• CHAPTER XIII UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS, INTRODUCTORY SPACE SCIENCE - VOLUME II - DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS - USAF 1966

    From Ty Holder@RICKSBBS to ALL on Monday, January 27, 2025 06:56:26
    CUFON - UFO Information Service Seattle, Washington
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    INTRODUCTORY SPACE SCIENCE - VOLUME II - DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS - USAF
    Edited by:
    Major Donald G. Carpenter
    Co-Editor:
    Lt. Colonel Edward R. Therkelson
    CHAPTER XIII
    UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS
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    What is an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO)? Well, according to United
    States Air Force Regulation 80-17 (dated 19 September 1966), a UFO is "Any"
    aerial Phenomenon or object which is unknown or appears to be out of the
    ordinary to the observer." This is a very broad definition which applies
    equally well to one individual seeing his first noctilucent cloud at
    twilight as it does to another individual seeing his first helicopter.
    However, at present most people consider the term UFO to mean an object
    which behaves in a strange or erratic manner while moving through the
    Earth's atmosphere. That strange phenomenon has evoked strong emotions
    and great curiosity among a large segment of our world's population. The
    average person is interested because he loves a mystery, the professional
    military man is involved because of the possible threat to national
    security, and some scientists are interested because of the basic curiosity
    that led them into becoming researchers.

    The literature on UFO's is so vast, and the stories so many and varied,
    that we can only present a sketchy outline of the subject in this chapter.
    That outline includes description classifications, operational domains
    (temporal and spatial), some theories as to the nature of the UFO
    phenomenon, human reactions, attempts to attack the problem scientifically,
    and some tentative conclusions. If you wish to read further in this area,
    the references provide an excellent starting point.

    33.1 DESCRIPTIONS

    One of the greatest problems you encounter when attempting to catalog
    UFO sightings, is selection of a system for cataloging. No effective
    system has yet been devised, although a number of different systems have
    been proposed. The net result is that almost all UFO data are either
    treated in the form of individual cases, or in the forms of inadequate
    classification systems. However, these systems do tend to have some common
    factors, and a collection of these factors is as follows:

    a. Size
    b. Shape (disc, ellipse, football, etc.)
    c. Luminosity
    d. Color
    e. Number of UFO's

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    CUFON - UFO Information Service Seattle, Washington ________________________________________________________________

    Behavior:

    a. Location (altitude, direction, etc.)
    b. Patterns of paths (straight line, climbing, zig-zagging, etc.)
    c. Flight Characteristics (wobbling, fluttering, etc.)
    d. Periodicity of sightings
    e. Time duration
    f. Curiosity or inquisitiveness
    g. Avoidance
    h. Hostility

    Associated Effects:

    a. Electro-Magnetic (compass, radio, ignition systems, etc.)
    b. Radiation (burns, induced radioactivity, etc.)
    c. Ground disturbance (dust stirred up, leaves moved, standing wave
    d. Sound (none, hissing, humming, roaring, thunderclaps, etc.)
    e. Vibration (weak, strong, slow, fast)
    f. Smell (ozone or other odor)
    g. Flame (how much, where, when, color)
    h. Smoke or cloud (amount, color, persistence)
    i. Debris (type, amount, color, persistence)
    j. Inhibition of voluntary movement by observers
    k. Sighting of "creatures" or "beings"

    After Effects:

    a. Burned areas or animals
    b. Depressed or flattened areas
    c. Dead or missing animals
    d. Mentally disturbed people
    e. Missing items

    We make no attempt here to present available data in terms of the foregoing
    descriptors.

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    33.2 OPERATIONAL DOMAINS - TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL

    What we will do here is to present evidence that UFO's are a global
    phenomenon which may have persisted for many thousands of years. During
    this discussion, please remember that the more ancient the reports the less
    sophisticated the observer. Not only were the ancient observers lacking
    the terminology necessary to describe complex devices (such as present day
    helicopters) but they were also lacking the concepts necessary to
    understand the true nature of such things as television, spaceships,
    rockets, nuclear weapons and radiation effects. To some, the most
    advanced technological concept was a war chariot with knife blades attached
    to the wheels. By the same token, the very lack of accurate terminology
    and descriptions leaves the more ancient reports open to considerable
    misinterpretation, and it may well be that present evaluations of
    individual reports are completely wrong. Nevertheless, let us start with
    an intriguing story in one of the oldest chronicles of India...the Book of
    Dzyan.

