One scientist's work on the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Application program

By Keith Basterfield and Paul Dean

Bigelow Aerospace

In the New York Times article  (NYT) of 16 December 2017, by Helene Cooper, Ralph Blumenthal and Leslie Kean, concerning the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), there was mention of the involvement of Bigelow Aerospace. Bigelow Aerospace was revealed as the major contractor to participate in the AATIP. The NYT article, in part, read :

"The funding went to Mr Bigelow's company, Bigelow Aerospace, which hired subcontractors and solicited research for the program."

We wondered at the time, whether or not it would be possible to locate any of these subcontractors?

Eric Davis/Hal Puthoff

We now know from sources such as the January 2018 "Coast to Coast" interviews between George Knapp,and Dr Eric Davis/Dr Hal Puthoff, that both these individuals were such subcontractors. Much has already been revealed about their roles in the program. However, what about other subcontractors?

On 7 January 2018, on the Above Top Secret website, user name "Mirageman" published a lengthy article titled "Bigelow, UFOs, MUFON and the 'DeLonge' road to AATIP." In a section about the 2008 discussions between Bigelow and the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON)  the author wrote:

"...Bigelow was contracting up to fifty scientists, some designated to be on the scene within twenty-four hours after significant UFO incidents, to perform investigations and analyse any data the MUFON investigators had collected."

Who were these scientists? It would appear that until now, not one has been identified by researchers.

Swedish researcher Roger Glassel's 27 April 2018 blog post provided a lead:

 "By searching on the AAWSA name I also found a LinkedIn profile of a person in the Nevada area that had worked for Bigelow Aerospace between 2009 and 2010. More specifically, he was employed "in an interdisciplinary team of scientists and engineers studying advanced aerospace weapon system applications including lift, propulsion, control, power generation, signature reduction, material and armament."

LinkedIn

Immediately after reading Glassel's blog post, one of the authors (KB) searched the LinkedIn website and using key words, located this individual's LinkedIn entry. There is indeed an entry stating that this individual worked as a "Research Engineer" for Bigelow Aerospace between August 2009 and June 2010 (within the time span of the AATIP dates provided by the NYT article.)  The text which Glassel refers to, is there. However, what appears below Glassel's cited text, is even more interesting.

"Further tasks included:

* Develop company research topics requiring ANSYS FEA calculation and carry out research within the fields of aerodynamics, heat transfer, stress analysis and chemical reaction

* Perform field measurements collecting data regarding ionizing radiation as well as performing chemical/metal/soil and spectrum analysis across the United States in accordance with the code of federal regulators, ANSI, IEEE and ASTM standards and EPA, USGS, DOE and DOD procedures.

*Responsible for training engineering/scientist team on proper use of equipment safety/procedure guidelines

* Responsible for compiling, formatting and ensuring technical accuracy of completed scientific analysis reports."



Source: LinkedIn

Notes

1. ANSYS FEA. Ansys is a private US company. FEA = Finite element analysis.
2. ANSI = American National Standards Institute.
3. IEEE = Institute of Electrical Engineers.
4. ASTM = American Society for Testing and Materials.
5. EPA = Environmental Protection Agency.
6. USGS = United States Geological Survey.
7. DOE = Department of Energy.
8.. DOD = Department of Defense.


On 1 May 2018, one of the authors (PD) exchanged communications with US researcher Curt Collins, and during this exchange received advice as to the name of the individual on LinkledIn, whom Glassel referred to in his blog post of 27 April 2018. This name matched the individual whom one of the authors (KB) had already found.

Significance

The significance of this find, is that for the first time, we have part of the "job description" of one of the individuals who was conducting scientific investigation under the DIA AATIP/AAWSA program, i.e. another subcontractor beyond Davis/Puthoff.

It should be recalled, that in the 28 January 2018 "Coast to Coast" interview with George Knapp; Davis specifically said of his role in AATIP, that he undertook no data analysis, nor video analysis, nor witness interviews. Hal Puthoff stated on "Coast to Coast" that his role with the AATIP was mainly to look at the physics. The investigatory role apparently belonged to such individuals as the one located on LinkedIn.

