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From: Stig_Agermose@online.pol.dk (Stig Agermose)
Date: Sun, 4 May 1997 05:52:05 +0200
Fwd Date: Sun, 04 May 1997 04:27:26 -0400
Subject: 'Flying Saucers Invade Europe'
It is not my intention to keep on posting these long e-mails, on the
contrary, but I just could not resist "Flying Saucers Invade Europe", a
1954 UFO article found during one of my many wanderings on HotBot
(superb search engine run by the magazine "Wired"). There are many
highlights, but the main reasons were the quotations from and comments
on a later totally forgotten 1948 report from the US State Department,
which establishes that UFOs are real and controlled by intelligent
beings.
"Flying Saucers Invade Europe" is based on an extensive compilation of
rare and fascinating newspaper stories, and can be found on
http://www.esper.com/RareBird/eur-ufo.htm
(15548 bytes, 17Jan97). It first appeared "during the European flap
of 1950-54 and was printed at the peak of the sightings in a small
English language magazine published by Charles Harnett at
Kaiserslautern, Germany."
There are many gems that will be unknown to a lot of, yes, I dare say
all of UFO UpDates readers, though many are well-known experts, so do
enjoy!
I'll bring you the entire compilation in a short while, but here are a
few excerpts, so you can see what I mean.
The first is quite sensational, as mentioned, and confirms by quoting
an at least nowadays unknown report which originated in the highest
layers of US Government that UFOs are real, "controlled in an
intelligent manner and ... either piloted or radio-controlled". This
secret and probably totally forgotten document was delivered from the
U. S. State Department to the Joint Chiefs of Staff on April 28, 1948,
but do tell if any of you have heard of it! The article says:
"Are flying saucers interplanetary spaceships or missiles from Russia
or the United States, if they exist at all? Though some "experts" claim
they are piloted by 40-inch tall creatures, others say there is
evidence to show that they are supersecret craft of ultra-modern design
produced by the Soviet government and used principally for observation.
The German illustrated magazine Frankfurter Illustrierte carried a
series of articles to advance this theory. It contained the kind of
detail that caused many official eyebrows to raise.
It told of a secret report delivered on April 28, 1948 from the U. S.
State Department to the Joint Chiefs of Staff which stated in part:
"From time to time, some saucer-like projectiles have displayed
movements that indicate they are controlled in an intelligent manner
and are either piloted or radio-controlled. The acceleration of these
objects is higher than present normal limits. They are noiseless. With
the aid of special instruments, their diameters have been measured to
be as large as 100 to 160 feet in diameter."
If this article was based on fact, it was directly contradicted by an
Air Force official a month later who stated that reports of
unidentified flying objects were completely unfounded.
The Frankfurt-based magazine went on to quote the chief of the U. S.
Defense Staff in Tokyo as stating on May 9, 1953:
"In the past few weeks, Navy and Air Force craft operating in the
Pacific have seen strange objects on several occasions, objects
generally referred to as flying saucers. Their routes could be
determined along with their possible home station. Near the island of
Tinian one of the objects was struck by an American aircraft and fell
into the ocean."
***
As some of you may have guessed from my e-mail address, I'm Danish, so
it is quite interesting for me that in Europe "Denmark and Italy were
reporting more sightings than other countries during this period". From
1952 to 1954 especially, there was a flap of sightings over
Scandinavia. Most of the craft appeared to come from behind the Iron
Curtain, so in 1954 "Radio Moscow took the unusual step of denying that
Russia was behind the saucers. The unprecedented announcement claimed
that so-called unidentified flying objects were merely propaganda
inventions "to create the impression that Moscow is provoking its
neighbors". It denounced western news media for spreading falsehoods."
***
According to this last excerpt some of the earliest "post-Arnold"
European sightings occurred near Munich and were reported by papers
throughout the continent on October 29, 1948:
"Five U. S. Air Force pilots observed a mysterious, silvery object
similar in appearance to a so-called flying saucer hanging high over
Neubiberg Air Base in Bavaria. The object disappeared at a terrific
speed after having remained over the air base more than 30 minutes. A
similar object had been seen days before by another group of American
pilots."
The clip is interesting as former astronaut Gordon Cooper had multiple
sightings at Neubiberg Air Base in 1951. Well-known debunker James
Oberg has not been able to find any clue to this or any other of
Cooper's UFO experiences, so probably doesn't know about the 1948
sightings. If he did, he surely would argue that Cooper was inspired by
the old incident, though UFO sightings were very common in Europe
during this period, especially near military installations as "Flying
Saucers Invade Europe" clearly shows.