    The book is a group of "story-teller" legends which were finally
    gathered in manuscript form when man learned to write. One of the stories
    is of a small group of beings who supposedly came to Earth many thousands
    of years ago in a metal craft which orbited the Earth several times before
    landing. As told in the Book "These beings lived to themselves and were
    revered by the humans among whom they had settled. But eventually
    differences arose among them and they divided their numbers, several of the
    men and women and some children settled in another city, where they were
    promptly installed as rulers by the awe-stricken populace.

    "Separation did not bring peace to these people and finally their
    anger reached a point where the ruler of the original city took with him
    a small number of his warriors and they rose into the air in a huge shining
    metal vessel. While they were many leagues from the city of their enemies,
    they launched a great shining lance that rode on a beam of light. It burst
    apart in the city of their enemies with a great ball of flame that shot up
    to the heavens, almost to the stars. All those who were in the city were
    horribly burned and even those who were not in the city - but nearby - were
    burned also. Those who looked upon the lance and the ball of fire were
    blinded forever afterward. Those who entered the city on foot became ill
    and died. Even the dust of the city was poisoned, as were the rivers that
    flowed through it. Men dared not go near it, and it gradually crumbled
    into dust and was forgotten by men."

    "When the leader saw what he had done to his own people he retired to
    his palace and refused to see anyone. Then he gathered about him those
    warriors who remained, and their wives and children, and they entered their
    vessels and rose one by one into the sky and sailed away. Nor did they
    return."
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    CUFON - UFO Information Service Seattle, Washington ________________________________________________________________

    Could this foregoing legend really be an account of an extraterrestrial
    colonization, complete with guided missle, nuclear warhead and radiation
    effects? It is difficult to assess the validity of that explanation...
    just as it is difficult to explain why Greek, Roman and Nordic Mythology
    all discuss wars and contacts among their "Gods." (Even the Bible records
    conflict between the legions of God and Satan.) Could it be that each
    group recorded their parochial view of what was actually a global conflict
    among alien colonists or visitors? Or is it that man has led such a
    violent existence that he tends to expect conflict and violence among even
    his gods?

    Evidence of perhaps an even earlier possible contact was uncovered by
    Tschi Pen Lao of the University of Peking. He discovered astonishing
    carvings in granite on a mountain in Hunan Province and on an island in
    Lake Tungting. These carvings have been evaluated as 47,000 years old, and
    they show people with large trunks (breathing apparatus?...or "elephant"
    heads shown on human bodies? Remember, the Egyptians often represented
    their gods as animal heads on human bodies.)

    Only 8,000 years ago, rocks were sculpted in the Tassili plateau of
    Sahara, depicting what appeared to be human beings but with strange round
    heads (helmets? or "sun" heads on human bodies?) And even more recently,
    in the Bible, Genesis (6:4) tells of angels from the sky mating with women
    of Earth, who bore them children. Genesis 19:3 tells of Lot meeting two
    angels in the desert and his later feeding them at his house. The Bible
    also tells a rather unusual story of Ezekiel who witnessed what has been
    interpreted by some to have been a spacecraft or aircraft landing near the
    Chebar River in Chaldea (593 B.C.).

    Even the Irish have recorded strange visitations. In the Speculum
    Regali in Konungs Skuggsa (and other accounts of the era about 956 A.D.)
    are numerous stories of "demonships" in the skies. In one case a rope from
    one such ship became entangled with part of a church. A man from the ship
    climbed down the rope to free it, but was seized by the townspeople. The
    bishop made the people release the man, who climbed back to the ship,
    where the crew cut the rope and the ship rose and sailed out of sight.
    In all of his actions, the climbing man appeared as if he were swimming
    in water. Stories such as this makes one wonder if the legends of the
    "little people" of Ireland were based upon imagination alone.