We conducted a further search of LinkedIn looking for other individuals who may have worked on the same program. We have found no one else as yet.

One of the authors (KB) has forwarded a request to the Las Vegas individual identified by Glassel, ourselves and Collins, asking them if they would be willing to talk to us about the work they undertook for the program? We are not providing their name due to privacy considerations. No response has been received, as at the date of this post.

Naturally, we would appreciate hearing from anyone who can throw more light on this matter; email keithbasterfield@yahoo.com.au

AATIP or AAWSA

Background:

The Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) has been in the news since late last year, when the existence of this US government program was revealed. Three short videos, said to have been investigated by the program, have been released by the To the Stars Academy.

In a blog post dated 27 April 2018, and titled "The AATIP, Targeting Pod Videos and the DOPSR Process," Swedish researcher Roger Glassel, provided information relating to his search for how the AATIP targeting videos were released.

Introduction:

Part of Glassel's research led him to the 2010/2011 work of Dr Eric Davis.

Source: http://earthtech.org/pubs/

Davis prepared a number of theoretical studies for the US Defense Intelligence Agency's Defence Warning Office. Glassel located two of these reports. Davis had previously reported on his AATIP work for the DIA, preparing similar, if not the same reports.

On page 2 of both reports there is the note: "This product is one of a series of advanced technology reports produced in FY 2009 Under the Defense Intelligence Agency Defense Warning Office's Advanced Aerospace Weapon Systems Application (AAWSA) program." Glassel argues that "AAWSA, if not the same, would seem to be closely related to AATIP."

Isaac Koi

UK researcher Isaac Koi, in a message dated 30 April 2018, to the UFO-collective googlegroups discussion group, added some further information.

"On 20 March 2018, I send (sic) a copy of two DIRD paper to Eric Davis (which I found on several websites by searching the publications he had listed  on his EarthTech.org page) and asked him to confirm that those papers were part of the series of 38 DIRDs. Those papers include a statement that they are reports under the Defense Intelligence Agency's Defense Warning office's "Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications" (sic)  (AAWSA) Program. (A few days later, Roger Glassel independently found these DIRDs by doing similar searches).

On 13 April 2018, Eric kindly replied that "I don't know how you got two of my DIRD reports" and "Yes! All of my DIRD reports are in the set of 38 total."

Program manager:

One aspect of Glassel's blog which interests me is the fact that the note goes on to say: "Comments or questions pertaining to this document should be addressed to James T Lacatski, D. Eng., AAWSA Program Manager, Defense Intelligence Agency, ATTN: CLAR/DWO-3, Bldg 6000, Washington DC 20340 - 5100." Remember this was back in April 2010.

What do we already know about the AATIP program manager before Elizondo?

1. During the "Coast to Coast" George Knapp interview with Luis Elizondo, dated 25 February 2018, Elizondo stated that in 2008 he talked to the AATIP program manger, who was a PhD and a rocket scientist.

2. During the January 2018 interview between Elizondo and Giuliano Marinkovic, Elizondo stated that in 2010, the last AATIP manager moved on, and he (Elizondo) became the AATIP program manager.

Who was James T Lacatski?

A search of the Internet reveals:

1. A James Lacatski, Intelligence Officer, Missile defense, Defense Intelligence Agency was one of the experts at a 2004 conference  on Ballistic Missile Defence.

2.

In the January 2005 edition of the DIA's magazine "Communique" James T Lacatski is shown as promoted to GG-14.

3. I found a report on a 2015 "Modern topics in energy and power technical meeting" held at the US Army Research Laboratory between 14-16 July 2015. One of the attendees was a James Lacatski, Department of Defence, with a DIA email address given. Interestingly, one of the organisers was one Dr Eric Davis.

Back to Isaac Koi:

Isaac's 30 April 2018 message to the UFO-collective continued:

"In relation to a question about an individual named in those papers (Jim Lacatski), Dr Eric Davis stated in the same email that Dr Lacatski was the "program manager at the DWO-4 for the AATIP contract with Bigelow Aerospace Advanced  Space Studies. AAWSA is the specific program task force or division within DW0-4 that Jim specifically worked in."

