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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 imagined?

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

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being tested by our own or foreign governments? Or are they, as many believe, spacecraft from other

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planets, invading our atmosphere, actually observing life on Earth? Tonight, we're going after

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this story, we're going to the government files and to experts on all sides of the issue.

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We're going after facts. In just a few moments, UFO, the enigma of the skies on the Armstrong

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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

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

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a rough sketch that was supposed to show streets and avenues in a region of the moon known as

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Schroeder's Valley. In 1953, a report was made that a gigantic bridge now stretches across

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the region of the moon known as the Marais-Cresium. Scientists charted this region many years ago

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and no such bridge was in evidence then. If it's a natural object, why wasn't it seen before?

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If it's not a natural object, then what can it be? There are those who claim that its construction

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proves the existence of intelligence on the moon, not necessarily moon people but beings

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from outer space who are using the moon as a space station for their observation of Earth.

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How can we find out about this? Where do we start? Well, we start with background, with history.

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Unidentified flying objects are nothing new. The Bible gives us a report of a sighting by

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the prophet Ezekiel, a sign in the heavens, large, brilliantly colored in the shape of

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a wheel within a wheel. 1554, a mysterious object flashed across the sky near Saint-Saint-Charles-Mont-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,

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shooting stars, comets, or unusual auroral displays. But not too easily explained are some occurrences

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of not too long ago. November 23rd, 1896, Oakland, California. A mysterious object appeared in the sky.

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A strange cigar-shaped object reportedly witnessed by thousands sailed eastward.

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Moving slowly, gathering headlines, the UFO was reported from Salt Lake City, Denver, Omaha,

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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

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took a dim view of this newly invented earthly airplane suddenly trespassing their private

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nobain. But in 1947, year two of the atomic age of the real UFO story began. It began here,

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the Pacific Northwest, one June morning, 10 years ago, in the vicinity of Mount Rainier,

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a C-46 Marine transport plane crashed. Among the volunteer civilians who aided the military

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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

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months has literally spent hundreds of hours reading the massive material printed on the subject,

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interviewing the people involved. 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

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the opening of the current phase of flying saucer history, that's not quite right.

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The fact is that during World War II, a number of military pilots reported rather strange,

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rather than objects mysteriously circled or paced their planes in flight.

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Now, Air Force Intelligence investigated these reports. That's on the record. However, the incident

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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

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the terrific blue flash reflect from his airplane. The pilot noticed that the flash came from a chain

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of rather peculiar looking objects that were approaching Mount Rainier, flying at course

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at about 170 degrees. Now, he assumed at the time that they were a formation of some new type of jet,

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but it rather baffled him because they just didn't seem to have any tail.

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And he judged their wingspan to be about, oh, 120 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.

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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,

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the pilot landed and reported the incident to the local representative of the CAA,

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the Civil Aeronautics Administration. The pilot didn't make too much of the incident.

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He thought they were just a new type of jet. Described them as fluttering, and well,

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he said they flew like you, took a saucer and skimmed it across the water.

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And some newspapers printed a rather gobble version of this, and they quoted him as saying

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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

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in the vicinity of Mount Vrigny on that day. 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

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from another world, another planet.

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This Mount Vrigny sighting might have been quickly forgotten, except that within the next 30 days,

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there were 53 more reports of so-called flying saucers, but making allowances for illusion,

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delusion, hoax, and hallucination, there remained enough incredible reports by credible observers

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to set people thinking. They came from every section of the country, San Fernando, California,

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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 that Godman field,

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Fort Knox, Kentucky, gave them real cause to reflect.

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On January 7, 1948, early in the afternoon, Kentucky State Police reported an unidentified flying object,

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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.

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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,

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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.

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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.

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He said it was a metallic thing in a tremendous size.

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Mantell's plane was not equipped with oxygen, and yet he headed upward.

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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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Well, from this point on, there's nothing but mystery.

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The 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,

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and then it nose downward, and at full power began to dive.

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Between 10,000 and 20,000 feet, the plane literally tore apart.

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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?

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Why did an experienced pilot like Mantell break one of the cardinal rules of flying,

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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.

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During January and February of 1948, the sightings took on an international flavor.

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Falls of fire traveling slowly across the sky were reported from Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Germany,

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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.

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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,

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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,

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traveling at a speed estimated between 500 and 700 miles an hour.

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The light bore in on them. The rocket-shaped object was brilliantly lighted,

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and it appeared to have two rows of windows underneath.

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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.

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On landing, Chiles and Whithid reported the incident to the proper authorities,

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and then each drew a sketch of what he'd seen.

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This is the child sketch.

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Double windows in size about twice the diameter of a B29.