    About the same time, in Lyons (France) three men and a women supposedly
    descended from an airship or spaceship and were captured by a mob. These
    foreigners admitted to being wizards, and were killed. (No mention is
    made of the methods employed to extract the admissions.) Many documented
    UFO sightings occurred throughout the Middle Ages, including an especially
    startling one of a UFO over London on 16 December 1742. However, we do
    not have room to include any more of the Middle Ages sightings. Instead,
    two "more-recent" sightings are contained in this section to bring us up to
    modern times.
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    CUFON - UFO Information Service Seattle, Washington

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    In a sworn statement dated 21 April 1897, a prosperous and prominent
    farmer named Alexander Hamilton (Le Roy, Kansas, U.S.A.) told of an attack
    upon his cattle at about 10:30 p.m. the previous Monday. He, his son, and
    his tenant grabbed axes and ran some 700 feet from the house to the cow
    lot where a great cigar-shaped ship about 300 feet long floated some 30
    feet above the cattle. It had a carriage underneath which was brightly
    lighted within (dirigible and gondola?) and which had numerous windows.
    Inside were six strange looking beings jabbering in a foreign language.
    These beings suddenly became aware of Hamilton and the others. They
    immediately turned a searchlight on the farmer, and also turned on some
    power which sped up a turbine wheel (about 30 ft diameter) located under
    the craft. The ship rose, taking with it a two-year old heifer which was
    roped about the neck by a cable of one-half inch thick, red material. The
    next day a neighbor, Link Thomas, found the animal's hide, legs and head
    in his field. He was mystified at how the remains got to where they were
    because of the lack of tracks in the soft soil. Alexander Hamilton's sworn
    statement was accompanied by an affidavit as to his veracity. The
    affidavit was signed by ten of the local leading citizens.

    On the evening of 4 November 1957 at Fort Itaipu, Brazil, two sentries
    noted a "new star" in the sky. The "star" grew in size and within seconds
    stopped over the fort. It drifted slowly downward, was as large as a big
    aircraft, and was surround by a strong orange glow. A distinct humming
    sound was heard, and then the heat struck. One sentry collapsed almost
    immediately, the other managed to slide to shelter under the heavy cannons
    where his loud cries awoke the garrison. While the troops were scrambling
    towards their battle stations, complete electrical failure occurred.
    There was panic until the lights came back on but a number of men still
    managed to see an orange glow leaving the area at high speed. Both
    sentries were found badly burned...one unconscious and the other incoherent,
    suffering from deep shock.

    Thus, UFO sightings not only appear to extend back to 47,000 years
    through time but also are global in nature. One has the feeling that
    this phenomenon deserves some sort of valid scientific investigation, even
    if it is a low level effort.
    33.3 SOME THEORIES AS TO THE NATURE OF THE UFO PHENOMENON
    There are very few cohesive theories as to the nature of UFO's. Those
    theories that have been advanced can be collected in five groups:
    a. Mysticism
    b. Hoaxes, and rantings due to unstable personalities
    c. Secret Weapons
    d. Natural Phenomena
    e. Alien visitors
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    Mysticism

    It is believed by some cults that the mission of UFO's and their crews
    is a spiritual one, and that all materialistic efforts to determine the
    UFO's nature are doomed to failure.

    Hoaxes and Rantings due to Unstable Personalities

    Some have suggested that all UFO reports were the results of pranks
    and hoaxes, or were made by people with unstable personalities. This
    attitude was particularly prevalent during the time period when the Air
    Force investigation was being operated under the code name of Project
    Grudge. A few airlines even went as far as to ground every pilot who
    reported seeing a "flying saucer." The only way for the pilot to regain
    flight status was to undergo a psychiatric examination. There was a
    noticeable decline in pilot reports during this time interval, and a few
    interpreted this decline to prove that UFO's were either hoaxes or the
    result of unstable personalities. It is of interest that NICAP (The
    National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena) even today still
    receives reports from commercial pilots who neglect to notify either the
    Air Force or their own airline.