Lately Cooper has told a wide audience of his Neubiberg experiences. At
the start of this year he was interviewed by the National Enquirer, and
in 1996 on the television show "Paranormal Borderline" he gave
correspondent Yolanda Gaskins a short summary of his Neubiberg
experiences. The host wasn't correct, however, in stating that Cooper
had only told his friends before that. He already had gone public on a
few occasions. In 1985, addressing a U.N. panel discussion on UFOs and
ETs in New York - chaired by then U.N. Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim
- he said:
"I did have occasion in 1951 to have two days of observation of many
flights of them, of different sizes flying in fighter formation,
generally from west to east over Europe. They were at a higher altitude
than we could reach with our jet fighters...."
"Paranormal Borderline":
Host (Jonathan Frakes):
But there is another side to Coopers' lifetime in aviation. One that
for years he would only discuss with close friends, until now. It
involved his personal encounters with UFOs.
For him it began in 1951 while flying in Europe for the U.S. Air Force.
There Cooper, and other pilots, witnessed an incident that has never
been officially explained. A vast armada of UFOs flying in formation at
extremely high altitudes. Recently, Yolanda Gaskins spoke with Gordon
Cooper. In this exclusive interview Col. Cooper spoke for the first
time on television about his encounters with UFOs.
YG I've read about this incident you had in 1951, and you said you saw
literally hundreds of unidentifiable flying objects.
GC Yes they were flying quite high, how high we couldn't tell because
we couldn't get anywhere near their altitude, but they were either very
large craft way up, or... smaller craft still above well above what we
could get to.
YG For a day and a half all of this happened... but then no one wanted
to talk about it.
GC Well we sent a report forward on it, and the answer that finally
came back months later was they were probably high flying seed pods,
which didn't sound very logical."
***
I do hope that I haven't kept you waiting for too long, but I felt that
I had to provide just a little background information. Anyhow, this is
the article as it appeared in 1954 in Charles Harnett's magazine:
Flying Saucers Invade Europe
Strange Flying Objecvts Are Appearing in Large Numbers Over the
Continent. Are they Secret Weapons of the USSR or....?
[This compilation of foreign newspaper stories appeared during the
European flap of 1950-54 and was printed at the peak of the sightings
in a small English-language magazine published by Charles Harnett at
Kaiserslautern, Germany]
August 1948 ... All of Europe was still laughing about the many flying
saucer sightings reported in the United States the previous year.
Americans were certainly making fools of themselves. But the last laugh
was yet to come, because on August 16 an Austrian newspaper blazoned
its pages with what was described as "the first sightings of flying
discs in central Europe".
Residents in the Muehlviertel district of Upper Austria along the Czech
border had reported seeing flying saucers moving at an exceptionally
high rate of speed, then returning just as rapidly to the point where
they were first noticed.
Soon similar stories were running rampant as strange objects appeared
elsewhere. This was the beginning of the European flying saucer flap
that began in 1950 and continues unabated to this day.
But apparently unknown to many Europeans and most Americans, saucers
had been witnessed much earlier and by a good many people throughout
the Continent. But there had been no flap -- the sightings had been
sporatic and usually reported only in small local papers, mainly in
Germany, France and Italy.
Turkey entered the controversy early when an Istanbul magazine recalled
eyewitness accounts of flying saucers in the Maras region in November
1947, adding that reports had reached Turkey that Soviet scientists had
been experimenting with missiles powered by cosmic rays in the region
east of Maras, across the Soviet-Turkish border.
A newspaper in Rome told how, in March of 1948, seven UFOs were spotted
speeding across north Italian skies on a path from northeast to
southwest. Eyewitnesses reported that the objects traveled at a very
high speed at around 15,000 feet altitude and seemed to emit "deep
sounds".
A report of August 18, 1949 had eyewitnesses at Lucinico, Trieste near
Gorizia seeing flying saucers coming from the direction of the Yugoslav
border and proceeding rapidly in a northward direction.
On October 29, 1948, newspapers throughout Europe reported this
sighting near Munich:
"Five U. S. Air Force pilots observed a mysterious, silvery object
similar in appearance to a so-called flying saucer hanging high over
Neubiberg Air Base in Bavaria. The object disappeared at a terrific
speed after having remained over the air base more than 30 minutes. A
similar object had been seen days before by another group of American
pilots."
These reports touched off a chain of speculative comments among
astronomers and scientists on the continent, who variously claimed that
the objects were from Russia or from outer space. Few seemed to regard
them as products of the United States.
In November of 1948 reports came from Denmark that unidentified flying
objects had been seen at Skagen, Northern Jutland. These were described
as missiles which passed over Skagen at high altitude and disappeared
northward over Skagerrack. A Danish coast guardsman allegedly saw one
disc-like object moving northward at 15,000 feet altitude and then,
through binoculars, observed another "shining like silver and traveling
in a different direction". Scores of eyewitnesses corroborated the
incident.