Paul Dean:

Also, on 30 April 2018, Melbourne researcher Paul Dean published a blog post about the AAWSA, revealing what he knows about this. It is well worth a read.

Questions:

The questions to be asked, are, was James T Lacatski the first AAWSA/AATIP program manager? Did Luis Elizondo take over from him?

Additional information:

I searched the Linked In website for a James T Lacatski, but no-one by this name was located. I searched Face Book for James T Lacatski; found one James Lacatski and have sent a message to that individual. I also located a DIA email address for Lacatski and sent an email off to this address. Unfortunately, it bounced back, not known at this address.

If any blog readers have further information on the subject of this blog post I would appreciate hearing from them.

James E McDonald's interest in Project Blue Book cases - Warren, Michigan

Background:

This blog post continues my look at sightings from the USAF Project Blue Book files which interested the late Professor James E McDonald

The sighting:

At about 7.05 to 7.10 pm CDT (UTC-5 hours), on 18 August 1958, Alex Donald Chisholm, a business machine mechanic, aged 30, of Warren, Michigan (42:27N; 83:03W) was in his back yard when he observed a flight of four aircraft, which then drew his attention to an extremely bright "star," motionless in the sky at 70-75 degrees elevation, azimuth 300 degrees. The "star" was brighter than the Moon. He drew Walter Moilanion's (his neighbour) attention to it.

Chisholm then viewed the light through 8x30 field glasses, and then  again with the naked eye (through spectacles.) After 7-8 minutes, the object which had remained motionless until then, moved slightly. At this point, Chisholm (viewing through the field glasses) and Moilanion (with naked eye) pictured it as a circular object, light gray in colour, and shaped like the planet Saturn (as it was circular surrounded by a ring.) Chisholm estimated that the object was between 75-600 miles above the earth, and about 60 feet in diameter. After 30 seconds after first moving, it "vanished as if in a fast vaporised movement." There was no associated sound at any stage.

Documentation:

a. 18 August 1958 - a five page letter from the witness to NICAP.

Page 1 of the letter

b. 19 August 1958 - a three page report from 661st ACWRON Selfridge AFB.
c. 20 August 1958 - a three page report from 1st FTR WG Selfridge AFB.

Page from one of the Selfridge AFB reports

d. 25 August 1958 - a two page NICAP report form completed by the witness.

Page one of the NICAP report form

e. Undated - a two page letter from witness to NICAP which NICAP received on 27 August 1958.
f. It should be noted that the other male witness did not submit an independent report form.

Astronomical sky:

a. The Sun was three degrees above the horizon at azimuth 285 degrees. Thus the object was 15 degrees azimuth to the right of the setting Sun (sunset was at about 7.30pm) but 70 degrees higher up in the sky, The witness stated that the Sun was slightly above the horizon.

b. The Moon was at 21 degrees elevation; azimuth 235 degrees, i.e. 65 degrees to the left of the object, and 20 % illuminated. It was 4.3 days old. The witness however, stated that the Moon, although at last quarter was not visible in  the sky. This is incorrect.

Weather:

c. The witness stated that the sky was clear, no clouds were visible. The 19 August teletype from Selfridge AFB stated the sky was cloudless, and that the wind was blowing from 330 degrees, to 35 knots. Weather Underground shows that at nearby Detroit, Michigan, the surface wind was from the NNW (roughly 330 degrees.)

Source: https://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KDET/1958/8/18/DailyHistory.html?req_city=&req_state=&req_statename=&reqdb.zip=&reqdb.magic=&reqdb.wmo=

Other details:

d. Most of my summary above is taken from the 18 August 1958 typed letter from the witness to NICAP.

e. Most interesting is the description of the way in which the object was lost to view:

1.  Documentation b says "object faded very rapidly without noticeable diminishment in size, vaporized."

2. Documentation a says "it vanished as if in a fast vaporised moment."

f. The object was not constantly viewed through optical aid for the entire observation.

Cause of the sighting?