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And this is the sketch drawn by a co-pilot, Whithid.

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The same general shape with double row of windows, or what appear to be windows, no wings.

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What was it?

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To this day, according to the two pilots involved, no logical explanation offered by scientists,

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by experts, fits the bill.

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People may argue about what they saw, but they can't deny that they saw something.

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Something that these men, with thousands of hours of flying experience,

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had never seen before and haven't seen since.

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Well, is there an explanation, a reasonable, natural explanation

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for the mysterious objects seen by so many credible observers over the past ten years?

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For this?

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Or this?

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To get the official Air Force point of view, we're going directly to the source,

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directly to the Air Force files that have been thrown open to us.

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Can every sighting be reasonably explained, or must we accept the proposition, the fact,

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that at least some of these objects originate in outer space,

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and that our Earth is now being observed by creatures from another world?

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Fairly a day passes by that sightings of flying saucers are reported.

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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 planks,

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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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Authorities have been accused of dropping a paper curtain on this problem,

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issuing statements hiding the true facts from the public.

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What are the facts?

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Here'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,

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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, since January 1953, the investigation work of Project Lubbock

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has had the services of the 42nd-oh-second Air Intelligence Service Squadron, Air Defense Command,

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that's a highly trained field investigation outfit, with field units scattered around the country,

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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,

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each sighting, investigative and analyzed by specialists in top-notch military

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and non-military scientific personnel at Wright-Patterson.

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We get the full promise, the full cooperation from the Air Force,

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and to explain how the Air Force reaches certain conclusions on certain sightings,

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the Air Force has detailed to us Lieutenant Colonel Spencer Whedon,

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Chief of the Air Intelligence Office, Air Technical Intelligence Center.

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He will explain 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

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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. We still believe that he blacked out from lack of oxygen and crashed,

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and this is supported by findings of the Air Force accident investigators,

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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,

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a giant 100-foot balloon used to gather information about the upper air,

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cosmic radiation, wind flow, temperature.

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In 1948, these were top secret, you knew about them.

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Later, the investigation revealed that in January 1948, that is the time of the Mantell crash,

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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,

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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 gun Air Force Base here,

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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,

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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,

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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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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,

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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.

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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,

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some large percentage of flying saucer reports are actually nothing but balloons, right?

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Oh, right, Mr. Edwards.

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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,

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moving slowly southwest of Macon, Georgia.

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Weather clear and visibility unlimited, photographs made and available.

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No interception or identification action taken,

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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.

215
00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:31,000
And here's Fort Benning.

216
00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:36,000
We immediately established that training operations were being conducted at Benning.

217
00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:41,000
Part of the operation was the dropping of parachute flares from aircraft,

218
00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:44,000
as well as jet support for our ground operations.

219
00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:48,000
We obtained the photographs mentioned in the report.

220
00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:54,000
Using a new photo analysis technique, we managed to get some surprising results.

221
00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:59,000
The first slide showed little more than two brilliant dots,

222
00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:02,000
with some indefinite green shading around them.

223
00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:08,000
But on further enlargement, the wings and body of jets come into view.

224
00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:12,000
The bright object is the flame from the jets after burn.

225
00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:16,000
Oh, conventional aircraft often seem to be what they are not.

226
00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:21,000
This is the plane flying at high speed in a fog-shrouded sky.

227
00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:25,000
Speed causes a moisture condensation around the wings,

228
00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:29,000
which gives the appearance of a disk or saucer.

229
00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:35,000
Planes of unorthodox configuration, a swept wing or delta jobs.

230
00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:43,000
Or this radar plane called the flying pancake, give rise to many UFO sightings.

231
00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:52,000
Based on our latest reports, the cases where aircraft have been reported as UFOs account for 28.8%.

232
00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:57,000
Another case now, spring 1957.

233
00:21:57,000 --> 00:22:03,000
The commercial airliner flying between New York and Puerto Rico had an extraordinary experience.

234
00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:10,000
Flying at 19,000 feet, it sighted a large bright object that appeared to be coming directly towards the liner.

235
00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:15,000
It was described as a magnesium flash in color with a pale green tint.

236
00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:19,000
The pilot had to swerve his plane violently to avoid collision.

237
00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:22,000
What does the Air Force have to say about it, Colonel?

238
00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:29,000
Well, a check of military positions in the area ruled out any unusual plane or missile activity.

239
00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:35,000
However, the Civil Air Naughty Squad did report six other commercial flights,

240
00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:39,000
over approximately the same area at the time of the sighting.

241
00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:43,000
Five of the six planes reported similar sightings.

