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Good evening everybody, Coast to Coast. This is Douglas Edwards.

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Tonight, Armstrong Circle Theater goes after a most unusual story, the riddle of the flying

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saucers. We will depart from our usual format and instead of dramatizing an adventure, we

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ask you to participate in a controversy. Are UFO unidentified flying objects real or

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real? Now if these so-called flying saucers are real, where do they come from? Are they

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secret weapons being tested by our own or foreign governments? Or are they, as many believe,

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spacecraft from other planets, invading our atmosphere, actually observing life on Earth?

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Tonight, we're going after this story, we're going to the government files and to experts

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on all sides of the issue. We're going after facts. In just a few moments, UFO, the enigma

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of the skies, on the Armstrong Circle Theater.

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Today, we stand on the threshold of outer space. Is space the emptiness we've long believed?

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It may not be. For life, intelligent life, may already exist somewhere out in the unmeasurable

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vastness of space. In a universe containing billions of planets, millions of galaxies,

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by the simple law of chance, there must be planets enough like our own to sustain life.

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Actually, some authorities have gone so far as to offer evidence that such life does exist.

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Here's an example of the evidence they offer. This is the planet Mars with its mysterious

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canali, the lines crisscrossing its surface. Forty years ago, first of all Lowell, a distinguished

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American astronomer stated that the canali are evidence of intelligent life on Mars.

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He said Mars was a dying planet from lack of water and the lines were actually irrigation

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canals that the Martians had dug to bring water from the melting polar ice caps into their

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parts' planet. Let's look at another example. This is the moon, our nearest neighbor in space.

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And the only one our powerful telescopes can carefully survey. For years, astronomers have

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been mapping its surface. Some have seen strange things indeed. Here, for example, is a rough sketch

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that was supposed to show streets and avenues in a region of the moon known as Schroeder's Valley.

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In 1953, a report was made that a gigantic bridge now stretches across a region of the moon known as

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the Mar-A-Cresium. Scientists charted this region many years ago and no such bridge was

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in evidence then. If it's a natural object, why wasn't it seen before? If it's not a natural object,

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then what can it be? There are those who claim that its construction proves the existence of

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intelligence on the moon, not necessarily moon people but beings from outer space who are using

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the moon as a space station for their observation of Earth. How can we find out about this? Where do

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we start? Well, we start with background, with history. Unidentified flying objects are nothing new.

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The Bible gives us a report of the sighting by the prophet Ezekiel, a sign in the heavens, large,

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brilliantly colored in the shape of a wheel within a wheel.

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1554, a mysterious object flashed across the sky near Saint-Chem-en-France.

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In 1709, a flock of strange phenomena invaded the skies over Europe.

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Today, science explains most of these ancient sightings in terms of natural phenomena, meteors, shooting stars,

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comets or unusual auroral displays. But not too easily explained are some occurrences of not too long ago.

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November 23rd, 1896, Oakland, California. A mysterious object appeared in the sky.

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A strange cigar-shaped object reportedly witnessed 5,000 sail eastward. Moving slowly, gathering headlines,

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the UFO was reported from Salt Lake City, Denver, Omaha, and finally, Chicago, where it sailed off the front page into the unknown.

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The first few decades of the 20th century brought few sightings, possibly because the flying saucers took a dim view of this

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newly invented earthly airplane suddenly trespassing their private nobain.

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But in 1947, the year two of the atomic age, the real UFO story began. It began here, the Pacific Northwest, one June morning, 10 years ago.

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In the vicinity of Mount Rainier, a C-46 Marine transport plane crashed.

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Among the volunteer civilians who aided the military searchers was a veteran mountain pilot who had logged thousands of hours of flying in the area.

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What he saw and reported made international news. Here now is Earth Tunic, a man who over the past months has literally spent hundreds of hours

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reading the massive material printed on the subject, interviewing the people involved.

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Earth, what was seen near Mount Rainier on that memorable afternoon?

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Well, to begin with, Doug, though it's popularly thought that the Mount Rainier incident represents the opening of the current phase of flying saucer history,

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that's not quite right. The fact is that during World War II, a number of military pilots reported rather strange, rather unobjects,

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that mysteriously circled or paced their planes in flight. Now, Air Force Intelligence investigated these reports, that's on the record.

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However, the incident that did trigger the current interest in UFO was the Mount Rainier occurrence.

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With Wilder Mountain pilot was searching for the crash marine transport, that he noticed a terrific blue flash reflect from his airplane.

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The pilot noticed that the flash came from a chain of rather peculiar looking objects that were approaching Mount Rainier, flying at a course of about 170 degrees.

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He assumed at the time that they were a formation of some new type of jet, but it rather baffled him because they just didn't seem to have any tail.

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He judged their wingspan to be about, oh, a hundred foot a feet across. The pilot watched them for several minutes.

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They were traveling from north to south and flying in a rather reversed echelon formation. And as they flew, they weaved in and out between the mountain peaks.

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They had kind of a skipping motion as they sailed along and after the sighting, the pilot landed and reported the incident to the local representative of the CAA, the Civil Aeronautics Administration.

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The pilot didn't make too much of the incident. He thought they were just a new type of jet. He described them as fluttering and, well, he said they flew like you, took a saucer and skimmed it across the water.

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Some newspapers printed a rather gobble version of this and they quoted him as saying that they looked like saucers when he said that they flew in a saucer like fashion.

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And that was rather an historic misquote because that's how the name Flying Saucers came to be.

