- I was curious about some of the pioneers of the UFO/Flying
Saucer era
- and how much we have learned since then, or have we?
It is amazing
- how some of the same themes are still playing out after
50+ years of
- study.
-
- One of the pioneers was Major (ret) Donald Keyhoe, a
Marine Corp pilot,
- a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy (1920), and a man
who was
- dedicated to finding the truth about UFOs.
-
- He wrote -
-
- "Since January 1950, when TRUE published my first
article on UFO's (see page 6), there has been a tremendous change in the
public attitude toward Unidentified Flying Objects. Before, the "flying
saucers" were ridiculed by most Americans. Only a small number knew
the dramatic evidence - confirmed reports by veteran pilots and other competent
witnesses. Even fewer knew of the Air Force Top Secret Estimate of the
Situation - that the Flying Saucers - officially Unidentified Flying Objects
- were interplanetary vehicles engaged in a long observation of the earth.
-
- Today, according to national polls, half of our population
is convinced that the UFO's are real (see page 52). Over five million people
claim to have seen strange flying objects. Some newly convinced Americans,
reluctant to believe we are being observed by a technically superior race,
first ask if the UFO's aren't highly secret devices - American or Russian.
But the massive documented evidence of tremendous speeds and maneuvers
far beyond any earthmade craft has proved this answer impossible. More
and more millions now accept the long-hidden AF explanation: The UFO's
are interplanetary probes from another world."
-
- Little has changed. Maybe slightly more than half of
our population
- is convinced UFOs are real and a lesser percentage believe
they are
- interplanetary craft, but the Air Force's position has
radically
- changed since those early years when it considered the
interplanetary
- answer. What changed behind the scenes?
-
- Another pioneer who was not as well known as Keyhoe played
a significant role in giving scientific weight to the UFO question and
that was Dr. James McDonald who received his Ph.D. in physics from Iowa
State University in 1951, then worked there as an assistant professor in
meteorology and served as professor in many other universities.
-
- Here is what he had to say -
-
- "Curiously, I have said this both in NASA and fairly
widely reported public discussion before scientific colleagues, yet the
response from NASA has been nil...Even attempting to get a small group
within NASA to undertake a study group approach to the available published
effort seems to have generated no response. I realise, of course, that
there may be semi-political considerations that make it awkward for NASA
to fish in these waters at present, but if this is what is holding up serious
scientific attention to the UFO problem at NASA this is all the more reason
Congress had better take a good hard look at the problem and reshuffle
the deck....I have learned from a number of unquotable sources that the
Air Force has long wished to get rid of the burden of the troublesome UFO
problem and has twice tried to 'peddle' it to NASA -without success".
(1967)
-
- Has anything really changed with NASA and UFOs? Not
really, and this
- after 35 years! Has Congress had a hard look at the
problem? No,
- they seem more concerned about keeping their jobs.
-
- How about early rocket pioneer Hermann Oberth. Here
is a quote:
- In 1955, Dr. Werner Von Braun invited him to the U.S.
where he worked on rockets with the Army Ballistic Missile Agency and
later NASA -
-
- "It is my thesis that flying saucers are real and
that they are space ships from another solar system. I think that they
possibly are manned by intelligent observers who are members of a race
that may have been investigating our Earth for centuries."
-
- (Oberth, H., "Flying Saucers Come From A Distant
World", The American Weekly, Oct 24, 1954)
-
- Hmmm, did the good professor know something positive
about his thesis?
-
- How about the head of Project Bluebook, Air Force Captain
who wrote
- a book about UFOs.
-
- He says -
-
- "UFO BRIEFINGS BY PROJECT BLUE BOOK TAKEN SERIOUSLY
IN EARLY YEARS.
- (1956) Capt. Edward J. Ruppelt:
-
- "The one thing about these briefings that never
failed to amaze me, although it happened time and time again, was the interest
in UFOs within scientific circles. As soon as the word spread that Project
Blue Book was giving official briefings to groups with the proper security
clearances, we had no trouble in getting scientists to swap free advice
for a briefing. I might add that we briefed only groups who were engaged
in government work and who had the proper security clearances solely because
we could discuss any government project that might be of help to us in
pinning down the UFO. Our briefings weren't just sqeezed in either; in
many instances we would arrive at a place to find that a whole day had
been set aside to talk about UFOs. And never once did I meet anyone who
laughed off the whole subject of flying saucers even though publicly these
same people had jovially sloughed off the press with answers of 'hallucinations,'
'absurd', or 'a waste of time and money.' They weren't wild-eyed fans but
they were certainly interested." (1956)
-
- Scientists not laughing at UFOs! Heavens! I am glad
to see that the
- interest has spread among scientists over the last 46
years.