242
00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:50,000
Flooding their positions on a map showed all the planes that sighted the same object.

243
00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:56,000
The major clues we had to work on were the color, the trajectory,

244
00:22:56,000 --> 00:23:03,000
and the fact that three of the planes reported that the object seemed to split apart from the air.

245
00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:10,000
This description coincides with the known features of what are called bow lights or fireballs.

246
00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:17,000
Rather rare astronomical phenomena, but reported from time to time and especially from the southwest.

247
00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:21,000
And so the Air Force attributes this sighting to a fireball, right?

248
00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:24,000
Oh, it wasn't only our finding, Mr. Edwards.

249
00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:28,000
We submitted all the data to a member of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory,

250
00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:31,000
who confirmed our conclusions completely.

251
00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:36,000
Do these astronomical phenomena play a large part in the UFO story?

252
00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:43,000
Pretty large. The moon and the planets, observed through haze, light fog or moving clouds.

253
00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:46,000
All these things can play optical tricks.

254
00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:52,000
And then there are the rarest celestial sights, mirages, rural displays.

255
00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:58,000
Or how about this, caused by an Air Force photographic mission over Richmond at the end,

256
00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:02,000
and actually a subsun effect.

257
00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:08,000
A rare aerial phenomenon caused by the reflection of the sun's rays on suspended ice particles.

258
00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:12,000
Strange or unusual weather tricks not only fool the eye,

259
00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:17,000
but such supposedly foolproof mechanical marvels as radar.

260
00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:26,000
Temperature inversion, where a massive cold air collides with a layer of warm air.

261
00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:31,000
Or even thunder clouds sometimes come up on the radar scope as blips.

262
00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:34,000
One minute you see them, and the next moment you don't.

263
00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:38,000
Even the most experienced radar operator can be fooled by these.

264
00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:45,000
We attribute 24.4 percent current UFO sightings to astronomical phenomena.

265
00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:52,000
Well, here's another case, Colonel Whedon. The date? August 1955, the place Kentucky.

266
00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:59,000
Now, according to press reports, an entire family was besieged all night by goblin-like creatures

267
00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:03,000
reported to have emerged from a flying saucer that landed nearby.

268
00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:10,000
Here is a sketch of one of these extraterrestrial visitors drawn by a local artist

269
00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:13,000
and sworn to as accurate by the family.

270
00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:17,000
One of your investigators didn't get a chance to interview him, did he, Colonel?

271
00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:21,000
No, unfortunately he didn't seem to be around, Mr. Edwards.

272
00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:23,000
We did interview the family.

273
00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:27,000
They had spent the evening attending a spirited meeting.

274
00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:31,000
They'd all undergone a tremendous emotional experience which,

275
00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:34,000
quite possibly, might account for the incident.

276
00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:41,000
I suppose this whole UFO situation is complicated by crackpots, publicity seekers, and hoaxers, is it not?

277
00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:43,000
Oh, it definitely is, Mr. Edwards.

278
00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:47,000
One of the roughest areas involves the so-called contact sightings.

279
00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:51,000
People who claim to have spoken to creatures from flying saucers.

280
00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:53,000
Some who claim to have written in them.

281
00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:56,000
And one, at least, who was whooshed off to Venus.

282
00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:59,000
And they're married into Venusian royals.

283
00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:00,000
Oh, what a trip.

284
00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:03,000
A whole cult is drawn up around these contact incidents.

285
00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:06,000
And woe to him who dares to question.

286
00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:08,000
Doesn't the Air Force question, Colonel?

287
00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:13,000
Well, we never go on the assumption that anything is a fraud.

288
00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:17,000
We put all material sent to us through the analysis mill.

289
00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:21,000
Cleverness knows no end in this flying saucer business.

290
00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:23,000
Here's a beauty.

291
00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:29,000
Enlargement reveals strange lines coming from the object.

292
00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:36,000
And further enlargement shows these lines to be part of the corner ceiling of a room.

293
00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:40,000
The saucer turned out to be a light fixture.

294
00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:42,000
Oh, here's a flying saucer.

295
00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:45,000
It turned out to be a flying hat.

296
00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:50,000
And here's a real fry.

297
00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:53,000
Supposedly a UFO.

298
00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:56,000
Fixed up by a sky science teacher.

299
00:26:56,000 --> 00:27:00,000
Looks very, very formidable. A genuine Sputnik, maybe, Colonel?

300
00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:02,000
Well, afraid not, Mr. Edwards.

301
00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:07,000
Whoever made it went through a lot of trouble trying to letter Russian words on the inside,

302
00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:15,000
but they got the letters wrong and forgot to remove the name of the New Jersey manufacturer from the tubes.