The Project Blue Book documentation assigns an incorrect date of 17 August 1958 to the sighting. However, their  final evaluation was that the sighting was "unidentified."

Recent discussion on the NICAP googlegroups forum, centred around the suggestion that the object was perhaps a stratospheric balloon, launched from Anota, Minnesota on 17 August 1958.

Source: https://stratocat.com.ar/globos/1958e.htm

 Acknowledgment:

Thank you to Barry Greenwood from Boston in the USA, for supplying the NICAP letters/report form.

The full documentation may be read on the NICAP website. 

AATIP and that mysterious "metal" sample

Hi all,

One of the projects which I listed on my 2018 work plan, was to study the publicly available information on the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP.) I am still in the early days of studying the material I have gathered, and placed in my "to do at some stage" folder.

One aspect of this material stood out, and this was reference to "metal alloys." The initial reference surfaced in the 16 December 2017 issue of the New York Times, in an article authored by Helene Cooper, Ralph Blumenthal and Leslie Kean, titled "Glowing Auras and 'Black Money': The Pentagon's Mysterious U.F.O. program."

After describing the program and its sub-contractor Bigelow Aerospace (BASS), the authors wrote:

"Under Mr Bigelow's direction, the company modified buildings in Las Vegas for the storage of metal alloys and other materials that Mr Elizondo and program contractors said had been recovered from unidentified aerial phenomena."

More revelations

Following the revelation concerning the existence of the program, a number of individuals who were associated with aspects of the program, started to give interviews in the mass media.

1. Journalist Giuliano Marinkovic interviewed AATIP program manager, Luis Elizondo, in January 2018. Elizondo stated that BASS was required by the contract to provide a secure storage facility to store data and any material generated by the program. "We are not talking of unknown alloys. We are talking of metamaterials which have isotopic ratios not found on this planet. They would be very expensive for us to reproduce."

Luis Elizondo

2. Dr Eric W Davis was interviewed on "Coast to Coast" radio on 28 January 2018. Davis works for the Institute of Advanced Studies in Austin, Texas. He was a sub-contractor to BASS. His role was to provide broad scientific advice and create a series of expert studies. These studies were tasked with extrapolating our current technology to the year 2050 and comparing these to UAP. Davis stated that he was not privy to AATIP data analysis. There was no mention of "metal alloys" in this interview.

3. Luis Elizondo was interviewed by George Knapp on "Coast to Coast" radio on 25 February 2018, Elizondo was a program manager for AATIP. Knapp asked Elizondo about metals with unusual properties and AATIP. Elizondo responded that they do exist. The material displays unique characteristics. He can't say what the government has in its possession, but as far as BASS goes, there were very unusual properties. found. Isotopic ratios that are very unique. Not found naturally on this planet. Have been analysed and appear to be manufactured. When stimulus used - reacts in a certain way. "I am not talking about an unknown element or a metal alloy." It is not a new element. Origin remains unknown. 

4. Physicist Hal Puthoff was on "Coast to Coast" radio being interviewed by George Knapp on 28 February 2018. Puthoff works at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Austin, Texas. Like Davis, he was involved as a sub-contractor for BASS obtaining expert views.

Hal Puthoff

Knapp asked Puthoff about the New York Times reference to exotic material of unknown origin. In response, Puthoff said "I had a chance to look at some material." It is complex. No new elements. Layers of various kinds of material which you wouldn't expect to be layered. It will be some time before we figure out how to make them. If some more material becomes available we will learn more.

My thoughts

1. As far as I am aware, no-one has yet obtained documents under the US FOIA which relate to the AATIP and material having unusual properties. What we do have, are individuals who were involved in the program telling us that there was/is such material. The details they describe remain extremely vague. Only Hal Puthoff admitted to having looked at some material. 

2. No articles have appeared in peer reviewed scientific journals describing such unusual material.

3. In short, we have no hard data on the properties of this material, nor indeed official confirmation of the existence of such material held by the US Department of Defence.