During 1949 saucer sightings over Europe waned but interest was kept
alive by reports from the United States that on August 20 officials
from the U. S. Air Force's Office of Special Investigation (OSI) had
found two dilapidated objects resembling flying saucers in a tobacco
shed in the small town of Marley Park, Maryland. The machines,
according to a wire service story, had been built before the war by a
Jonathan Caldwell who had since disappeared. One of the craft was
reported to have flown. Officials said they were interested in finding
Caldwell to learn what he had been doing since then and for whom. Hints
were made that he might be turning out improved models elsewhere on a
larger scale.
A German magazine carried a story about the so-called foo-fighters of
World War II -- objects reminiscent of flying saucers that appeared
usually as small balls of fire and trailed allied fighters and bombers
on bombing raids. Rumor had it that these were radar-controlled devices
designed by the Germans to track the course of allied aircraft.
A French magazine brought from the past a report of a flying saucer
seen over Arras centuries before, in 1461. A 500-year old manuscript
had been found in which the following appeared:
"On the night of All Saints Day a bright object half the size of the
moon was seen for almost a quarter hour. It flew rapidly in wild
maneuvers, then darted out of sight." The report closely paralleled
sightings nearly 500 years later.
DPA, the German national press agency, reported in October 1949 that
Copenhagen got its first glimpse of "flying fireballs" in and around
the city. Balls of fire were also reported over the island of Bornholm
in the Baltic, and similar bodies had been sighted over Sweden the week
before.
Reporters who had written of "Gallic scepticism" after 15 years of
supersecret projects under Hitler began to scratch their heads as more
and more sightings flooded police stations and newsrooms late in 1949.
Could so many people be mistaken by ordinary objects in the sky or
hoodwinked by hoaxes? To pragmatic Europeans, it appeared that
something was being seen that could and should be explained but
weren't.
Until 1950, flying saucer stories had attracted little more than
passing interest among Europeans. This was to change abruptly. For 1950
and 1951 were to be the years of the most seen over European skies. In
the early months, reports came by the hundreds from Belgium, Germany,
Sicily, Austria, Lebanon and Portugal. About these, American news
organizations were strangely quiet.
For example, postal official Josef Brem and his wife claimed to have
seen a strange object blazing a trail across the sky over Koetzling,
Germany. Brem described it as yellow-silver, disk-shaped, flat like an
inverted saucer and surrounded by an opal-shaped, brightly lit ring. He
said it remained in view more than a minute before flying off swiftly
in a southwesterly direction.
Then scores of department store employees in Brussels told police of
witnessing a flying saucer zipping about in the sky above their store.
The crew of a coast guard ship cruising off north Portugal at night
told of seeing dozens of strange objects flying in various formations
and moving "faster than tracer bullets".
An entire population of a Sicilian village watched in awe as a
saucer-shaped object circled the town of Caltagirone, moved in a wide
arc, and then disappeared to the southeast.
Two Vienna policemen said they glimpsed a UFO heading eastward toward
the Czech border, keeping it in view for more than half a minute.
Europeans could hardly believe their eyes each morning when they picked
up their newspapers to read new reports of strange aerial craft
cruising, hovering, speeding and maneurvering over the skies of every
country from England to Italy and from Spain to the iron curtain.
Denmark and Italy were reporting more sightings than other countries
during this period. Some scientists appeared to accept the idea that
the objects were either Russian or American. Few followed the theories
of American "experts" who spoke of ionized clouds, mirages, meteors or
mass hysteria. An occasional European scientist ventured to say it was
"possible" that the phenomenon had its origin in outer space.
Everyone, it seemed, had an opinion and each was a little different
from the other. One American went a little too far to suit most
Europeans when he said he believed the objects were the "heavenly
host". Another found a biblical phrase that said, "And there shall be
signs in the sky".
Then, just as suddenly as they came, the strange objects dropped out of
sight. Some cases continued to crop up every few weeks in England. And
for a short time in France they averaged 20 sightings a day over a
three-day period.
In January 1952, an expert in meteors in New Mexico made headlines in
the leading newspapers of Europe when he stated that a series of green
fireballs sighted over the southwestern states were probably not
meteors, but more likely guided missiles of Soviet origin. This
followed a story in Look magazine that claimed saucers could be manmade
vehicles, "most probably Soviet".
Then came the story of a 40-year old graduate of the University of
Prague and former Luftwaffe Captain Rudolf Schreiver, who claimed to
have designed a flying saucer before the collapse of Germany in 1945.
He explained that in the early 1940s engineers throughout the world had
been experimenting with craft of highly unusual configurations,
including the now famous inverted saucer shape.