    There are a number of cases which indicate that not all reports fall
    in the hoax category. We will examine one such case now. It is the
    Socorro, New Mexico sighting made by police Sergeant Lonnie Zamora.
    Sergeant Zamora was patrolling the streets of Socorro on 24 April 1964
    when he saw a shiny object drift down into an area of gullies on the edge
    of town. He also heard a loud roaring noise which sounded as if an old
    dynamite shed located out that way had exploded. He immediately radioed
    police headquarters, and drove out toward the shed. Zamora was forced to
    stop about 150 yards away from a deep gully in which there appeared to be
    an overturned car. He radioed that he was investigating a possible wreck,
    and then worked his car up onto the mesa and over toward the edge of the
    gully. He parked short, and when he walked the final few feet to the edge,
    he was amazed to see that it was not a car but instead was a weird
    eggshaped object about fifteen feet long, white in color and resting on
    short, metal legs. Beside it, unaware of his presence were two humanoids
    dressed in silvery coveralls. They seemed to be working on a portion of
    the underside of the object. Zamora was still standing there, surprised,
    when they suddenly noticed him and dove out of sight around the object.
    Zamora also headed the other way, back toward his car. He glanced back at
    the object just as a bright blue flame shot down from the underside.
    Within seconds the eggshaped thing rose out of the gully with "an ear-
    -splitting roar." The object was out of sight over the nearby mountains
    almost immediately, and Sergeant Zamora was moving the opposite direction
    almost as fast when he met Sergeant Sam Chavez who was responding to Zamora'
    s
    earlier radio calls. Together they investigated the gully and found the
    bushes charred and still smoking where the blue flame had jetted down on
    them. About the charred area were four deep marks where the metal legs
    had been. Each mark was three and one half inches deep, and was circular
    in shape. The sand in the gully was very hard packed so no sign of the
    humanoids' footprints could be found. An official investigation was
    launched that same day, and all data obtained supported the stories of
    Zamora and Chavez. It is rather difficult to label this episode a hoax,
    and it is also doubtful that both Zamora and Chavez shared portions of the
    same hallucination.

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    Secret Weapons

    A few individuals have proposed that UFO's are actually advanced weapon
    systems, and that their natures must not be revealed. Very few people
    accept this as a credible suggestion.

    Natural Phenomena

    It has also been suggested that at least some, and possibly all, of the
    UFO cases were just mis-interpreted manifestations of natural phenomena.
    Undoubtedly this suggestion has some merit. People have reported, as UFO's,
    objects which were conclusively proven to be balloons (weather and skyhook),
    the planet Venus, man-made artificial satellites, normal aircraft, unusual
    cloud formations, and lights from ceilometers (equipment projecting light
    beams on cloud bases to determine the height of the aircraft visual ceiling)
    .
    It is also suspected that people have reported mirages, optical illusions,
    swamp gas and ball lightning (a poorly-understood discharge of electrical
    energy in a spheroidal or ellipsoidal shape...some charges have lasted for
    up to fifteen minutes but the ball is usually no bigger than a large orange.
    )
    But it is difficult to tell a swamp dweller that the strange, fast-moving
    light he saw in the sky was swamp gas; and it is just as difficult to tell
    a farmer that a bright UFO in the sky is the same ball lightning that he
    has seen rolling along his fence wires in dry weather. Thus accidental
    mis-identification of what might well be natural phenomena breeds mistrust
    and disbelief; it leads to the hasty conclusion that the truth is
    deliberatly not being told. One last suggestion of interest has been made,
    that the UFO's were plasmoids from space...concentrated blobs of solar wind
    that succeeded in reaching the surface of the Earth. Somehow this last
    suggestion does not seem to be very plausible; perhaps because it ignores
    such things as penetration of Earth's magnetic field.

    Alien Visitors

    The most stimulating theory for us is that the UFO's are material
    objects which are either "Manned" or remote-controlled by beings who are
    alien to this planet. There is some evidence supporting this viewpoint.
    In addition to police Sergeant Lonnie Zamora's experience, let us consider
    the case of Barney and Betty Hill. On a trip through New England they
    lost two hours on the night of 19 September 1961 without even realizing it.
    However, after that night both Barney and Betty began developing
    psychological problems which eventually grew sufficienty severe that they
    submitted themselves to psychiatric examination and treatment. During the
    course of treatment hypnotherapy was used, and it yielded remarkably
    detailed and similar stories from both Barney and Betty. Essentially
    they had been hypnotically kidnapped, taken aboard a UFO, submitted to
    two-hour physicals, and released with posthypnotic suggestions to forget
    the entire incident. The evidence is rather strong that this is what the
    Hills, even in their subconscious, believe happened to them. And it is of
    particular importance that after the "posthypnotic block" was removed, both
    of the Hills ceased having their psychological problems.