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Now our Air Forces investigated at the time and they said no Air Force or naval aircraft were flying in the vicinity of Mount Rainier on that day.

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The possibility of foreign aircraft being present was just not believable.

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So the only conclusion that the pilot could come to was that they must be of extraterrestrial origin from another world, another planet.

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This Mount Rainier sighting might have been quickly forgotten except that within the next 30 days there were 53 more reports of so-called flying saucers,

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but making allowances for illusion, delusion, hoax and hallucination, there remained enough incredible reports by credible observers to set people thinking.

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They came from every section of the country. San Fernando, California, Boulder, Colorado, Washington, D.C., Greenwich Point, Long Island.

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And if anyone was less than serious about flying saucers, the tragic Mantell incident at Godman Field, Fort Knox, Kentucky, gave them real cause to reflect.

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On January 7th, 1948, early in the afternoon, Kentucky State Police reported an unidentified flying object, circular in appearance, moving westward at a good cliff.

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The UFO was also sighted by the commanding officer of Godman Field. The control tower at the field checked and found no experimental aircraft in the neighborhood.

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Just at this time, a flight of F-51s under the command of Captain Thomas Mantell, a veteran combat pilot, neared the field and was immediately vectored in on a strange, spherical-shaped object.

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What happened then depends upon what version you read. There were seven witnesses in Godman Tower, and there are accounts differ in many details, but this is sure.

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Captain Mantell, by radio, reported sighting the object above him. He said it was a metallic thing and a tremendous size.

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Mantell's plane was not equipped with oxygen, and yet he headed upward. By 15,000 feet, his wingman had broken off.

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Mantell was in a maximum climb at 22,500, his plane under perfect control.

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From this point on, there is nothing but mystery. Transmission was garbled and attempts to contact Mantell went unanswered.

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Mantell's plane began to level off at 30,000 feet, began a gradual turn to the left, and then it nose downward, and at full power began to dive.

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Between 10 and 20,000 feet, the plane literally tore apart. Mantell was killed. Parts of his plane were found more than half a mile from the wreckage.

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And are there questions that must be answered about this tragic incident? Why did an experienced pilot like Mantell break one of the cardinal rules of flying, never go above 10,000 feet without oxygen?

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What did he see that forced him to throw caution to the winds?

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After the Mantell crash, UFO reports continued to pile in. During January and February of 1948, the sightings took on an international flavor.

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Balls of fire traveling slowly across the sky were reported from Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, and then Southern Europe chimed in, and then South America.

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On July 21, a report came in from Holland of a UFO rocket-shaped with two rows of windows along the sides. This might have been forgotten fast, except for what happened just one week later.

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On July 24, 1948, a commercial airliner flying from Houston, Texas to Atlanta, was 20 miles southwest of Montgomery, Alabama, at the controls Clarence S. Chiles and his co-pilot John B. Whithid.

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At 2.45 in the morning, these veteran flyers saw light dead ahead and closing in fast, traveling at a speed estimated between 500 and 700 miles an hour. The light bore in on them.

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The rocket-shaped object was brilliantly lighted, and it appeared to have two rows of windows underneath. From the belly of the ship, there was a sort of a blue fluorescent glow.

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As they watched, fascinated, the object flashed by about 700 feet to their right. On landing, Chiles and Whithid reported the incident to the proper authorities, and then each drew a sketch of what he'd seen. This is the child sketch.

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Double windows in size about twice the diameter of a B-29. And this is the sketch drawn by a co-pilot, Whithid.

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The same general shape with double row of windows for what appear to be windows, no wings. What was it?

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To this day, according to the two pilots involved, no logical explanation offered by scientists, by experts, fits the bill. People may argue about what they saw, but they can't deny that they saw something. Something that these men, with thousands of hours of flying experience, had never seen before and haven't seen since.

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Well, is there an explanation, a reasonable, natural explanation for the mysterious objects seen by so many credible observers over the past ten years? For this? Or this?

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To get the official Air Force point of view, we're going directly to the source, directly to the Air Force files that have been thrown open to us. Can every sighting be reasonably explained, or must we accept the proposition, the fact, that at least some of these objects originate in outer space, and that our Earth is now being observed by creatures from another world?

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Rarely a day passes, but the sightings of flying saucers are reported. People are seeing something. Something is there.

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An employee of a supersonic laboratory saw a thick, ruddered object shaped like this.

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Two airline pilots spotted a round object with portholes and flashing lights.

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A group of college professors in Lubbock, Texas saw these lights moving across the sky.

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Vardies have been accused of dropping a paper curtain on this problem, issuing statements, hiding the true facts from the public. What are the facts? Where's the evidence? Where do we go for our story?

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Right Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio, location of the Air Technical Intelligence Center, Air Force collecting point for all UFO sighting reports.

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The outfit chart with the responsibility of analyzing all flying saucer data.

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Project Lubbock.

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Since January 1953, the investigation work of Project Lubbock has had the services of the 42nd-oh-second Air Intelligence Service Squadron, Air Defense Command, and the highly trained field investigation outfit, with field units scattered around the country, so deployed that they can arrive on the spot almost immediately after a sighting is reported to them.

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Over 6,000 reported flying saucer sightings since 1947, each sighting investigated and analyzed by specialists in top-notch military and non-military scientific personnel at Wright Patterson.