Earlier such stories

When I read through the above material in order to write this blog post, I smiled. Why? In a diary entry dated 24 August 1988, in Jacques Vallee's "Forbidden Science: Volume Three," there is a record of a relevant conversation between Vallee and one Richard Niemtzow. Niemtzow was speaking:

"In the seventies, when McDonnell-Douglas had a secret study of UFOs under way, who do you think was showing up regularly from Washington to monitor their progress? It was Kit, sent by CIA on official business. He came over whenever one of their aircraft had a sighting. John Schuessler told me that. I found that communication with him was always a one way street. Those guys are trained that way.

"Whatever happened to the McDonnell study?"

"All they got were some pieces of metal, and they couldn't learn anything from the analysis, it was futile. Of course, being an aircraft company, they thought they would quickly crack the design, the propulsion system..."

Different times, same thinking!

Sketches found from a 1956 Australian abduction case

Hi all,

I have been continuing my examination of the electronic files of former US researcher Dr. Michael Swords, who kindly provided me with a copy of these extensive files. There are numerous Australian cases amongst this material, which I have slowly been going through.

This post examines an apparent abduction experience, one of the reported earliest for this country. For a comprehensive catalogue of Australian abduction accounts, take a look here.

The source for this particular early Australian abduction account comes from Sydney researcher Bill Chalker, who included it in a piece he wrote for Australian "Penthouse" magazine of November 1989, page 37.

The account

The event took place near Hughenden in Queensland, see the Google map below.

It involved a then twelve year old girl, given the alias of Miss L. She was crossing a paddock on the family farm when she felt a strange force upon her, and she heard a "humming" sound. She felt as if she was being lifted off the ground and fainted.

She awoke to find herself in a large, strange room. The room was not furnished. She noticed an arched doorway leading into a corridor; that there were porthole-like windows along one wall, and that the room had no joins or seams.

After surveying the room, which featured a coloured galaxy display on one wall, the girl felt enormous pressure and again lost consciousness.

She found herself back on the farm, but in a different paddock, with a huge saucer shaped object j=hovering above her, before it rapidly ascended to the west. The girl believed that two hours had elapsed since she initially lost consciousness.

VUFORS material

It was therefore with some surprise that I found that amongst the Swords' material were three pages of documents related to this case.

Document one was headed "UFO 1956 Cressy Station, Hughenden, Australia" and a signature which looks like "F Jedlicko." This appears to be a plan of the object as seen from above.

Document two is headed "Interior of UFO 1956. Cressy Station, Hughenden, Qld, Australia. 21 deg lat. Travelling West." It is an annotated numbered key to features shown in document three.

It is signed in the same name as document one shows, but provides the address Box 183, Elsternwick, Australia 3185. I assume this is the postal address of the witness, who at this stage, post 1956, lived in Victoria and this is why the Victorian UFO Research Society looked into the report.

Document three is a sketch with numbers, showing the girl and the two entities and various features of the room she was in.

A fascinating insight into this very early Australian abduction account. It is a pity that most of the VUFORS archives were lost with the passing of VUFORS researchers, Paul Norman and Judith Magee. 

Research

1. A search of 163 graziers listed for the Hughenden, area of Queensland, listed in the current Telstra yellow pages failed to locate a current station named "Cressy Station", or any owner whose name was similar to F Jedlicko or F Fedlicko.

2. Hughenden, Queensland is at latitude 20.85 south and longitude 144.2 East.

3. An Internet search for a "Cressy Station" located a 1963 paper concerning a Cressy Station in the Great Artisian Basin, Queensland located at latitude 21.8 deg S; longitude 143.8 deg E. This location is SW of Hughenden. 

4. Further search turned up an R S Blacket, Cressy Station, Corfield, Qld 4733. This is apparently Rob and Roslyn Blacket Corfield is to the SW of Hughenden.

5. This Cressy Station is located near Winton, to the SW of Hughenden

A more detailed map is shown below:

6. In my search for Cressy Station,  I then turned to the National Library of Australia's TROVE digitised newspaper collection . I searched for "Cressy Station" and found:

a. "Telegraph" (Brisbane.) Wednesday 13 September 1939, page 17. Owners of Cressy Station, Corfield are a Mr and Mrs R Logan, and son Alan Beaufort Logan who was then marrying Lucy Beryl Wedgwood.

b. "Queensland Country Life" Thursday 17 November 1949 page 11. Sale of rams to Cressy Pastoral  Company of Cressy Station, Corfield.

c. "The Longreach Leader" Friday 20 July 1951 page 11, records the death of Raymond Hough Logan, aged 76, of Brisbane, former owner of Cressy, Corfield.