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    The Hill's description of the aliens was similar to descriptions
    provided in other cases, but this particular type of alien appears to be
    in the minority. The most commonly described alien is about three and one-
    half feet tall, has a round head (helmet?), arms reaching to or below his
    knees, and is wearing a silvery space suit or coveralls. Other aliens
    appear to be essentially the same as Earthmen, while still others have
    particularily wide (wrap around) eyes and mouths with very thin lips. And
    there is a rare group reported as about four feet tall, weight of around
    35 pounds, and covered with thick hair or fur (clothing?). Members of this
    last group are described as being extremely strong. If such beings are
    visiting Earth, two questions arise: 1) why haven't there been any accidents
    which have revealed their presence, and 2) why haven't they attempted to
    contact us officially? The answer to the first question may exist partially
    in Sergeant Lonnie Zamora's experience, and may exist partially in the
    Tunguska meteor discussed in Chapter XXIX. In that chapter it was suggested
    that the Tonguska meteor was actually a comet which exploded in the
    atmosphere, the ices melted and the dust spread out. Hence, no debris!
    However, it has also been suggested that the Tunguska meteor was actually
    an alien spacecraft that entered the atmosphere to rapidly, suffered
    mechanical failure, and lost its power supply and/or weapons in a nuclear
    explosion. While that hypothesis may seem far fetched, sample of tree
    rings from around the world reveal that, immediately after the Tunguska
    meteor explosion, the level of radioactivity in the world rose sharply for
    a short period of time. It is difficult to find a natural explanation for
    that increase in radioactivity, although the suggestion has been advanced
    that enough of the meteor's great kinetic energy was converted into heat
    (by atmospheric friction) that a fusion reaction occurred. This still
    leaves us with no answer to the second question: why no contact? That
    question is very easy to answer in several ways: 1) we may be the object
    of intensive sociological and psychological study. In such studies you
    usually avoid disturbing the test subjects' environment; 2) you do not
    "contact" a colony of ants, and humans may seem that way to any aliens
    (variation: a zoo is fun to visit, but you don't "contact" the lizards);
    3) such contact may have already taken place secretly; and 4) such contact
    may have already taken place on a different plane of awareness and we are
    not yet sensitive to communications on such a plane. These are just a few
    of the reasons. You may add to the list as you desire.

    33.4 HUMAN FEAR AND HOSTILITY

    Besides the foregoing reasons, contacting humans is downright dangerous.
    Think about that for a moment! On the microscopic level our bodies reject
    and fight (through production antibodies) any alien material; this process
    helps us fight off disease but it also sometimes results in allergic
    reactions to innocuous materials. On the macroscopic (psychological and
    sociological) level we are antagonistic to beings that are "different".
    For proof of that, just watch how an odd child is treated by other children,
    or how a minority group is socially deprived, or how the Arabs feel about
    the Israelis (Chinese vs Japanese, Turks vs Greeks, etc.) In case you are
    hesitant to extend that concept to the treatment of aliens let me point
    out that in very ancient times, possible extraterrestrials may have been
    treated as Gods but in the last two thousand years, the evidence is that
    any possible aliens have been ripped apart by mobs, shot and shot at,
    physically assaulted, and in general treated with fear and aggression.