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We get the full promise, the full cooperation from the Air Force, and to explain how the Air Force reaches certain conclusions on certain sightings, the Air Force has detailed to us Lieutenant Colonel Spencer Whedon, Chief of the Air Intelligence Office, Air Technical Intelligence Center.

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He will explain.

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These files, many of which were hitherto classified, but now thrown open to us.

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This, for instance, is the complete file on the Mantell case, the tragic incident we talked about earlier.

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Originally, it was reported that Mantell might have mistaken the planet Venus for a UFO flown too high, blacked out, and crashed.

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Colonel, I understand the Air Force no longer holds to that opinion.

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No, we don't, Mr. Edwards.

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We still believe that he's blacked out from lack of oxygen and crashed, and this is supported by findings of the Air Force accident investigators, an outfit completely independent of Project Blue Book.

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But we are now sure that this is what he was chasing, a skyhook balloon, a giant 100-foot balloon, used to gather information about the upper air, cosmic radiation, wind flow, temperature.

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In 1948, these were top secret.

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You knew about them.

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Later, investigation revealed that in January 1948, that is the time of the Mantell crash, these skyhook balloons were being launched from Clinton County Air Force Base in Southern Ohio.

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We examined a weather map showing wind direction on 7 January 1948.

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Starting here at Clinton County Air Force Base, prevailing winds would have carried the balloon west for a while as it climbed.

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At about 35,000 feet, the balloon would have entered the wind jet stream flowing south.

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It would have moved rapidly south, still climbing.

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At a point south to southwest of the air force base here, it would have climbed up out of the jet stream into a calm belt.

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And from there, it would have drifted very slowly south and southeast, directly over the area where the UFO was spotted.

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The Colonel, you believe it's possible for trained observers, pilots like Captain Mantell, to see a balloon and not recognize it as such?

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Certainly, Mr. Edwards, in a period when balloons of that size were rare,

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a balloon can be sent into an almost horizontal position by strong wind currents.

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During the day, a balloon can look like this, but visibility can play tricks.

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And the same balloon at twilight or dawn can look like this.

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Angle of vision is important.

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Now, this sighting, reported over Minneapolis, photographed with the gun camera of an F-86 fighter, also turned out to be a balloon.

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And here's another. A balloon launched in Japan, was tracked by government facilities all the way across the Pacific.

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It meandered all over the country before it finally sailed off into the Atlantic.

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This resulted in literally dozens of UFO reports.

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On that basis then, Colonel Wheaton, some large percentage of flying saucer reports are actually nothing but balloons, right?

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Oh, right, Mr. Edwards. They can show that balloons account for 26.4% of all recent UFO sightings.

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Well, let's take another case.

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Three objects observed, round shaped, steady white light, no trail or exhaust, moving slowly southwest of Macon, Georgia.

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Weather clear and visibility unlimited, photographs made and available, no interception or identification action taken, no air traffic in general area at time of sighting.

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What about this case, Colonel?

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Well, the first thing we did was to get a map.

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Now, here's West Macon, Georgia.

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And here's Fort Benning.

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We immediately established that training operations were being conducted at Benning.

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Part of the operation was the dropping of parachute flares from aircraft, as well as jet support for our ground operations.

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We obtained the photographs mentioned in the report.

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Using a new photo analysis technique, we managed to get some surprising results.

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The first slide showed little more than two brilliant dots with some indefinite green shading around them.

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But on further enlargement, the wings and body of jets come into view.

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The bright object is the flame from the jets after burn.

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Oh, conventional aircraft often seem to be what they are not.

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This is the plane flying at high speed in a fog-shrouted sky.

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The speed causes a moisture condensation around the wings, which gives the appearance of a disc or saucer.

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Planes of unorthodox configuration, a swept wing or delta jobs.

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For this radar plane, called the Flying Pancake, give rise to many UFO sightings.

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Based on our latest reports, the cases where aircraft have been reported as UFOs account for 28.8%.

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Another case now, spring 1957, when the aircraft was hit by a plane.

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The commercial airliner flying between New York and Puerto Rico had an extraordinary experience.

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Flying at 19,000 feet, it sighted a large bright object that appeared to be coming directly towards the liner.

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It was described as a magnesium flash in color with a pale green tint.

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The pilot had to swerve his plane violently to avoid the plane.

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What does the Air Force have to say about it, Colonel?

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Well, a check of military positions in the area ruled out any unusual plane or missile activity.

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However, the Civil Air and Autex board did report six other commercial flights over approximately the same area at the time of the sighting.

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Five of the six planes were fired at the same time.

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Six other commercial flights over approximately the same area at the time of the sighting.

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Five of the six planes reported similar sightings.

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Plotting their positions on a map showed all the planes sighted the same object.

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The major clues we had to work on were the color, the trajectory, and the fact that three of the planes reported that the object seemed to split apart from the air.

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This description coincides with the known features of what are called bow lights or fireballs.

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Rather rare astronomical phenomena, but reported from time to time and especially from the southwest.

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And so the Air Force attributes this sighting to a fireball, right?

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Oh, it wasn't only our finding, Mr. Edwards.

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We submitted all the data to a member of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory who confirmed our conclusions completely.

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Do these astronomical phenomena play a large part in the UFO story?

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Pretty large. The moon and the planets, observed through haze, light fog or moving clouds.

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All these things can play optical tricks.

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And then there are the rare celestial sights, mirages, a rural display.

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Or how about this?

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Caught by an Air Force photographic mission over Richmond to Diana.