7. The My Heritage website records the fact that Alan and Beryl had four children. I had my genealogy expert take a look for details of the four children.

We were only able to establish that one was a Brian Charles Logan; who was born in 1942 and died in 1946. We couldn't find any details on any of the other three children.

8. However, it would seem reasonable to me, that if Alan Logan married Beryl Wedgwood in 1939 then it is possible that they had a daughter who was 12 years old in 1956, a Miss Logan, our "Miss L." of the VUFORS report.

9. The name on the VUFORS held paperwork, F Jedlicko or F Fedlicko, or some similar combination of letters, could potentially be Miss L's married name, at the time she was interviewed by investigators from the VUFORs.

10. Can any blog readers throw any more light on Miss L's identity?

James E McDonald's interest in Project Blue Book cases - Pueblo, Colorado

Hi all,

Background

The late Dr. James E McDonald visited the former USAF's Project Blue Book on a number of occasions and gathered together a collection of sightings, which interested him. I published a blog back in February 2017,  about this aspect of his UAP work. As one of my 2018 projects, I am revisiting my earlier work on these selected Blue Book files.

Introduction

This blog post concerns one of the cases McDonald saw some value in, namely an observation by a weather observer, at a place called Pueblo, Colorado in the USA, which is near Colorado Springs.

Why bother re-examining these old cases? Well, they generally provide  me with data based observations, as opposed to sightings mentioned on Face Book pages, which provide hardly any data points. Secondly, it is always good to revisit/reanalyse cases, to see if a potential mundane explanation has been missed.

Case details

At 10:46am Mountain Standard Time (1746UTC), on 14 June 1958, a Pueblo, Colorado [latitude 38.28 deg N; longitude 104.6 deg W], airport weather observer, Orville R. Foster, aged 51 years, was observing a pilot balloon through a theodolite. He noticed an object enter the field of view at elevation 24.2 degrees,and azimuth 67 degrees (ENE.) He tracked the object across the northern sky (maximum elevation estimated as 50 degrees) on into the SW sky. Here he lost it in atmospheric haze at elevation 8.1 degrees, azimuth 237.2 degrees. The duration of the event was between 4-6 minutes.

The path of the object across the sky

The shape of the object at highest elevation was circular, with an apparently flat ring around the object, and a rounded dome in the middle. It appeared white to silvery white in colour. No metallic lustre was noticed. There was no smoke, no noise,no exhaust, and no vapour trail. There were cirrus clouds present at an estimated 30,000 feet and at times it went behind these.

The upper air winds during that day were from the SW - which is opposite to the direction that the object was travelling in, therefore it was going against the wind.

The observer noted that he had seen high altitude balloons through a theodolite before and this didn't look like them. On the USAF proforma Foster estimates its speed as a minimum 540 mph and, provides an estimate of its diameter as 30 feet.

Project Blue Book comments

The PBB file which I obtained a copy of, courtesy of Melbourne based researcher Paul Dean, showed two trains of thought about the nature of the object:

1. In a letter to the observer dated 14 July 1958 PBB made the statement that many qualified observers had mistaken a high altitude balloon for a UFO. It also stated "Routine checks and research disclosed that an upper-atmosphere balloon, flight No 161, was tracked continuously by the facilities of the AACS and last reported in the vicinity west of Pueblo between the 14th and 15th of June." Here, PBB was suggesting it might have been a high altitude balloon.

2. PBB "Routing slip" on the file stated "This is a toughie. I have approached it from every scientific and logical angle..after performing checks of a/c schedules (both military and civil), radar units, tests and operations, GCC, and others all showed negative..If no resolution, this will be one I must place in the category of 'unknown.'"

The routing slip

The "Project 10073 Record Card" conclusion is shown as "unidentified", "unknown."