According to Schreiver, a set of blueprints turned up missing from his
laboratory and when he gave duplicates to colleagues in Prague they
apparently ended up in Russian hands, enabling the Soviets to build a
saucer.
Late in 1952 the American magazine People Today said that its editors
believed flying saucers were not only real but were guided missiles
launched from the Soviet Union. The article stated that saucers were
being launched from Atomgrad Number 3, a highly secret missile center
near Finland. The missiles were described as crewless and deployed
mainly for reconnaissance of U. S. atomic and military installations.
According to the magazine, "cameras and electronic observation devices"
were loaded aboard the craft which were then guided by remote control
via a chain of Soviet snorkel submarines in the Atlantic. It seemed the
government was not telling the truth for fear of panic.
This story was given some credence when Swedish officials recorded the
passage of unidentified flying objects hurtling across Scandinavia in a
direct line toward the United States.
In January 1953 the general staff of the Danish Army issued orders to
all servicemen to be on the alert for unidentified flying objects. The
order was that any strange aerial apparition should be reported to
authorities immediately.
An interesting aspect of these sightings is that in most cases the
objects appeared to originate from the direction of the iron curtain,
and often returned toward the same direction. Coming at the height of
the cold war, this led some psychologists to speculate that the
sightings were an example of mass hysteria caused by international
tensions or fear of a Soviet invasion.
Early in 1954, a Swedish pilot observed a strange metallic circular
object flying at supersonic speed over southern Sweden well within
range of secret Soviet rocket bases. The craft was in sight for 10
seconds. Days later, Radio Moscow took the unusual step of denying that
Russia was behind the saucers. The unprecedented announcement claimed
that so-called unidentified flying objects were merely propaganda
inventions "to create the impression that Moscow is provoking its
neighbors". It denounced western news media for spreading falsehoods.
On March 26, 1954 five control tower personnel at a NATO air base near
Landstuhl, Germany reported seeing a UFO. F-86 Sabrejets were scrambled
but failed to get close to the illusive object. Eyewitnesses said the
object appeared several times during the early evening hours but each
time the jets tried to close, they were not able to get near it. Speed
of the object was said to be moving fairly slowly, leading some to
speculate that the object was a weather balloon. However, no balloons
were reported in the area and the object seemed to easily outmaneuver
the jets. The Air Force released no conclusions following the sighting.
Are flying saucers interplanetary spaceships or missiles from Russia or
the United States, if they exist at all? Though some "experts" claim
they are piloted by 40-inch tall creatures, others say there is
evidence to show that they are supersecret craft of ultra-modern design
produced by the Soviet government and used principally for observation.
The German illustrated magazine Frankfurter Illustrierte carried a
series of articles to advance this theory. It contained the kind of
detail that caused many official eyebrows to raise.
It told of a secret report delivered on April 28, 1948 from the U. S.
State Department to the Joint Chiefs of Staff which stated in part:
"From time to time, some saucer-like projectiles have displayed
movements that indicate they are controlled in an intelligent manner
and are either piloted or radio-controlled. The acceleration of these
objects is higher than present normal limits. They are noiseless. With
the aid of special instruments, their diameters have been measured to
be as large as 100 to 160 feet in diameter."
If this article was based on fact, it was directly contradicted by an
Air Force official a month later who stated that reports of
unidentified flying objects were completely unfounded.
The Frankfurt-based magazine went on to quote the chief of the U. S.
Defense Staff in Tokyo as stating on May 9, 1953:
"In the past few weeks, Navy and Air Force craft operating in the
Pacific have seen strange objects on several occasions, objects
generally referred to as flying saucers. Their routes could be
determined along with their possible home station. Near the island of
Tinian one of the objects was struck by an American aircraft and fell
into the ocean."
Major Donald E. Keyhoe, a marine reserve officer, personally
investigated UFOs and has written articles and books purporting to
prove that the illusive objects are interplanetary spacecraft. His
latest book is due to be released in Europe soon.
Whatever side of the controversy you favor, one thing is for certain.
So many eyewitnesses cannot be wrong. Thousands upon thousands of
persons throughout the world have seen these objects with their own
eyes and refuse explanations of mass hysteria, reflections in the sky
or misinterpretations of ordinary objects.
Most recently, the Air Force has admitted that 20 percent of UFO
sightings reported by Americans are mysteries yet to be explained. But
what of the many more thousands of Europeans who have also witnessed
these flying phantoms? What percentage of them are unexplainable and
who is investigating them?
It's been said that a secret is the hardest thing to keep. Perhaps the
riddle of the UFOs, if now a well kept secret, may be answered in our
lifetimes.
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