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    In Ireland about 1,000 A.D., supposed airships were treated as "demon-
    ships." In Lyons, France, "admitted" space travellers were killed. More
    recently, on 24 July 1957 Russian anti-aircraft batteries on the Kouril
    Islands opened fire on UFO's. Although all Soviet anti-aircraft batteries
    on the Islands were in action, no hits were made. The UFO's were luminous
    and moved very fast. We too have fired on UFO's. About ten o'clock one
    morning, a radar site near a fighter base picked up a UFO doing 700 mph.
    The UFO then slowed to 100 mph, and two F-86's were scrambled to intercept.
    Eventually one F-86 closed on the UFO at about 3,000 feet altitude. The
    UFO began to accelerate away but the pilot still managed to get within 500
    yards of the target for a short period of time. It was definately saucer-
    shaped. As the pilot pushed the F-86 at top speed, the UFO began to pull
    away. When the range reached 1,000 yards, the pilot armed his guns and
    fired in an attempt to down the saucer. He failed, and the UFO pulled away
    rapidly, vanishing in the distance. This same basic situation may have
    happened on a more personal level. On Sunday evening 21 August 1955, eight
    adults and three children were on the Sutton Farm (one-half mile from Kelly,
    Kentucky) when, according to them, one of the children saw a brightly
    glowing UFO settle behind the barn, out of sight from where he stood.
    Other witnesses on nearby farms also saw the object. However, the Suttons
    dismissed it as a "shooting star," and did not investigate. Approximately
    thirty minutes later (at 8 p.m.), the family dogs began barking so two of
    the men went to the back door and looked out. Approximately 50 feet away
    and coming toward them was a creature wearing a glowing silvery suit. It
    was about three and one-half feet tall with a large round head and very
    long arms. It had large webbed hands which were equipped with claws. The
    two Suttons grabbed a twelve guage shotgun and a 22 caliber pistol, and
    fired at close range. They could hear the pellets and bullet ricochet as
    if off of metal. The creature was knocked down, but jumped up and
    scrambled away. The Suttons retreated into the house, turned off all
    inside lights, and turned on the porch-light. At that moment, one of the
    women who was peeking out of the dining room window discovered that a
    creature with some sort of helmet and wide slit eyes was peeking back at
    her. She screamed, the men rushed in and started shooting. The creature
    was knocked backwards but again scrambled away without apparent harm. More
    shooting occurred (a total of about 50 rounds) over the next 20 minutes and
    the creatures finally left (perhaps feeling unwelcome?) After about a two
    hour wait (for safety), the Suttons left too. By the time the police got
    there, the aliens were gone but the Suttons would not move back to the farm.
    They sold it and departed. This reported incident does bear out the
    contention though that humans are dangerous. At no time in the story did
    the supposed aliens shoot back, although one is left with the impression
    that the described creatures were having fun scaring humans.

    33.5 ATTEMPTS AT SCIENTIFIC APPROACHES

    In any scientific endeavor, the first step is to aquire data, the
    second step to clasify the data, and the third step to form hypothesis.
    The hypothesis are tested by repeating the entire process, with each cycle
    resulting in an increase in understanding (we hope). The UFO phenomenon
    does not yield readily to this approach because the data taken so far
    exhibits both excessive variety and vagueness. The vagueness is caused
    in part by the lack of preparation of the observer...very few people leave
    their house knowing that they are going to see a UFO that evening.
    Photographs are overexposed or underexposed, and rarely in color. Hardly
    anyone carries around a radiation counter or magnetometer. And, in addition
    to this, there is a very high level of "noise" in the data.


    PAGE TEN ________________________________________________________________

    The noise consists of mistaken reports of known natural phenomena,
    hoaxes, reports by unstable individuals and mistaken removal of data
    regarding possible unnatural or unknown natural phenomena (by overzealous
    individuals who are trying to eliminate all data due to known natural
    phenomena). In addition, those data, which do appear to be valid, exhibit
    an excessive amount of variety relative to the statistical samples which
    are available. This has led to very clumsy classification systems, which
    in turn provide quite unfertile ground for formulation of hypothesis.

    One hypothesis which looked promising for a time was that of ORTHOTENY
    (i.e., UFO sightings fall on "great circle" routes). At first, plots of
    sightings seemed to verify the concept of orthoteny but recent use of
    computers has revealed that even random numbers yield "great circle" plots
    as neatly as do UFO sightings.

    There is one solid advance that has been made though. Jacques and
    Janine Vallee have taken a particular type of UFO - namely those that are
    lower than tree-top level when sighted - and plotted the UFO's estimated
    diameter versus the estimated distance from the observer. The result
    yields an average diameter of 5 meters with a very characteristic drop for
    short viewing distances, and rise for long viewing distances. This
    behavior at the extremes of the curve is well known to astronomers and
    psychologists as the "moon illusion." The illusion only occurs when the
    object being viewed is a real, physical object. Because this implies that
    the observers have viewed a real object, it permits us to accept also their
    statement that these particular UFO's had a rotational axis of symmetry.