303
00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:17,000
I see the words there, and the tubes.

304
00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:20,000
There's nothing but a hodgepodge of wires inside.

305
00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:23,000
There are no real circuits. They don't go any place.

306
00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:28,000
To finish it off, to give the effect that this thing went through space, I suppose,

307
00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:32,000
they used a blow torch to scorch the sides.

308
00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:36,000
Still a rather neat job for those of us not up on our Sputniks.

309
00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:44,000
Well, the important thing with Edward T. is that this type of hoax could be a violation of federal law,

310
00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:47,000
and it is a rather expensive job.

311
00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:53,000
A single UFO investigation may well cost the government thousands of dollars.

312
00:27:53,000 --> 00:28:02,000
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.

313
00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:09,000
Money that could go into, should go into the serious research so badly needed at this time.

314
00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:17,000
In the total picture, Colonel, what percentage of current UFO reports does the Air Force classify as hoaxes?

315
00:28:17,000 --> 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.

316
00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:28,000
They add up to 6.4 percent.

317
00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:33,000
And can ATIC solve all UFO reports referred to it?

318
00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:37,000
No. Many sightings come to us with insufficient data.

319
00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:40,000
Fertinent items of information missing.

320
00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:45,000
No precise description of size, shape, or color of the object.

321
00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:55,000
Without knowing direction and altitude, time and location, wind and weather conditions, we cannot reach a valid conclusion.

322
00:28:55,000 --> 00:29:00,000
The Air Force provides every observer of a UFO with a detailed questionnaire.

323
00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:03,000
The answer is kept in confidence if it is so desired.

324
00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:09,000
But we must have full information if a sighting is to get a complete analysis.

325
00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:18,000
Sightings that come to us with insufficient information account for 12.1 percent of all current UFO reports.

326
00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:22,000
Colonel, let's do a little arithmetic.

327
00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:25,000
A little rapid calculation here.

328
00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:35,000
Adding these percentages, if it comes out right, let's see, it would figure out to 98.1 percent.

329
00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:38,000
Now, that's a large percentage, but it's not 100 percent.

330
00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:43,000
That still leaves 1.9 percent.

331
00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:45,000
Still to be explained.

332
00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:47,000
Let 1.9 percent remain.

333
00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:55,000
It represents the cases the Air Force classifies as unknown, and this category is different from insufficient information, I take it.

334
00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:56,000
Yes?

335
00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:57,000
In what way, Colonel?

336
00:29:57,000 --> 00:30:00,000
Well, take the child sighting you mentioned earlier.

337
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:04,000
This case has all the elements we require for investigation.

338
00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:11,000
Yet after the most careful study and analysis, we cannot fit it into any of our regular categories.

339
00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:15,000
It doesn't appear to have been a balloon, a plane of any kind.

340
00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:19,000
Nor does it put the circumstances of an astronomical phenomenon.

341
00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:25,000
In view of this, that is sufficient data, but no logical explanation.

342
00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:28,000
We classify it as a true unknown.

343
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.

344
00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:36,000
It's an unknown and so listed.

345
00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:49,000
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.

346
00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:51,000
Not too high a figure.

347
00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:54,000
Little less than 2 percent.

348
00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:56,000
Two out of a hundred.

349
00:30:56,000 --> 00:31:02,000
Yet, if even only one in a hundred represented an object of interplanetary origin,

350
00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:07,000
we still would have to call this the biggest news of this or any century.

351
00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:12,000
What's the opinion of those who believe in flying saucers about that 2 percent?

352
00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:18,000
Or for that matter, what about their opinion of the Air Force Analysis Program Project Blue Book?

353
00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:20,000
There's several sides to every story.

354
00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:22,000
You've heard only one.

355
00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:35,000
Unknown is defined in the dictionary as not discovered, not identified, not brought to knowledge.

356
00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:44,000
After 10 years of investigation and analysis, the Air Force still lists a small percentage of UFO sightings flying saucers as unknown.

357
00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:51,000
But to many who have become intensely involved in the puzzle of UFO, this figure seems utterly unrealistic.

358
00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:59,000
Of the scores of private, non-government organizations that are devoted to UFO, possibly the most active and eminent,

359
00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:04,000
is the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena of Washington, D.C.

360
00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:08,000
On its board of governors are a number of outstanding citizens.

361
00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:13,000
Among them are Vice Admiral R.H. Hillencoater, former head of the Central Intelligence Agency,

362
00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:22,000
Rear Admiral H.B. Knowles, U.S. Navy retired, Major Dewey Fornay Jr., former Air Force UFO investigator.