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And actually a subsum of things.

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A rare aerial phenomenon caused by the reflection of the sun's rays on suspended ice particles.

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Strange or unusual weather tricks not only fool the eye, but such supposedly fool-proof mechanical marvels as radar.

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Temperature inversion.

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Where a mass of cold air collides with a layer of warm air.

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Or even thunder clouds sometimes come up on the radar scope as blips.

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One minute you see them, and the next moment you don't.

184
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Even the most experienced radar operator can be fooled by these.

185
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We attribute 24.4% of current UFO sightings to astronomical phenomena.

186
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Well here's another case, Colonel Whedon. The date? August 1955. The place? Kentucky.

187
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Now, according to press reports, an entire family was besieged all night by goblin-like creatures reported to have emerged from a flying plane.

188
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A flying saucer that landed nearby.

189
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Here is a sketch of one of these extraterrestrial visitors drawn by a local artist and sworn to as accurate by the family.

190
00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:16,000
One of your investigators didn't get a chance to interview him, did he, Colonel?

191
00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:20,000
No, unfortunately he didn't seem to be around, Mr. Edwards.

192
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But we did interview the family.

193
00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:27,000
They had spent the evening attending a spirited meeting.

194
00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:34,000
They'd all undergone a tremendous emotional experience which, might possibly, might account for the incident.

195
00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:41,000
I suppose this whole UFO situation is complicated by the crackpots, publicity seekers, and hoaxers, is it not?

196
00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:47,000
Oh, definitely is, Mr. Edwards. One of the roughest areas involves the so-called contact sightings.

197
00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:51,000
People who claim to have spoken to creatures from flying saucers.

198
00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:53,000
Some who claim to have ridden them.

199
00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:56,000
And one at least who was whooshed off to Venus.

200
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And they're married into Venetian royals.

201
00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:03,000
A whole cult is drawn up around these contact incidents.

202
00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:06,000
And woe to him who dares to question.

203
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:08,000
Doesn't the Air Force question, Colonel?

204
00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:13,000
Well, we never go on the assumption that anything is a fraud.

205
00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:17,000
We put all material sent to us through the analysis mill.

206
00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:20,000
Cleverness knows no end in this flying saucer business.

207
00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:22,000
Here's a beauty.

208
00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:28,000
Enlargement reveals strange lines coming from the object.

209
00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:35,000
And further enlargement shows these lines to be part of the corner ceiling of a room.

210
00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:39,000
The saucer turned out to be a light fixture.

211
00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:41,000
Well, here's a flying saucer.

212
00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:44,000
It turned out to be a flying hat.

213
00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:47,000
And here's a real fry.

214
00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:51,000
Supposedly a UFO.

215
00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:54,000
Fixed up by a sky science teacher.

216
00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:58,000
Looks very, very formidable. A genuine Sputnik, maybe, Colonel?

217
00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:00,000
Well, afraid not, Mr. Edwards.

218
00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:05,000
Whoever made it went through a lot of trouble trying to letter Russian words on the inside.

219
00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:13,000
But they got the letters wrong and forgot to remove the name of the New Jersey manufacturer from the United States.

220
00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:16,000
I see the words there and the tubes.

221
00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:22,000
There's nothing but a hodgepodge of wires inside. There are no real circuits. They don't go any place.

222
00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:31,000
To finish it off, to give the effect that this thing went through space, I suppose, they used a blow torch to scorch the sides.

223
00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:36,000
Still a rather neat job for those of us not up on our Sputniks.

224
00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:43,000
Well, the important thing with RedWords here is that this type of hoax could be a violation of federal law.

225
00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:46,000
And it is a rather expensive job.

226
00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:53,000
A single UFO investigation may well cost the government thousands of dollars.

227
00:27:54,000 --> 00:28:01,000
The perpetrators of these childish pranks might think twice about it when they remember that it's their own tax money that's being wasted.

228
00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:08,000
Money that could go into, should go into the serious research so badly needed at this time.

229
00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:17,000
In the total picture kernel, what percentage of current UFO reports does the Air Force classify as hoaxes?

230
00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:25,000
When we lump this category into a general heading, along with sightings that turn out to be birds, search lights, and so on.

231
00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:28,000
They add up to 6.4%.

232
00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:33,000
And can ATIC solve all UFO reports referred to it?

233
00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:37,000
No. Many sightings come to us with insufficient data.

234
00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:40,000
We have infinite items of information missing.

235
00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:45,000
No precise description of size, shape, or color of the object.

236
00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:54,000
Without knowing direction and altitude, time and location, wind and weather conditions, we cannot reach a valid conclusion.

237
00:28:55,000 --> 00:29:00,000
The Air Force provides every observer of a UFO with a detailed questionnaire.

238
00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:03,000
The answer is kept in confidence if it is so desired.

239
00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:08,000
But we must have full information if a sighting is to get a complete analysis.

240
00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:17,000
Sightings that come to us with insufficient information account for 12.1% of all current UFO reports.

241
00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:20,000
Colonel, let's do a little arithmetic.

242
00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:23,000
Little rapid calculation here.

243
00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:33,000
Adding these percentages, if it comes out right, let's see, it would figure out to 98.1%.

244
00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:37,000
Now, that's a large percentage, but it's not 100%.

245
00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:41,000
That still leaves 1.9%.

246
00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:45,000
Still to be explained, let 1.9% remain.

247
00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:47,000
Let 1.9% remain.