The Project record card

Data analysis

1. If we assume that the object was at a minimum altitude of 30,000 feet, then we can calculate its range at three points.

a. Initial position of ENE sky at 24.2 degrees elevation.

Sine 24.2 = 30000/slant range.
0.4099 = 30000/slant range.
therefore slant range = 30000/0.4099.
therefore slant range is 73, 188 feet.

b. Intermediate position in northern sky at 50 degrees elevation.

Sine 50 = 30000/slant range.
0.766 = 30000/slant range
therefore slant range = 30000/0.766.
therefore slant range is 39, 164 feet.

c. Final position in SW sky at 8.1 degrees elevation.

Sine 8.1 = 30000/slant range.
0.1409 = 30000/slant range.
therefore slant range = 30000/0.1409.
therefore slant range = 212,917 feet.

If its actual altitude was above 30,000 feet, then these ranges would be greater than the figures shown.

2. We can calculate an average angular velocity across the sky.

190 degrees of arc traversed. Time taken, between 240 and 360 seconds.
Therefore average angular velocity was between 0.53 and 0.79 degrees per second.

3. In order to calculate an actual speed, we would need to know an actual figure for its angular velocity at one of the three known distances. We do not have this data.

However, Foster does provide a figure of a minimum speed of 540 miles per hour on the USAF profroma. This suggests that he used some form of average distance and angular speed to calculate this figure.

4. He also estimates the diameter of the object as 30 feet. As there is no data provided for the angular size of the object seen through the theodolite, we can only assume that he calculated this figure based on his 28 years of being a weather observer, and knowledge of the actual versus angular sizes of the balloons he tracked, and a comparison of the apparent angular size of the object in the instrument.

5.  The weather at the time was:

a. At the surface - as stated by the observer.

Scattered clouds.
Relative humidity 22%
Temperature 84.4 degrees F.
Slight breeze - 5 knots from SSW.

As given by the website weather underground

Temperature 82 degrees F.
Wind speed - 5.2 knots.
Wind direction From the south.
Barometer 29.75 inches Hg.

b. Upper air winds

The observer stated "Upper air winds during the day were from the south west quadrant."

I checked the University of Wyoming's global upper air readings database for Colorado Springs for that date. Unfortunately their records do not go that far back.

McDonald documents

US researcher Barry Greenwood located and forwarded three documents from his archives, which show that McDonald followed up the sighting in June 1970.

He contacted the US Weather Bureau in Pueblo, Colorado and asked them to check their logs for the sighting. The response stated that their observation log for 14 June 1958 contained the following entry:

"UFO sighted at 1046M while taking Pibal ob. Elev. 24.2 deg, azimuth 247.0; followed with theodolite for about 5 mins. Moved across northern sky, lost to view at Elev. 8.1 deg azimuth 57.2 deg. Color white, dome shaped in center, with circling ring. Higher than ci clds, moved very fast to SW."

There is a note that these azimuth readings are 180 degrees from true. Weather theodolites had South as 0 degrees azimuth.

With an address supplied by the Weather Bureau, McDonald wrote to Foster proposing a date for a telephone interview. We have no records of this interview, if it occurred.

Summary

An unusual object travelled against the upper air winds, at a speed which the observer estimates as at least 540mph, and was described as circular, with an apparently flat ring around the object, and a rounded dome in the middle, with an estimated diameter of 30 feet.  It appeared white to silvery white in colour. No metallic lustre was noticed. There was no smoke, no noise,no exhaust, and no vapour trail. The observer was adamant it was not a high altitude balloon.

I can see why PBB allocated it to the "unknown" category.

Acknowledgements

I wish to thank Robert Powell, and other members of the NICAP forum for their kind comments on my initial data analysis, which has been amended above based on their comments.

I also wish to thank Barry Greenwood for locating the documents which show James E McDonald's follow up of the sighting.

I shot at a UFO

Hi all,

I have read of cases from overseas where individuals have claimed to have used a gun to fire at UAP. However, until today, I had never come across such a reported occurrence here in Australia.