363
00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:28,000
Its director is Major Donald E. Kehoe, anapolis graduate and a former Marine Corps pilot,

364
00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:31,000
author of Flying Saucers from Outer Space.

365
00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:38,000
Well, Major, you've seen our report on the Air Force conclusions dealing with the current UFO sightings.

366
00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:42,000
They've narrowed the unknowns down to 1.9 percent.

367
00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:44,000
How do you feel about that figure?

368
00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:49,000
Well, even if you accept that figure, Mr. Edwards, there's one thing you have to remember.

369
00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:52,000
It covers only the last two months of sightings.

370
00:32:52,000 --> 00:33:01,000
Actually, the figure for all unknowns since 1947, using official Air Force statistics, is over 12 percent.

371
00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:07,000
Now, that is based on this official Air Force record known as Project Blue Book,

372
00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:12,000
and tables which you will find showing various percentages over the years.

373
00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:19,000
Out of the 6,000 cases investigated by the Air Force, 700 still remain unknown.

374
00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:21,000
It comes down to this.

375
00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:30,000
Either all of the hundreds of skilled observers, that means pilots, missile trackers, radar operators, and astronomers,

376
00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:36,000
were either deluded or incompetent, or they saw exactly what they reported.

377
00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:41,000
I think everyone will agree that deluded pilots would have been grounded very quickly,

378
00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:44,000
and incominent radar men would have been fired.

379
00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:47,000
Not one such case is on record.

380
00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:54,000
Our National Investigations Committee has hundreds of UFO reports from highly trained observers

381
00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:58,000
describing real objects maneuvering under intelligent control.

382
00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:01,000
Real objects under intelligent control,

383
00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:06,000
the implication being that they originate in outer space, that's for sure.

384
00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:11,000
Well, actually, that is a probability which is shared by many pilots and many scientists,

385
00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:15,000
including, for instance, Professor Herman Oberth, a great rocket designer.

386
00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:19,000
So we must agree that it is a probability.

387
00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:25,000
Well, all right. We'd like to hear the evidence on which you base this particular assumption, Major.

388
00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:31,000
Fine. And I want to begin by saying that all the cases I intend to cite are known to the Air Force.

389
00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:36,000
I also want to point out that our analysts on the committee include astronomers,

390
00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:45,000
missile engineers, pilots, radar men, former intelligence officers, and experts in many associated fields.

391
00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:48,000
Now, here is a verified case.

392
00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:52,000
May 1954, Dallas, Texas.

393
00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:57,000
A flight of four Marine Corps jets commanded by Major Charles Scarborough,

394
00:34:57,000 --> 00:35:05,000
cited in broad daylight a formation of 16 discs flying in groups of four.

395
00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:11,000
When the jets tried to box in these discs, they climbed a terrific speed and disappeared.

396
00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:14,000
Here's a quote from Major Scarborough.

397
00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:18,000
These discs were real. They flew at incredible speeds.

398
00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:20,000
Another case.

399
00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:24,000
November 1957, Long Beach, California.

400
00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:29,000
Major Lewis F. Baker, commanding officer of the Air Force Weather Station at Long Beach,

401
00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:34,000
along with two other Air Force weather experts, and 10 airmen.

402
00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:42,000
This group saw a formation of six discs making terrifically fast turns and maneuvering at an altitude of 7,000 feet.

403
00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:48,000
They appeared to be larger, according to Major Baker, than a twin-engine airliner.

404
00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:53,000
Statements from Major Baker. They were circular in the color of spun aluminum.

405
00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:56,000
They changed course instantaneously.

406
00:35:56,000 --> 00:35:59,000
A case in 1952.

407
00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:03,000
This was from Captain William B. Nash, a veteran airline pilot.

408
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.

409
00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:14,000
Captain Nash told me personally,

410
00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:19,000
I am convinced these were machines from outer space.

411
00:36:19,000 --> 00:36:21,000
End quote.

412
00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:26,000
Our committee agrees with the announcement of the Air Force on this particular case.

413
00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:28,000
Objects unknown.

414
00:36:28,000 --> 00:36:31,000
Let's take another. Another commercial airliner case.

415
00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:35,000
This one, this airliner was flying near South Bend, Indiana.

416
00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:39,000
At the controls was a veteran, Captain Robert Adicus.

417
00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:45,000
Adicus is crew and 10 passengers, so a spherical object pacing the plane.

418
00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:50,000
When Adicus tried to close in, the UFO accelerated and raced out of sight.

419
00:36:50,000 --> 00:36:53,000
A quote from Captain Adicus.

420
00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:56,000
Before then, I wasn't convinced by the saucer reports.