-
- The UFO situation got so serious in 1952 that a meeting
was convened with
- Air Force officials and the CIA (Robertson Panel).
-
- Captain Ed Ruppelt -
-
- "...and it was up to them to tell us if they (UFOs)
were real---some type of vehicle flying through our atmosphere. If they
were real, then they would have to be spacecraft because no one at the
meeting gave a second thought to the possibility tha the UFOs might be
a supersecret U.S. aircraft or a Soviet development. The scientists knew
everything that was going on in the U.S. and they knew that no country
in the world had developed their technology far enough to build such
a craft that would perform as the UFOs were reported to do."
-
- With all the rumors around today that some UFOs are secret
aircraft
- this statement seems like a definite anachronism.
-
- Astronomer Morris K. Jessup was one of the first to suggest
that
- UFOs were not a modern phenomena.
-
- He stated -
-
- "Flying Saucers are not new! For thousands of years
men have seen mysterious objects in the skies...
- Probably the oldest, and almost surely the most prolific
of sources bearing on wingless flight, are the records of the Indian and
Tibetan monasteries. These in themselves are almost conclusive. Records
of 15,000 years ago imply wingless flight at least 70,000 years prior to
that. Add this to the recorded visit of a space fleet to the court of Thutmose
III, approximately 1500 BC, and we are close to paralleling the sightings
of today."
- (From THE CASE FOR THE UFO, 1955)
-
- What about those MJ-12 guys? The head of the group was
supposedly
- Admiral Roscoe Hillenkoetter, surely dedicated to keeping
the whole
- subject secret, but then we read what he says -
-
- "It is time for the truth to be brought out. . .
Behind the scenes high-ranking Air Force officers are soberly concerned
about the UFOs. But through official secrecy and ridicule, many citizens
are led to believe the unknown flying objects are nonsense."
- - Admiral Roscoe Hillenkoetter, Director of the CIA (1947-50)
- in a letter to Congress, 1960 quoted in Above Top Secret
-
- Hey Admiral, I guess no one listened then, are they listening
now?
-
- Speaking of MJ-12, what about the President said to have
started this
- secret group. He said -
-
- "I can assure you that flying saucers, given that
they exist, are not constructed by any power on Earth."
-
- - President Harry S. Truman
- April 4, 1950, White House Press Conference
-
- Perhaps there were deliberate attempts to debunk the
subject from
- the beginning. Here is what one early pioneer said -
-
- "Blue Book was now under direct orders to debunk.
. . I remember the conversations around the conference table in which it
was suggested that Walt Disney or some educational cartoon producer be
enlisted in [the] debunking process."
- - Dr. J. Allen Hynek
- in The Hynek UFO Report
-
- Thank goodness they stopped all of that nonsensical debunking.
Wake up folks, there is something alien in our atmosphere.
-
- We are told there is nothing above top secret, not even
UFOs, but
- the late Senator Barry Goldwater (Ret USAF Brig. General
and pilot) said -
-
- "I made an effort to find out what was in the building
at Wright Patterson Air Force Base where the information is stored that
has been collected by the Air Force, and I was understandably denied this
request. It is still classified above Top Secret."
- - Senator Barry Goldwater
- In a letter dated March 28, 1975
-
- And of course, our friendly famous scientist from Canada
said -
-
- "The matter is the most highly classified subject
in the United States government, rating higher even than the H-bomb. Flying
saucers exist. Their modus operandi is unknown but concentrated effort
is being made by a small group headed by Doctor Vannevar Bush."
- - Wilbert Smith
- in a Top Secret Canadian government memorandum, 21 November
1950
- quoted in Above Top Secret
-
- Scientist Bush was said to have orchestrated the scientific
study
- and reverse engineering of these interplanetary craft.
-
- I have only skimmed the surface of numerous writings
and statements
- made by the pioneers of the UFO space age, yet we do
not see in
- any of these that the subject was taken lightly or laughingly.
- UFOs were considered a serious problem, especially by
the Air Force,
- yes, the same Air Force who debunks UFO sightings and
UFO crashes.
-
- We will continue to explore the new terrain we are on
today, but
- let us not forget history for it can teach us many lessons
and
- who wants to wait another 50+ years to advance another
few inches?
-
- Sincerely,
-
- Bill Hamilton
- Executive Director
- Skywatch International, Inc.
- Website:
- http://www.skywatch-research.org
- Fiat Lux et Veritas
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