I was browsing through a global collection of data, compiled by US researcher Michael Swords and located an Australian sighting, sent to the USA, by the Australian Centre for UFO Studies.

Part of the report form

Document

What I found was an investigation report by R Delillo and R H Marx (reference number NA78072.) They interviewed one of the two witnesses on 12 June 1978.

Part of the investigation report

Mr G Cooke was then a 27 year old motor mechanic from Liverpool, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He was married with two children. At the time of the incident he was with a friend on a property near Orange, New South Wales, in June 1969. His statement reads:

"We went to Orange to go shooting. It was at a place about 10 miles out of town and fairly hilly and very rocky, with large boulders six feet in diameter and a few trees.It was a grazing property but we were on a slope which was above the area used for grazing. We had been out for quite a while, about 3 hours.

We were going up a hill which was fairly steep in a four wheel drive vehicle and were getting no further. My friend and I got out of the vehicle and were standing around it discussing what to do when we noticed a light in the sky.

We were about half way up the hill, that is about 200 feet from the bottom of the hill and there was another hill opposite us with a creek in between the two hills.

Sketch of the scene

The light was above the hill opposite us.It appeared to be like the headlights of an aircraft but it was moving very, very slowly towards us. I didn't take any notice of it thinking it was an aircraft.

After a couple of minutes it seemed to be at a point above the opposite hill about 50 feet above the tree line on top of the hill. It then began to move slowly down the front of the hill. We then turned our car headlights off because we didn't know what might happen. We could tell its position because the light lit up the tree tops in an area directly below it. The light appeared to reflect off the leaves in the tops of the trees but did not illuminate the ground below the trees.

At this stage we thought it might be a helicopter but there was absolute silence. After about 3 or 4 minutes it reached a point level with us on the opposite hill and came to a stop. It looked just like the headlight of a car but lacked the distinct beam of a car headlight. It was very bright, with the colour of a quartz halogen headlight.Very white and gave the impression of being slightly larger than a car headlight.

We didn't know what to do and were beginning to feel uncomfortable. It was still about 50 feet above the trees and we could estimate the distance since the hill was behind it. My friend said "Oh blow it" and picked up a rifle and fired at it. As soon as he fired the shot the light went out. He used a 243 rifle and was a pretty good shot. The light left a brief after image for about 2-3 seconds. After half a minute we trained spotlights all over the hill but could not see anything. We went immediately home.

We discussed the event that night and couldn't sleep well for we had no idea what it could have been and were afraid it might have been a fellow with a torch. We went back the next morning and spent a couple of hours searching the hill for any signs; vehicle tracks; footprints; anything, but found nothing. It had been raining the night before the incident so if anyone had been there they would have left tracks in the very soggy ground.

To this day I have no idea what it could have been."

A second shooting incident

Intrigued by the above account I did a search of my Australian newspaper clipping collection, scouring them for any such accounts. To my surprise, I found details of a second shooting incident.

The page one head-lines of an uncited Sydney newspaper, dated Monday 7 May 1979 were:

Page two of the story

"Shots fired as UFO panics town."

"A local civil servant fired a volley of shots at a UFO hovering over the West Australian town of Eucla.

And UFO fever has gripped this tiny town following sightings over the past three nights of a mystery red and silver object.

The 20 townspeople are in a whirl over the sightings but a spokesman for the RAAF said it was unlikely to send an aircraft to intercept the UFO.

A local agricultural officer who fired a high powered rifle at the UFO said "It zoomed off in a flash."

At lunchtime yesterday several people who sighted the cigar shaped shiny UFO which appeared to be moving towards the town from the South Australian border.

After the sighing the object veered away from Eucla but was spotted by several people throughout the afternoon.

The shots were fired at the object by Mr A Hardy, a permit control officer with the Department of Agriculture.

"I just wanted to see what would happen," Mr Hardy said.

"It zoomed off in a flash to a much greater height and sat there for three or four hours...

Eucla police believe it may be just a bunch of helium filled party balloons which escaped from a  dance at a nearby hotel..."

Ageing

They say our memory fades as we age. A check of this blog reveals that this second story featured in a previous blog from 2013.