421
00:36:56,000 --> 00:36:59,000
Now I know they do exist.

422
00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:01,000
Let me show you one more case.

423
00:37:01,000 --> 00:37:05,000
This from an eminent astronomer, Dr. Clyde Tombow.

424
00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:08,000
Discover of the planet Pluto.

425
00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:16,000
Dr. Tombow cited a cigar-shaped object with what appeared to be windows and moving at tremendous speed.

426
00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:27,000
Now note how similar this object is to the one cited by Captain Charles and Whithitt that you mentioned earlier.

427
00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:36,000
Dr. Tombow, these things which do appear to be directed are unlike any other phenomena I ever observed.

428
00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:41,000
Other stars in our galaxy may have hundreds of thousands of inhabitable worlds.

429
00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:50,000
Races on these worlds may have been able to utilize the tremendous amounts of power required to bridge the space between the stars.

430
00:37:50,000 --> 00:37:51,000
End quote.

431
00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:56,000
These cases you've cited, Major, from the files of the National Investigating Committee.

432
00:37:56,000 --> 00:38:01,000
You also have some analyses on some of the cases the Air Force discussed earlier, have you?

433
00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:05,000
Yes, we do, and I'd like very much to go into two of them.

434
00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:07,000
First, the Mantell case.

435
00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:13,000
A Project Blue Book says that or suggests that Mantell died chasing a skyhook balloon.

436
00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:20,000
The Air Force has never provided any record of a balloon being launched on the day Mantell crashed.

437
00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:28,000
There is absolutely no record that any Air Force or Navy balloon was launched then from Clinton Air Force Base or any other station.

438
00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:34,000
Now, any project in a top secret category must keep detailed, accurate records.

439
00:38:34,000 --> 00:38:37,000
It's not any casual operation.

440
00:38:37,000 --> 00:38:41,000
Yet no such report has ever been produced.

441
00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:44,000
And now another point which I believe is conclusive.

442
00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:50,000
The Air Force tells us that the balloon hovered over Godwin Field for two hours, almost motionless.

443
00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:59,000
Minutes after Mantell's disappearance, one of his wingmen, equipped with oxygen, took off and searched the entire area for 100 miles.

444
00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:01,000
He found absolutely nothing.

445
00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:04,000
Now what happened to the balloon?

446
00:39:04,000 --> 00:39:09,000
The searching plane was an F-51, which could fly at 350 miles per hour.

447
00:39:09,000 --> 00:39:16,000
Any slowly moving balloon would have been sighted in minutes, but the sky was completely empty.

448
00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:20,000
Now just a word about another case the Air Force presented.

449
00:39:20,000 --> 00:39:27,000
This was the airliner which flew between New York and Puerto Rico and which Project Blue Book says,

450
00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:33,000
sighted a bow-eyed or fireball, which caused the pilot to zoom to miss it.

451
00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:40,000
Now when we investigated, we found that the similar non-explored disagreed entirely with that conclusion.

452
00:39:40,000 --> 00:39:48,000
The professional astronomers, the CAB consulted, said there was no evidence that this UFO was a fireball or a meteor.

453
00:39:48,000 --> 00:39:56,000
Our committee agrees that this case is an unknown, just like the tragic Mantell incident.

454
00:39:56,000 --> 00:40:03,000
Well now Major, you believe that the massive weight of evidence proves that flying saucers are real?

455
00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:05,000
The committee and I.

456
00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:07,000
We believe that absolutely.

457
00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:15,000
We believe that despite the frauds and hopes that have clouded the issue and which we completely disavow and try to disprove,

458
00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:20,000
we believe the facts prove that flying saucers actually exist.

459
00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:26,000
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?

460
00:40:26,000 --> 00:40:29,000
Well there are two possibilities Mr. Edwards.

461
00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:33,000
First, an honest difference among analysts.

462
00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:44,000
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.

463
00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:51,000
It is the belief of our committee, and this belief is substantiated by many scientists and experts in the field,

464
00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:56,000
that the public should be given all official information relative to UFOs.

465
00:40:56,000 --> 00:41:03,000
The American people are wise enough to evaluate this material, providing it is presented fully and accurately.

466
00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:08,000
The National Investigations Committee hopes that this will be done properly.

467
00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:15,000
And now Mr. Edwards, I would like to make a disclosure, something which has never been revealed to the public.

468
00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:23,000
For the last six months our committee has been working with the Externet Committee, which is investigating official secrecy on UFOs.

469
00:41:23,000 --> 00:41:32,000
If the hearings are held, open hearings, I feel it will prove beyond doubt that the flanks are preserved.

470
00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:42,000
In order to confirm the information we need, we suggest that all of the feathers of the committee should be considered right.