248
00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:55,000
Represents the cases the Air Force classifies as unknown, and this category is different from insufficient information, I take it.

249
00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:57,000
Yes? In what way, Colonel?

250
00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:00,000
Well, take the child sighting you mentioned earlier.

251
00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:04,000
This case has all the elements we require for investigation.

252
00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:11,000
Yet after the most careful study and analysis, we cannot fit it into any of our regular categories.

253
00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:19,000
It doesn't appear to have been a balloon, a plane of any kind, nor does it fit the circumstances of an astronomical phenomenon.

254
00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:24,000
In view of this, that is sufficient data, but no logical explanation.

255
00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:27,000
We classify it as a true unknown.

256
00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:33,000
Now, this doesn't happen often, but when it does happen, we don't dodge the issue.

257
00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:36,000
It's an unknown and so listed.

258
00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:48,000
Unknown, not because it's anything new and strange, but simply because we can't identify it with the particular normal phenomenon it undoubtedly is.

259
00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:52,000
Not too high a figure, little less than 2%.

260
00:30:53,000 --> 00:31:01,000
Two out of a hundred, yet if even only one in a hundred represented an object of interplanetary origin,

261
00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:06,000
we still would have to call this the biggest news of this or any century.

262
00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:11,000
What's the opinion of those who believe in flying saucers about that 2%?

263
00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:16,000
For that matter, what about their opinion of the Air Force Analysis Program Project Blue Book?

264
00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:19,000
There's several sides to every story.

265
00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:21,000
You've heard only one.

266
00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:22,000
Only one.

267
00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:35,000
Unknown is defined in the dictionary as not discovered, not identified, not brought to knowledge.

268
00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:44,000
After ten years of investigation and analysis, the Air Force still lists a small percentage of UFO sightings flying saucers as unknown.

269
00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:51,000
But to many who've become intensely involved in the puzzle of UFO, this figure seems utterly unrealistic.

270
00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:59,000
Of the scores of private, non-government organizations that are devoted to UFO, possibly the most active and eminent,

271
00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:04,000
is the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena of Washington, D.C.

272
00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:08,000
On its board of governors are a number of outstanding citizens.

273
00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:13,000
Among them are Vice Admiral R.H. Hillencoater, former head of the Central Intelligence Agency,

274
00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:21,000
Rear Admiral H.B. Knowles, U.S. Navy retired, Major Dewey Fornay Jr., former Air Force UFO investigator.

275
00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:28,000
Its director is Major Donald E. Kehoe, anapolis graduate and a former Marine Corps pilot,

276
00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:31,000
author of Flying Saucers from Outer Space.

277
00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:37,000
Well, Major, you've seen our report on the Air Force conclusions dealing with the current UFO sightings.

278
00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:43,000
They've narrowed the unknowns down to 1.9%. How do you feel about that figure?

279
00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:48,000
Well, even if you accept that figure, Mr. Edwards, there's one thing you have to remember.

280
00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:51,000
It covers only the last two months of sightings.

281
00:32:52,000 --> 00:33:01,000
Actually, the figure for all unknowns since 1947, using official Air Force statistics, is over 12%.

282
00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:06,000
Now, that is based on this official Air Force record known as Project Blue Book,

283
00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:11,000
and tables which you will find showing various percentages over the years.

284
00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:18,000
Out of the 6,000 cases investigated by the Air Force, 700 still remain unknown.

285
00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:24,000
It comes down to this. Either all of the hundreds of skilled observers,

286
00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:29,000
I mean pilots, missile trackers, radar operators, and astronomers,

287
00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:35,000
were either deluded or incompetent, or they saw exactly what they reported.

288
00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:40,000
I think everyone will agree that deluded pilots would have been grounded very quickly,

289
00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:43,000
and incompetent radar men would have been fired.

290
00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:46,000
Not one such case is on record.

291
00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:53,000
Our National Investigations Committee has hundreds of UFO reports from highly trained observers

292
00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:57,000
describing real objects maneuvering under intelligent control.

293
00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:04,000
Real objects under intelligent control, the implication being that they originate in outer space.

294
00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:11,000
Well, actually, that is a probability which is shared by many pilots and many scientists,

295
00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:15,000
including, for instance, Professor Hermann Oberth, the great rocket designer.

296
00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:18,000
So we must agree that it is a probability.

297
00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:24,000
Well, all right, we'd like to hear the evidence on which you base this particular assumption, Major.

298
00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:30,000
Fine. And I want to begin by saying that all the cases I intend to cite are known to the Air Force.

299
00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:35,000
I also want to point out that our analysts on the committee include astronomers,

300
00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:41,000
missile engineers, pilots, radar men, former intelligence officers,

301
00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:44,000
and experts in many associated fields.

302
00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:47,000
Here is a verified case.

303
00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:51,000
May 1954, Dallas, Texas.

304
00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:56,000
A flight of four Marine Corps jets commanded by Major Charles Scarborough,

305
00:34:57,000 --> 00:35:04,000
cited in broad daylight a formation of 16 discs flying in groups of four.

306
00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:10,000
When the jets tried to box in these discs, they climbed at terrific speed and disappeared.

307
00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:13,000
Here's a quote from Major Scarborough.

308
00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:17,000
These discs were real. They flew at incredible speed.

309
00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:19,000
Another case.

310
00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:23,000
November 1957, Long Beach, California.

