The Truth Behind UFO Sightings and the U.S. Air Force

[elpuma]

The Truth Behind UFO Sightings and the U.S. Air Force
'Mirage Men' author Mark Pilkington discusses how the military used UFO stories to keep aircraft projects secret

By Alex Kingsbury

Posted: September 16, 2010

Are UFOs a mirage, conjured up by the Air Force to obscure classified flight projects? In part, argues Mark Pilkington, a British journalist and filmmaker who writes about society's oddities. In Mirage Men: An Adventure into Paranoia, Espionage, Psychological Warfare, and UFOs, he makes a persuasive case that much UFO-logy canon was started or encouraged by the government trying to conceal Cold War military projects. He recently chatted with U.S. News about the origins and effects of UFO mythology around the world. Excerpts:

How has the UFO story been shaped by the government?

These ideas do generate themselves to some extent, but there is evidence that they were specifically shaped in some instances. I don't think this is some long-running grand conspiracy, I just think that the UFO story has been deployed and used at times when it was convenient. Just about everything that is popularly believed about UFOs has been exploited, shaped, and, at times, generated by people working for the U.S. Air Force and the intelligence community. The idea that UFOs crashed on U.S. soil, that the U.S. government was harboring and hiding UFO technology, that it was denying its citizens the right to know that aliens have come here and visited—all these things have been deliberately seeded into the culture.

Why would the government "seed" these ideas?

UFO stories are used as a cover story for the flight-testing of experimental and clandestine aircraft. If you look at the places where UFO sightings are frequent, they are also the places where the military tests its experimental aircraft. For the first few years that UFOs circulated in popular culture after World War II, the public didn't talk about UFOs as being alien. Rather, they were talked about as advanced U.S. or Russian aircraft.

How long has this been going on?

Much of it dates to the first flights of the U2 spy plane back in the 1950s. The CIA's in-house journal had a story about 10 years ago that said that one of the functions of Project Blue Book [the official Air Force investigation into UFOs] was to monitor how visible the U2 was to people on the ground. Someone would see what they thought was a UFO and then the Air Force would send someone around to talk with them. Of course, the Air Force would have a schedule of the U2 flights and be able to tell if what the person saw was indeed a U2. By talking to all these supposed UFO witnesses, the CIA could assess how visible the U2 was.

Were the Soviets a target for this?

There are other, more subtle motivations from the U.S. side. One is the idea of a super weapon. If unfriendly nations believe that you harbor alien technology that you have integrated into your own weapons systems and aircraft, then they have good reason to be afraid.

What happened in 1952 over Washington, D.C.?

The first incident took place early one morning in July. It was reported extensively in the newspapers that a number of unknown objects appeared on radar screens around Washington. Now, it looks very plausible to me that the Washington incident was a demonstration of a technology from the Defense Department, known as Project Palladium, which allowed the operator to project radar blips onto other radar screens. Later on, the technology became very sophisticated to the point where you could change the shape of the blip and its speed and so forth. We go on in the book at length about the evidence that suggests that the Washington radar incident was a planned operation.

Do UFO fanatics know it may be they're duped?

Certainly. I'm not the first person to tell them this. UFO lore has transcended to what has become a religious matter for many of those involved. We talk to a man called Bill Moore, who in the 1980s was one of the most respected people in the UFO community. He was co-opted by Air Force intelligence to act as a mole passing information to the Air Force about what people were researching and to pass disinformation back into the UFO community. When he came clean about all this at a UFO convention in 1989, people ran out crying into the hallways. But what happened to the larger UFO lore? Nothing.

Is this a worldwide phenomenon?

The UFO story is a global one, but I think it has its origins in American culture. Not long ago there was a major UFO wave in Iran. Not surprisingly, all the UFO incidents happened near the country's known nuclear sites. Initially it was odd lights in the sky, then over a few days, the stories started getting more dramatic. They were describing small robots hovering in the skies. I read an interesting article recently that described the impact of the drone use over Pakistan and Afghanistan. The villagers describe the drones as being spiritual beings with a life of their own that live in bedrooms in space and come to feed on women and children. It is fascinating to watch, because I feel like I've seen it all before. It will be different for every nation, as they develop. Perhaps every nation will get the aliens it deserves.

http://politics.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2010/09/16/the-truth-behind-ufo-sightings-and-the-us-air-force.html

Mirage Men Blog: http://miragemen.wordpress.com/

[Jeff]

It's certainly one truth, but calling one aspect of the global phenomena The truth is a highway to certainty hell.

