar echo 155 degM 70NM On heading of 180 deg M est speed 120kts
2152 Seven slow moving echoes bearing 150degM 20-40NM all leaving trails but suspect "Angels."
2158 Heading 150degM turning into 180degM at 40NM
2210 Response sighted at 132degM 50NM heading 135degM
2215 Response sighted at 180degM 55NM heading 180degM est speed 150kts
2220 Nat 371 asked if he could sight echo in his vicinity. No sighting.
2230 Echo speed approximately 100kts on comparison with DC3 speed. Echoes in SE quadrant continued to appear and disappear.
2305 Radar released.
Document thirteen is a memo from Air Traffic Control Centre, Dept Bldg, Stout Street, Wellington 14th January 1965 To Secretary for Civil Aviation Attention DOTS and CATS.
"Unidentified aircraft"
As requested herewith Air Traffic Controllers report detailing the action taken by this unit on the unidentified aircraft seen by Qantas flight Christchurch to Sydney on 13th January 1965."
Signed L Mexted Station ATC Officer.
"Minute to the SATCO Wellington from ACC. Date 14th January 1965.
Unidentified aircraft approaching Wellington.
132040 Radar released to technician.
132105 Air Traffic Control Officer at Auckland Control advised that Qantas outbound from Christchurch to Sydney had sighted seven high flying aircraft inbound Wellington at approximately 45000 ft Position 41south 168east at 2050.
132107 Asked technician to switch radar back to us. Discussed matter with Ohakea Air Traffic Control Officer.
132110 Endeavoured to contact Duty Air Staff Operations Officer.
132115 Wing Commander Tucker advised by phone. At the same time technician warned that a delay of thirty minutes required due defect at Radar head. Wing Commander Tucker required radar be made available regardless of delay, Technician instructed accordingly.
132130 Radar on and available. Radar search commenced. Mr Bowman arrived on duty. Commander Tucker phoned intention of using Air Traffic Control as co-ordination centre. Air Commodore Gill also on his way to Air Traffic Control Centre.
132145 Wing Commander Tucker arrived at the Centre and took control. Auckland Centre asked for more details. Pilot, Captain Shannon reported condensation trails but could add nothing further except ETA and aircraft call sign.
132150 Various radar echoes plotted in South East quadrant-suspected Angel. Liaison maintained throughout with Ohakea S.R.E. and echoes compared when relevant.
132200 Broadcasting news phoned requesting details of seven unidentified aircraft seen approaching Wellington. Air Commodore Gill instructed me to confirm the report but to add that the matter had been investigated and what was in fact seen was a peculiar cloud formation caused by a Jet Stream over the Tasman sea area. Mr Bowman and myself continued radar search throughout the period using long and short ranges and double checking of all echoes. An outbound DC3 bound Christchurch asked to visually check echo in his vicinity. Nothing sighted though, by comparison of blips this apparent angel was moving 100kts. We were plagued with string Angel paints. No aircraft echoes seen.
132305 Air Commodore Gill released radar watch.
Signed P L McDermott Air Traffic Control Officer."
Analysis:
The event:
At 0845 GMT on 13 January 1965, the crew of a Qantas aircraft, flying from Christchurch, New Zealand, and Sydney, Australia reported seeing an unusual event in the sky.
The aircraft was at 20,000 feet off the West coast of New Zealand.
The crew reported seeing, in clear sky, at an angular elevation of thirty degrees above the plane, just after local sunset, a single vapour trail to the north west traveling east, which became seven distinct contrails.
The only possible mention of the duration of the event is in document two, where a figure of 10 secs is shown.
The response:
There were two responses from the New Zealand end. Firstly, there was a search by radar for confirmation that "...seven distinct contrails apparently made by large aircraft in loose formation..." were in fact inbound unidentified aircraft. Despite the radar observation at 2152 of "Seven slow moving echoes... (document 12) no confirmation of any unidentified aircraft was made.
Secondly, a maritime aircraft was dispatched to examine the area of ocean off the West coast, mentioned in document one para five, for "eleven ships." No such ships were located.
Summary
It would appear to me, that there were no "unidentified seven aircraft" and no "unidentified eleven ships" involved in this event.
What did the Qantas crew observe at 0845Z, 2045hrs local time? There was one vapour trail which broke into seven trails, at an uncertain height above the aircraft. If the 10 seconds mentioned in document two is in fact the duration of the event, then I would suggest it was a meteor breaking up in the Earth's atmosphere.
Note addeed 26 July 2015.
Amateur astronomer Ted Molczan has an interest in visually observed satellite re-entries. I asked him to take a look at this case, and see if it could be explained in terms of a re-entry. Here is his response.
"I found no known re-entries that correlate with the sighting from 41S 167E, on 1965 Jan 13, near 08:45 UTC.
Of the 254 re-entry sightings I have catalogued, nearly 8 percent occurred on a date that differs from the USAF's catalogued date, typically by +/-1 day, rarely more than +/-2 days; therefore, I always check listed re-entries within 2 days of a suspected sighting. In this case, there were four, during Jan 11-14, none of which correlate.
Based on duration and described appearance, the 08:45 UTC sighting may have been of a meteor that broke up. I cannot rule out the possibility that it was the re-entry of an object of which there is no public record.
It was not unusual for the USAF to lose track of objects for long periods, during which they could decay without any record. Eventually, the USAF would estimate the date of decay, which could be far from reality. Those are called administrative decays. There are many in the USAF's catalogue, but experience may be required to recognize them as such.
A couple of recent examples of USAF limitations that could cause re-entries not to be catalogued:
On 2014 Sep 03 UTC, an uncatalogued piece of operational debris of a Russian spy satellite re-entered over the U.S., which was widely seen by the public. The USAF did not acknowledge the decay properly, and mistakenly catalogued the decay of the parent object on that date, despite it having made a controlled landing in Russia ~10 h earlier, on the day before (Sep 02 UTC). This is probably the only reasonably accurate news report on the events:
http://www.space.com/27318-russian-military-spy-satellite-fall.html
On 2014 Dec 28 UTC, a Falcon 9 2nd stage, that had been lost by the USAF, decayed over South America, and dropped several pieces of debris on Brazil. The decayed object was identified within hours by a fellow hobbyist, days before the USAF belatedly issued updated orbital elements and acknowledged the decay in its catalogue."
Thanks Ted.
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