311
00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:28,000
Major Lewis F. Baker, commanding officer of the Air Force Weather Station at Long Beach,

312
00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:33,000
along with two other Air Force weather experts, and 10 airmen.

313
00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:38,000
This group saw a formation of six discs making terrifically fast turns

314
00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:41,000
and maneuvering at an altitude of 7,000 feet.

315
00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:46,000
They appeared to be larger, according to Major Baker, than a twin-engine airliner.

316
00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:49,000
Statement from Major Baker.

317
00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:52,000
They were circular in the color of spun aluminum.

318
00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:55,000
They changed course instantaneously.

319
00:35:56,000 --> 00:35:58,000
A case in 1952.

320
00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:02,000
This was from Captain William B. Nash, a veteran airline pilot.

321
00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:10,000
He and his co-pilot cited a formation of eight 100-foot discs flying in echelon below their plane.

322
00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:13,000
Captain Nash told me personally,

323
00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:18,000
I am convinced these were machines from outer space.

324
00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:21,000
End quote.

325
00:36:22,000 --> 00:36:25,000
Our committee agrees with the announcement of the Air Force on this particular case.

326
00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:27,000
Objects unknown.

327
00:36:28,000 --> 00:36:29,000
Let's take another.

328
00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:31,000
Another commercial airliner case.

329
00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:35,000
This one, this airliner was flying near South Bend, Indiana.

330
00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:38,000
At the controls was a veteran, Captain Robert Adicus.

331
00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:45,000
Adicus is crew and 10 passengers, so a spherical object pacing the plane.

332
00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:50,000
When Adicus tried to close in, the UFO accelerated and raced out of sight.

333
00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:52,000
A quote from Captain Adicus.

334
00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:56,000
Before then, I wasn't convinced by the saucer reports.

335
00:36:57,000 --> 00:36:58,000
Now I know they do exist.

336
00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:00,000
Let me show you one more case.

337
00:37:01,000 --> 00:37:03,000
This from an eminent astronomer, Dr. Clyde Tombow.

338
00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:06,000
Discover of the planet Pluto.

339
00:37:07,000 --> 00:37:14,000
Dr. Tombow cited a cigar-shaped object with what appeared to be windows and moving at tremendous speed.

340
00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:22,000
Now note how similar this object is to the one cited by Captain Chiles and Whithitt that you mentioned earlier.

341
00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:27,000
Dr. Tombow.

342
00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:35,000
These things, which do appear to be directed, are unlike any other phenomena I ever observed.

343
00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:40,000
Other stars in our galaxy may have hundreds of thousands of inhabitable worlds.

344
00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:49,000
Races on these worlds may have been able to utilize the tremendous amounts of power required to bridge the space between the stars.

345
00:37:50,000 --> 00:37:51,000
End quote.

346
00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:55,000
These cases you've cited, Major, from the files of the National Investigating Committee.

347
00:37:55,000 --> 00:38:00,000
You also have some analyses on some of the cases the Air Force discussed earlier, have you?

348
00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:04,000
Yes, we do, and I'd like very much to go into two of them.

349
00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:06,000
First, the Mantell case.

350
00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:12,000
A Project Blue Book says that or suggests that Mantell died chasing a skyhook balloon.

351
00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:18,000
The Air Force has never provided any record of a balloon being launched on the day Mantell crashed.

352
00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:26,000
There is absolutely no record that any Air Force or Navy balloon was launched then from Clinton Air Force Base or any other station.

353
00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:33,000
Now any project in a top secret category must keep detailed, accurate records.

354
00:38:34,000 --> 00:38:35,000
It's not any casual operation.

355
00:38:36,000 --> 00:38:38,000
Yet no such report has ever been produced.

356
00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:42,000
And now another point, which I believe is conclusive.

357
00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:49,000
The Air Force tells us that the balloon hovered over Godwin Field for two hours, almost motionless.

358
00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:59,000
Minus after Mantell's disappearance, one of his wingmen, equipped with oxygen, took off and searched the entire area for 100 miles.

359
00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:01,000
He found absolutely nothing.

360
00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:03,000
Now what happened to the balloon?

361
00:39:04,000 --> 00:39:06,000
The searching plane was an F-51.

362
00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:09,000
It could fly at 350 miles per hour.

363
00:39:09,000 --> 00:39:15,000
Any slowly moving balloon would have been sighted in minutes, but the sky was completely empty.

364
00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:20,000
Now just a word about another case the Air Force presented.

365
00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:32,000
This was the airliner, which flew between New York and Puerto Rico, and which Project Blue Book says, sighted a bow-eyed or fireball, which caused the pilot to zoom to miss it.

366
00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:39,000
Now when we investigated, we found that the Civil Air Non-Explored disagreed entirely with that conclusion.

367
00:39:40,000 --> 00:39:47,000
The professional astronomers, the CAB consulted, said there was no evidence that this UFO was a fireball or a meteor.

368
00:39:48,000 --> 00:39:55,000
Our committee agrees that this case is an unknown, just like the tragic Mantell incident.

369
00:39:56,000 --> 00:40:02,000
Well now Major, you believe that the massive weight of evidence proves that flying saucers are real.

370
00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:06,000
The committee and I, we believe that absolutely.

371
00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:19,000
We believe that despite the frauds and hoaxes that have clouded the issue, and which we completely disavow and try to disprove, we believe the facts prove that flying saucers actually exist.

372
00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:25,000
And of course which puts you on exactly the opposite side of the fence from the Air Force, how do you account for that Major?