[battleshipkropotkin]

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS166901+15-Sep-2010+PRN20100915

U.S. Nuclear Weapons Have Been Compromised by Unidentified Aerial Objects

PR Newswire

WASHINGTON, Sept. 15

Ex-military men say unknown intruders have monitored and even tampered with American nuclear missiles

Group to call on U.S. Government to reveal the facts

WASHINGTON, Sept. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Witness testimony from more than 120 former or retired military personnel points to an ongoing and alarming intervention by unidentified aerial objects at nuclear weapons sites, as recently as 2003. In some cases, several nuclear missiles simultaneously and inexplicably malfunctioned while a disc-shaped object silently hovered nearby. Six former U.S. Air Force officers and one former enlisted man will break their silence about these events at the National Press Club and urge the government to publicly confirm their reality.

One of them, ICBM launch officer Captain Robert Salas, was on duty during one missile disruption incident at Malmstrom Air Force Base and was ordered to never discuss it. Another participant, retired Col. Charles Halt, observed a disc-shaped object directing beams of light down into the RAF Bentwaters airbase in England and heard on the radio that they landed in the nuclear weapons storage area. Both men will provide stunning details about these events, and reveal how the U.S. military responded.

Captain Salas notes, "The U.S. Air Force is lying about the national security implications of unidentified aerial objects at nuclear bases and we can prove it." Col. Halt adds, "I believe that the security services of both the United States and the United Kingdom have attempted—both then and now—to subvert the significance of what occurred at RAF Bentwaters by the use of well-practiced methods of disinformation."

The group of witnesses and a leading researcher, who has brought them together for the first time, will discuss the national security implications of these and other alarmingly similar incidents and will urge the government to reveal all information about them. This is a public-awareness issue.

Declassified U.S. government documents, to be distributed at the event, now substantiate the reality of UFO activity at nuclear weapons sites extending back to 1948. The press conference will also address present-day concerns about the abuse of government secrecy as well as the ongoing threat of nuclear weapons.

WHO: Dwynne Arneson, USAF Lt. Col. Ret., communications center officer-in-charge

Bruce Fenstermacher, former USAF nuclear missile launch officer

Charles Halt, USAF Col. Ret., former deputy base commander

Robert Hastings, researcher and author

Robert Jamison, former USAF nuclear missile targeting officer

Patrick McDonough, former USAF nuclear missile site geodetic surveyor

Jerome Nelson, former USAF nuclear missile launch officer

Robert Salas, former USAF nuclear missile launch officer

WHAT: Noted researcher Robert Hastings, author of UFOs and Nukes: Extraordinary Encounters at Nuclear Weapons Sites, will moderate a distinguished panel of former U.S. Air Force officers involved in UFO incidents at nuclear missile sites near Malmstrom, F.E. Warren, and Walker AFBs, as well as the nuclear weapons depot at RAF Bentwaters.

WHEN: Monday, September 27, 2010

12:30 p.m.

WHERE: National Press Club

Holeman Lounge

Event open to credentialed media and Congressional staff only

SOURCE Former U.S. Air Force Officer Robert Salas, and Researcher Robert Hastings

[Wombaticus Rex]

What happened in 1952 over Washington, D.C.?

The first incident took place early one morning in July. It was reported extensively in the newspapers that a number of unknown objects appeared on radar screens around Washington. Now, it looks very plausible to me that the Washington incident was a demonstration of a technology from the Defense Department, known as Project Palladium, which allowed the operator to project radar blips onto other radar screens. Later on, the technology became very sophisticated to the point where you could change the shape of the blip and its speed and so forth. We go on in the book at length about the evidence that suggests that the Washington radar incident was a planned operation.

So these are radar projections? Or a separate incident? Or proto-Photoshoppery?

[Cosmic Cowbell]

The pilots in the '52 Washington incident also reported visual confirmation of the objects, gave chase and were left in the dust, only to have the objects return when the chase was broken off. They (at least one) described himself as feeling like the mouse in essence. The testimony was included in the 1956 film Unidentified Flying Objects: The True Story of Flying Saucers, also prominently featuring Capt. Ed Ruppelt and going in depth wrt the 1952 event. This film is very good and captures the last vestige of honest military UFO truth/curiosity prior to the Intelligence based takeover of the governments official position on UFO's.

Also, visual confirmation from radar operator Howard Cocklin.

[barracuda]

So these are radar projections? Or a separate incident? Or proto-Photoshoppery?

That's a very good question. I have seen this for years without ever ascertaining the provenance of this footage, or finding any reference to film of the event at the time.



I have heard that the footage is a CGI reconstruction of the event which was made for a television show, perhaps the history channel, and is based upon a real photograph. And I have also read that the photograph itself was originally a fake.