471
00:41:42,000 --> 00:41:44,000
Thank you Major Kehoe.

472
00:41:44,000 --> 00:41:50,000
One of the most eminent men of science who has taken a deep interest in the problem of UFO is Professor Donald H. Menzel,

473
00:41:50,000 --> 00:41:59,000
Professor of Astrophysics and Director of the Observatory at Harvard University and author of Flying Saucers published by the Harvard University Press.

474
00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:07,000
Professor Menzel, in your considered opinion, has our atmosphere been invaded by spaceships, flying objects originating in outer space?

475
00:42:07,000 --> 00:42:10,000
No, emphatically no.

476
00:42:10,000 --> 00:42:14,000
Now I don't quarrel with the assumption that there is life on other planets.

477
00:42:14,000 --> 00:42:22,000
As I have stated on a number of occasions, life, even human or superhuman life, may exist in millions of places in the universe.

478
00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:26,000
And I also concede that space travel for earthlings is imminent.

479
00:42:26,000 --> 00:42:33,000
But these two facts can't justify the conclusion that flying saucers represent space travel in reverse.

480
00:42:33,000 --> 00:42:40,000
And yet tonight we've heard a good bit of evidence that UFO unidentified flying objects do exist, Professor.

481
00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:47,000
They are unidentified flying objects only because of mistaken identity. In fact, they're often not even objects.

482
00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:56,000
That is why I prefer the name flying saucer to the term unidentified flying objects, which implies that they are material or tangible.

483
00:42:56,000 --> 00:43:03,000
The observations, and most particularly the interpretation of these observations, is strictly a scientific matter.

484
00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:07,000
You wouldn't call in a carpenter to diagnose a pain in your stomach.

485
00:43:07,000 --> 00:43:13,000
Well, why call in untrained laymen when you want to diagnose a strange occurrence in the sky?

486
00:43:13,000 --> 00:43:16,000
And strange things do occur, all the time.

487
00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:22,000
I think Project Blue Book hasn't paid enough attention to aerial phenomena in its analysis work.

488
00:43:22,000 --> 00:43:32,000
Merages, ice crystal reflections, even cloud formations such as this one, these can undo account for many UFO reports.

489
00:43:37,000 --> 00:43:44,000
It's understandable that untrained observers are startled when they see unusual occurrences in the sky.

490
00:43:44,000 --> 00:43:49,000
It even happens to many of us who have studied the heavens for years. It happened to me.

491
00:43:49,000 --> 00:43:55,000
Let me give you the bare details. Just three years ago when I was flying from the North Pole to Alaska,

492
00:43:55,000 --> 00:44:00,000
I saw an object pop over the horizon and buzzed my plane twice.

493
00:44:00,000 --> 00:44:06,000
Then it stopped and flew along parallel to it, at an apparent distance of 300 feet.

494
00:44:06,000 --> 00:44:14,000
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.

495
00:44:14,000 --> 00:44:16,000
Did you ever find out what it was?

496
00:44:16,000 --> 00:44:22,000
Certainly, as soon as I got over the initial shock, I did a little calm analyzing.

497
00:44:22,000 --> 00:44:27,000
The mysterious saucer proved to be a mirage of the bright star Sirius.

498
00:44:27,000 --> 00:44:30,000
Actually, the star was slightly below the horizon.

499
00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:36,000
But the queer bending of light by the atmosphere, called refraction, had brought it into view.

500
00:44:36,000 --> 00:44:42,000
Distortion and diffusion caused by alternate layers of warm and cold air had added the finishing touches,

501
00:44:42,000 --> 00:44:47,000
creating a bizarre pulsating whirling effect similar to the twinkling of a star.

502
00:44:47,000 --> 00:44:53,000
That was the answer to my saucer and to a lot of other people's saucers I'd like to bet.

503
00:44:53,000 --> 00:44:57,000
And I've seen hundreds of other saucers from dozens of causes.

504
00:44:57,000 --> 00:45:02,000
For instance, high-flying spider webs, owls that glow in the dark.

505
00:45:02,000 --> 00:45:07,000
In other words, Professor, if more people were astronomers, there'd be fewer flying saucers.

506
00:45:07,000 --> 00:45:13,000
Fewer flying saucers and a lot less declauding of the issue by over-eager amateurs.

507
00:45:13,000 --> 00:45:20,000
Earlier in the program, you mentioned the reported sighting of a bridge on the Maura Cresium region of the moon.

508
00:45:20,000 --> 00:45:22,000
Now, that's my special field.

509
00:45:22,000 --> 00:45:28,000
I'm now preparing some new lunar maps for a field guide to the skies that will soon be published.