373
00:40:26,000 --> 00:40:32,000
Well there are two possibilities Mr. Edwards. First, an honest difference among analysts.

374
00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:43,000
Second, there is an official Air Force policy believed in the best interests of the people, not to confirm the existence of UFOs until all answers are known.

375
00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:55,000
It is the belief of our committee, and this belief is substantiated by many scientists and experts in the field, that the public should be given all official information relative to UFOs.

376
00:40:56,000 --> 00:41:02,000
The American people are wise enough to evaluate this material, providing it is presented fully and accurately.

377
00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:07,000
The National Investigations Committee hopes that this will be done properly.

378
00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:14,000
And now Mr. Edwards, I would like to make a disclosure, which is something which has never been revealed to the public.

379
00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:22,000
For the last six months our committee has been working with the Externet Committee, which is investigating official secrecy on UFOs.

380
00:41:23,000 --> 00:41:29,000
If the hearings are held, open hearings, I feel it will prove beyond doubt that the flying saucers are real.

381
00:41:29,000 --> 00:41:39,000
In order to secure the information we need, we suggest that all of the senators to be in the position right.

382
00:41:42,000 --> 00:41:58,000
Thank you Major Keough. One of the most eminent men of science who has taken a deep interest in the problem of UFO is Professor Donald H. Menzel, Professor of Astrophysics and Director of the Observatory at Harvard University and author of Flying Saucers, published by the Harvard University Press.

383
00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:06,000
Professor Menzel, in your considered opinion, has our atmosphere been invaded by spaceships flying objects originating in outer space?

384
00:42:07,000 --> 00:42:13,000
No, emphatically no. Now I don't quarrel with the assumption that there is life on other planets.

385
00:42:14,000 --> 00:42:21,000
As I have stated on a number of occasions, life, even human or superhuman life may exist in millions of places in the universe.

386
00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:32,000
And I also concede that space travel for earthlings is imminent. But these two facts can't justify the conclusion that flying saucers represent space travel in reverse.

387
00:42:33,000 --> 00:42:39,000
And yet tonight we've heard a good bit of evidence that UFO unidentified flying objects do exist, Professor.

388
00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:46,000
They are unidentified flying objects only because of mistaken identity. In fact, they're often not even objects.

389
00:42:46,000 --> 00:42:55,000
That is why I prefer the name flying saucer to the term unidentified flying objects, which implies that they are material or tangible.

390
00:42:56,000 --> 00:43:02,000
The observations and most particularly the interpretation of these observations is strictly a scientific matter.

391
00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:12,000
You wouldn't call in a carpenter to diagnose a pain in your stomach. Well, why call in untrained layman when you want to diagnose a strange occurrence in the sky?

392
00:43:12,000 --> 00:43:21,000
And strange things do occur all the time. I think Project Blue Book hasn't paid enough attention to aerial phenomena in its analysis work.

393
00:43:22,000 --> 00:43:32,000
Merages, ice crystal reflections, even cloud formations such as this one, these can and do account for many UFO reports.

394
00:43:33,000 --> 00:43:43,000
It's understandable that untrained observers are startled when they see unusual occurrences in the sky.

395
00:43:44,000 --> 00:43:48,000
It even happens to many of us who have studied the heavens for years. It happened to me.

396
00:43:49,000 --> 00:43:59,000
Let me give you the bare details. Just three years ago when I was flying from the North Pole to Alaska, I saw an object pop over the horizon and buzz my plane twice.

397
00:43:59,000 --> 00:44:05,000
Then it stopped and flew along parallel to it at a parand distance of 300 feet.

398
00:44:06,000 --> 00:44:13,000
I judged it to be about two feet in diameter. It seemed to have flashing red and green lights and something looked like a lighted propeller on the top.

399
00:44:14,000 --> 00:44:21,000
Did you ever find out what it was? Certainly, as soon as I got over the initial shock, I did a little calm analyzing.

400
00:44:22,000 --> 00:44:29,000
The mysterious saucer proved to be a mirage of the bright star Sirius. Actually, the star was slightly below the horizon.

401
00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:41,000
But the queer bending of light by the atmosphere, called refraction, had brought it into view. Distortion and diffusion caused by alternate layers of warm and cold air had added the finishing touches,

402
00:44:42,000 --> 00:44:49,000
creating a bizarre pulsating whirling effect similar to the twinkling of a star. That was the answer to my saucer.

403
00:44:49,000 --> 00:44:56,000
And to a lot of other people's saucers, I'd like to bet. And I've seen hundreds of other saucers from dozens of causes.

404
00:44:57,000 --> 00:45:06,000
For instance, high flying spider webs, owls that glow in the dark. In other words, Professor, if more people were astronomers, there'd be fewer flying saucers.

405
00:45:07,000 --> 00:45:12,000
Fewer flying saucers have a lot less declauding of the issue by over-eager amateurs.

406
00:45:13,000 --> 00:45:21,000
Earlier in the program, you mentioned the reported sighting of a bridge on the Maura Cresium region of the moon. Now, that's my special field.

407
00:45:22,000 --> 00:45:27,000
I'm now preparing some new lunar maps for a field guide to the skies that will soon be published.

408
00:45:28,000 --> 00:45:37,000
The first man who reported that bridge, an amateur, used only a four-inch telescope. Now, that's like using a BB gun and an elephant hunt.

409
00:45:37,000 --> 00:45:43,000
I've examined that area with the Harvard 15-inch telescope, and there is no bridge there.