    Another, less solid, advance made by the Vallee's was their plotting
    of the total number of sightings per week versus the date. They did this
    for the time span from 1947 to 1962, and then attempted to match the peaks
    of the curve (every 2 years 2 months) to the times of Earth-Mars conjuction
    (every 2 years 1.4 months). The match was very good between 1950 and 1956
    but was poor outside those limits. Also, the peaks were not only at the
    times of Earth-Mars conjunction but also roughly at the first harmonic
    (very loosely, every 13 months). This raises the question why should UFO's
    only visit Earth when Mars is in conjunction and when it is on the opposite
    side of the sun. Obviously, the conjunction periodicity of Mars is not the
    final answer. As it happens, there is an interesting possibility to
    consider. Suppose Jupiter's conjunctions were used; they are every 13.1
    months. That would satisfy the observed periods nicely, except for every
    even data peak being of different magnitude from every odd data peak.
    Perhaps a combination of Martian, Jovian, and Saturnian (and even other
    planetary) conjunctions will be necessary to match the frequency plot...
    if it can be matched.

    Further data correlation is quite difficult. There are a large number
    of different saucer shapes but this may mean little. For example, look at
    the number of different types of aircraft which are in use in the U.S. Air
    Force alone.

    It is obvious that intensive scientific study is needed in this area;
    no such study has yet been undertaken at the necessary levels of intensity
    and support. One thing that must be guarded against in any such study is
    the trap of implicity assuming that our knowledge of Physics (or any other
    branch of science) is complete. An example of one such trap is selecting
    a group of physical laws which we now accept as valid, and assume that they
    will never be superceded.



    PAGE ELEVEN ________________________________________________________________

    Five such laws might be:

    1) Every action must have an opposite and equal reaction.

    2) Every particle in the univers attracts every other particle with a
    force proportional to the product of the masses and inversely as the
    square of the distance.

    3) Energy, mass and momentum are conserved.

    4) No material body can have a speed as great as c, the speed of light
    in free space.

    5) The maximum energy, E, which can be obtained from a body at rest is
    E=mc2, where m is the rest mass of the body.

    Laws numbered 1 and 3 seem fairly safe, but let us hesitate and take
    another look. Actually, law number 3 is only valid (now) from a relativisti
    c
    viewpoint; and for that matter so are laws 4 and 5. But relativity
    completely revised these physical concepts after 1915, before then Newtonian
    mechanics were supreme. We should also note that general relativity has
    not yet been verified. Thus we have the peculiar situation of five laws
    which appear to deny the possibility of intelligent alien control of UFO's,
    yet three of the laws are recent in concept and may not even be valid.
    Also, law number 2 has not yet been tested under conditions of large relativ
    e
    speeds or accelerations. We should not deny the possibility of alien
    control of UFO's on the basis of preconceived notions not established as
    related or relevant to the UFO's.

    33.6 CONCLUSION

    From available information, the UFO phenomenon appears to have been
    global in nature for almost 50,000 years. The majority of known witnesses
    have been reliable people who have seen easily-explained natural phenomena,
    and there appears to be no overall positive correlation with population
    density. The entire phenomenon could be psychological in nature but that
    is quite doubtful. However, psychological factors probably do enter the
    data picture as "noise." The phenomenon could also be entirely due to
    known and unknown phenomena (with some psychological "noise" added in) but
    that too is questionable in view of some of the available data.

    This leaves us with the unpleasant possibility of alien visitors to
    our planet, or at least of alien controlled UFO's. However, the data are
    not well correlated, and what questionable data there are suggest the
    existence of at least three and maybe four different groups of aliens
    (possibly at different stages of development). This too is difficult to
    accept. It implies the existence of intelligent life on a majority of the
    planets in our solar system, or a surprisingly strong interest in Earth by
    members of other solar systems.

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    PAGE TWELVE ________________________________________________________________

    A solution to the UFO problem may be obtained by the long and diligent
    effort of a large group of well financed and competant scientists,
    unfortunately there is no evidence suggesting that such an effort is going
    to be made. However, even if such an effort were made, there is no
    guarantee of success because of the isolated and sporatic nature of the
    sightings. Also, there may be nothing to find, and that would mean a long
    search with no proff at the end. The best thing to do is to keep an open
    and skeptical mind, and not take an extreme position on any side of the
    question.

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------

    This document is available through the Ufo Info Service.
    For more information write to:

    CUFON C/O UFO INFORMATION SERVICE
    P.O. Box 832
    MERCER ISLAND, WA 98040 - 0219

    OR CALL (206) 721-5035

    This is the original Air Force Document.
    Thank You



    
    Ty Holder
    telnet://ricksbbs.synchro.net:23
    http://ricksbbs.synchro.net:8080
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