Your image appears to be a screen capture of the video. I think it's safe to say that the footage is faked, until I see some authentication. Are there any photos? All the pictures I've found look as if they are taken from the video.

[elpuma]

It's certainly one truth, but calling one aspect of the global phenomena The truth is a highway to certainty hell.

I agree Jeff. I wonder how Kingsbury would explain the Stefan Michalak UFO case from Canada 1967:

One of the most intriguing cases of serious injury attributed to a UFO experience is that of Stefan Michalak. He returned home from a prospecting expedition with serious ill effects that he claimed were a result of an extraordinary UFO encounter.

The incident occurred on May 20, 1967, in an area near Falcon Lake, Manitoba, Canada, approximately 75 kilometres north of the American border in the rocky edge of the great Canadian Shield. Falcon Lake is a resort town at the southern boundary of Whiteshell Provincial Park. The park is largely uninhabited wilderness, known for various mineral deposits, and several small mines were established in the surrounding region. Stefan Michalak was an amateur geologist and had worked the area many times. Some prospectors had found several quartz veins nearby that were associated with silver deposits, and Michalak had even staked a few claims himself. On May 19, 1967, he traveled from his home in Winnipeg to Falcon Lake, where he spent the night in a motel on the Trans-Canada Highway.

The Encounter

Stefan Michalak left his motel at 5:30 that morning and headed north into the bush. By 9:00 a.m., traveling under a bright, cloudless sky, he had found a quartz vein near a marshy area, close to a small stream. At 11:00 a.m. he had lunch, then went back to his examination of the quartz formation. At 12:15 p.m., with the sun high and clouds gathering in the west, Michalak was startled by the cackling of some geese, who were obviously disturbed by something. He looked up and was surprised to see two cigar-shaped objects with "bumps" on them, an estimated forty-five degrees in altitude, descending and glowing red. As they approached, they appeared disc-shaped.

The furthest of the pair stopped in mid-flight, and the other drew nearer and landed on a large, flat rock which was later determined to be about 160 feet away. The one in the air hovered for a short while, then later departed, changing from red to orange to grey as it flew into the west, where it disappeared behind the clouds. Focusing his attention to the object on the ground, Michalak saw that it, too, was turning from red to grey, until it finally was the colour of "hot stainless steel," surrounded by a golden-hued glow. As he observed the object, he knelt beside a rock where he had been chipping at the quartz. He had been wearing welding goggles to protect his eyes from flying rock fragments. The goggles proved to be very useful, as brilliant light shone from openings in the object, blinding him and creating red afterimages in his eyes.

For the next half-hour he stayed near the rock, making a sketch of the object and noting various features. The craft was saucer-shaped, about 40 feet in diameter and approximately 10 feet thick. Its upper cupola or dome was an additional three feet high. Michalak became aware of waves of warm air radiating from the craft, accompanied by the "smell of sulphur." He also heard the whirring of what sounded like a fast electric motor, and a hissing, as if air were being taken in or expelled.

A door had opened in the side of the craft, revealing some lights inside. This door was about two by three feet in size. Michalak approached to within 60 feet of the craft, and heard two humanlike voices, one with a higher pitch than the other. He was sure that the craft was an American experimental test vehicle, and walked closer to it, sarcastically asking, "Okay, Yankee boys, having trouble? Come on out and we'll see what we can do about it." Getting no response (the voices had subsided), and becoming flustered, he asked cautiously in Russian, "Do you speak Russian?" There was still no answer, so he gave greetings in German, Italian, French and Ukrainian, then once again in English.

At this point, his curiosity got the best of him, and he walked closer to the craft, ending up directly in front of it. Poking his head into the opening, he saw a maze of lights on what appeared to be a panel, and beams of light in horizontal and diagonal patterns. There was also a cluster of lights flashing in a random sequence "like on a computer."

As Michalak stepped away from the craft, he saw that the wall of the craft was about 18 inches thick. Suddenly, three panels slid over the opening, sealing it "like a camera shutter." He examined the outside of the craft and touched the side of it with his gloved hand. There were no signs of welding or joints; the surface was highly polished, and appeared like colored glass with light reflecting off it, and made "silvery spectra" out of the sunlight. Drawing his glove back, he saw that it had burned and melted when it brushed the side of the object. Unexpectedly, the craft shifted position, and he was facing a grid like exhaust vent which he had seen earlier to his left. This vent was about nine inches high by six inches wide, and contained a uniform pattern of round holes, each about 1/16 inch in diameter. A blast of hot gas shot from these holes onto his chest, setting his shirt and undershirt on fire and causing him severe pain. He tore off his burning garments and threw them to the ground. He looked up in time to see the craft depart like the first, and felt a rush of air as it ascended.