510
00:45:28,000 --> 00:45:34,000
The first man who reported that bridge, an amateur, used only a four-inch telescope.

511
00:45:34,000 --> 00:45:37,000
Now, that's like using a BB gun in an elephant hunt.

512
00:45:37,000 --> 00:45:44,000
I've examined that area with the Harvard 15-inch telescope, and there is no bridge there.

513
00:45:44,000 --> 00:45:51,000
Here's a photograph of the Maura Cresium region taken with the 12-inch telescope at Griffith Observatory.

514
00:45:51,000 --> 00:45:58,000
An untrained observer might possibly interpret this fan of light as coming from under a bridge.

515
00:45:58,000 --> 00:46:04,000
Actually, it is light shining through a well-known deep pass bordered by high peaks.

516
00:46:04,000 --> 00:46:06,000
No bridge exists.

517
00:46:06,000 --> 00:46:15,000
This only emphasizes the importance of careful observation by experienced people who are capable of evaluating what they see.

518
00:46:15,000 --> 00:46:20,000
Well, let's agree that astronomers are best equipped to evaluate aerial phenomena.

519
00:46:20,000 --> 00:46:28,000
But wouldn't you agree that pilots, meteorologists, are also trained observers, and many of them have reported UFOs?

520
00:46:28,000 --> 00:46:31,000
No, they're not trained observers in this sense.

521
00:46:31,000 --> 00:46:34,000
A pilot can observe a plane and know what it is.

522
00:46:34,000 --> 00:46:44,000
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.

523
00:46:44,000 --> 00:46:55,000
Mirages, moxons, 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.

524
00:46:55,000 --> 00:47:07,000
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.

525
00:47:07,000 --> 00:47:13,000
I think Mantell didn't die chasing a balloon, nor I do. I think he died chasing a spaceship.

526
00:47:13,000 --> 00:47:21,000
I believe he mistook some sort of aerial phenomenon, a moxon perhaps for a flying saucer.

527
00:47:21,000 --> 00:47:29,000
I believe he mistook some sort of aerial phenomenon, a moxon perhaps for a flying saucer, one that's too high and crashed.

528
00:47:29,000 --> 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,

529
00:47:37,000 --> 00:47:46,000
including the 1.9% of the Air Force classifies as unknown, can be explained then as completely natural occurrence.

530
00:47:46,000 --> 00:47:52,000
I most certainly do. And I think the Air Force has been put upon in this whole affair.

531
00:47:52,000 --> 00:48:00,000
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.

532
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.

533
00:48:11,000 --> 00:48:18,000
Thank you, Dr. Mantell. We've given the facts, we've had the opinions. What about our own conclusions?

534
00:48:18,000 --> 00:48:27,000
Well, for thousands of years, man has been studying his own body, and yet today, he can only explain about 25% of bodily functions.

535
00:48:27,000 --> 00:48:36,000
It's only 350 years since Galileo invented the telescope. Certainly, there must be much in the heavens left to be explained.

536
00:48:36,000 --> 00:48:45,000
Perhaps in time, the enigma of the skies, flying saucers, will be explained to the satisfaction of all.

537
00:48:45,000 --> 00:48:52,000
This evening, we've given you the facts as we've found them. We leave them with you. What do you think?

538
00:48:52,000 --> 00:49:10,000
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's position and the report by a special scientific panel.

539
00:49:10,000 --> 00:49:18,000
Now, the Honorable Richard E. Horner, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Research and Development.

540
00:49:18,000 --> 00:49:32,000
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.

541
00:49:32,000 --> 00:49:40,000
Nothing could be further from the truth. And I do not qualify this statement in any way.

542
00:49:40,000 --> 00:50:01,000
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.

543
00:50:01,000 --> 00:50:12,000
All but a small percentage of these reports have been definitely attributed to natural phenomena that are neither mysterious nor dire.

544
00:50:12,000 --> 00:50:30,000
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 direct physical threat to national security.

545
00:50:30,000 --> 00:50:44,000
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.

546
00:50:44,000 --> 00:50:53,000
And finally, they recommend that the subject be stripped of the aura of mystery it has unfortunately acquired.

547
00:50:54,000 --> 00:51:09,000
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.

548
00:51:09,000 --> 00:51:18,000
Not a single speck of material evidence, not a fragment of a flying saucer has ever been found.

549
00:51:18,000 --> 00:51:26,000
This does not mean that the Air Force can or will be complacent about UFO reports.

550
00:51:26,000 --> 00:51:46,000
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.

551
00:51:46,000 --> 00:51:49,000
Thank you and good night.