410
00:45:44,000 --> 00:45:50,000
Here's a photograph of the Maura Cresium region taken with a 12-inch telescope at Griffith Observatory.

411
00:45:51,000 --> 00:45:57,000
An untrained observer might possibly interpret this fan of light as coming from under a bridge.

412
00:45:58,000 --> 00:46:05,000
Actually, it is light shining through a well-known deep pass bordered by high peaks. No bridge exists.

413
00:46:05,000 --> 00:46:14,000
This only emphasizes the importance of careful observation by experienced people who are capable of evaluating what they see.

414
00:46:15,000 --> 00:46:27,000
Well, let's agree that astronomers are best equipped to evaluate aerial phenomena. But wouldn't you agree that pilots, meteorologists, or also trained observers, and many of them have reported UFOs?

415
00:46:28,000 --> 00:46:33,000
No, they're not trained observers in this sense. A pilot can observe a plane and know what it is.

416
00:46:34,000 --> 00:46:43,000
A meteorologist can spot a cloud and not be fooled, but many things occur in the sky that are completely beyond the knowledge or experience of many pilots or weathermen.

417
00:46:44,000 --> 00:46:54,000
Mirages, mocked suns, caused by the reflection from ice crystals. They're fairly uncommon, but when they do happen, only trained scientists can recognize them and understand them.

418
00:46:54,000 --> 00:47:06,000
If a pilot swerves his plane to avoid a fireball that misses him by hundreds of miles, or if he fails to identify a sun dog, that doesn't mean he's incompetent as a flyer.

419
00:47:07,000 --> 00:47:18,000
I think Mantell didn't die chasing a balloon, nor I do. I think he died chasing a spaceship. I believe he mistook some sort of aerial phenomenon, a mock sun, perhaps, for a flying saucer.

420
00:47:18,000 --> 00:47:20,000
One up too high and crashed.

421
00:47:21,000 --> 00:47:37,000
Well, summing up then, Professor, you feel that all the flying saucers reported in the past ten and a half years, even before that, including the 1.9% air force classifies as unknown, can be explained then as completely natural occurrence.

422
00:47:38,000 --> 00:47:39,000
I most certainly do.

423
00:47:39,000 --> 00:47:49,000
And I think the air force has been put upon in this whole affair. They've had to make their investigation, of course. They're bound by the most serious of considerations, the security of our country. But it's gone far enough.

424
00:47:50,000 --> 00:48:00,000
In my opinion, it's not the reports of the flying saucers that should be analyzed. It's the non-qualified interpreters themselves who argue that the aircrafts are not flying saucers.

425
00:48:00,000 --> 00:48:11,000
In my opinion, it's not the reports of the flying saucers that should be analyzed. It's the non-qualified interpreters themselves who argue that these saucers come from outer space.

426
00:48:12,000 --> 00:48:18,000
Thank you, Dr. Mantell. We've given the facts. We've had the opinions. What about our own conclusions?

427
00:48:19,000 --> 00:48:36,000
Well, for thousands of years, man has been studying his own body, and yet today, he can only explain about 25% of bodily functions. It's only 350 years since Galileo invented the telescope. Certainly, there must be much in the heavens left to be explained.

428
00:48:37,000 --> 00:48:51,000
Perhaps in time, the enigma of the skies flying saucers will be explained to the satisfaction of all. This evening, we've given you the facts as we've found them. We leave them with you. What do you think?

429
00:48:52,000 --> 00:49:03,000
In just a few moments, the Honorable Richard E. Horner, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Research and Development, will bring you a summary of the Air Force position and the report by a special scientific panel.

430
00:49:06,000 --> 00:49:17,000
Now, the Honorable Richard E. Horner, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Research and Development.

431
00:49:18,000 --> 00:49:35,000
Thank you, Mr. Edwards. During recent years, there has been a mistaken belief that the Air Force has been hiding from the public information concerning unidentified flying objects. Nothing could be further from the truth.

432
00:49:36,000 --> 00:49:57,000
And I do not qualify this statement in any way. The activities of the International Geophysical Year, which is serving to focus more trained eyes on the skies than ever before, climaxes 10 years of Air Force investigation of UFO sightings.

433
00:49:57,000 --> 00:50:26,000
All but a small percentage of these reports have been definitely attributed to natural phenomena that are neither mysterious nor dire. A report of a special scientific panel on UFOs assembled at the request of the United States government concludes that the evidence shows no indication that these phenomena constitute a natural phenomenon.

434
00:50:27,000 --> 00:50:54,000
These are direct physical threat to national security. They find no evidence that UFOs are capable of hostile acts. They find no evidence that UFOs indicate a need for revision of current scientific concepts. And finally, they recommend that the subject be stripped of the aura of mystery it has unfortunately acquired.

435
00:50:54,000 --> 00:51:17,000
The panel's findings coincide completely with the announced position of the Air Force. There is no evidence at hand that objects popularly known as flying saucers actually exist. Not a single speck of material evidence, not a fragment of a flying saucer has ever been found.

436
00:51:17,000 --> 00:51:46,000
This does not mean that the Air Force can or will be complacent about UFO reports. We will continue our program of detailed investigation of all UFO sightings and invite everyone who observes an object in the sky he sincerely cannot identify or explain to report it immediately to the nearest Air Force activity.

437
00:51:47,000 --> 00:51:49,000
Thank you and good night.