More at:
http://ufo-joe.tripod.com/cases/michalak.html

[jingofever]

Now, it looks very plausible to me that the Washington incident was a demonstration of a technology from the Defense Department, known as Project Palladium, which allowed the operator to project radar blips onto other radar screens. Later on, the technology became very sophisticated to the point where you could change the shape of the blip and its speed and so forth.

According to Gene Poteat, Palladium didn't exist until 1959 at the earliest.

This was the scene at the end of 1959, when I was a new engineer assigned to the CIA's ELINT Staff Office (ESO) in the Office of Scientific Intelligence (OSI)...

...I came up with a scheme to electronically generate and inject carefully calibrated false targets into the Soviet radars, deceiving them into seeing and tracking a ghost aircraft.

Basically, we received the radar's signal and fed it into a variable delay line before transmitting the signal back to the radar. By smoothly varying the length of the delay line, we could simulate the false target's range and speed. Knowing the radar's power and coverage from the PPMS projects, we could now simulate an aircraft of any radar cross section from an invisible stealth airplane to one that made a large blip on Soviet radar screens -- and anything in between, at any speed and altitude, and fly it along any path.

Bud Wheelon, now the CIA'S new Deputy Director for Science and Technology, dubbed our project PALLADIUM.

Of course he could be changing aspects of the story for 'National Security' purposes (you might assume he would need to forward date the invention if it was used to fake the Washington D.C. incident). Or he might have built on preexisting work that could have caused the radar sightings. Does Pilkington give any evidence that Palladium or a similar program was operating in 1952?

Still, this is interesting:

The clearest hint that the Washington sightings were no accident was given to Bluebook’s Edward Ruppelt a few days before events kicked off. Ruppelt wrote that he and a scientist “from an agency I can’t name” had a two-hour discussion about UFOs, at the end of which the scientist made a ‘prediction’: “Within the next few days… they’re going to blow up and you’re going to have the granddaddy of all UFO sightings… in Washington or New York… probably Washington.”

I just don't think it was some guys screwing around with a radar.

[Simulist]

I just don't think it was some guys screwing around with a radar.

I don't either.

Also, any suggestion that "the US Air Force" constitutes "the truth behind UFOs" seems preposterous to me. Some UFOs are explainable by official shenanigans, but by no means all.

[Luther Blissett]

There are many cases that show the Air Force traveling back in time to perform aeronautics experiments and to affect the psyche of the populace of that time, in order to plant the seed for future UFO disinformation campaigns - such as in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia, on July 25, 1868, where a witness, Frederick Birmingham, saw a telepathically communicating "ark" fly over him, land, produce a humanoid figure who then instructed him to board the craft, was shown a math equation onboard, passed out, and awoke the next morning with missing time; or in Siberia in 1865 when a shepherd stumbled upon a sphere-shaped object on stilts surrounded by four humanoids operating on one of his lost cows, which was laying there bloodlessly mutilated. The shepherd was noticed by the humanoids who gestured towards him, and he fled the scene.

I have these and many other stories that clearly illustrate the use of the time-travel by the USAF to instill a disinfo campaign that spans centuries. The Kinsgsbury piece is some fine journalism - he's pretty tapped in.

[mulebone]

I'm reading Pilkington's book & Redfern's book Final Event together.
I've only finished 4 chapters of Mark's book. The book starts with Mark explaining his past fascination with UFOs, but the tone quickly changes to one of disbelief. The book does bring the concept of "Mirage Men" into public view though. Mirage Men are intelligence folk who exploit the religious beliefs of target nations, using those beliefs to sow discord & confusion. One example would be "The Wandering Soul" used by the US Army 6th PSYOP Battalion in Vietnam.

http://www.pcf45.com/sealords/cuadai/wanderingsoul.html

On the other hand, Redfern's book reads like the RI blog, covering many of the same topics, from Crowley/Lam & Parsons/Amalantrah Working opening a doorway, to government packs with the demonic entities.
It also reads like every cliched scenario about government disinformation campaigns that have swirled around UFOlogy forever. Redfern, quite wisely, doesn't endorse any of this as being "THE TRUTH."

Oddly enough, the intelligence insiders that talk to Redfern seem anxious for this information to be made public, but at the same time, they tell Redfern that belief in these "entities/demons" is essential for their materialization in our reality. Which leads me to wonder why they would want the story publicized since, by publishing it, they practically guarantee that more people will believe in them.

Since I'm reading both books simultaneously, it is somewhat hard for me to see the Christian themes promoted by the Collins crew as anything other than manipulation by Mirage Men.

The purpose of this manipulation is quite unknown.

Since the US military has seen themselves as an essential bulwark against inevitable future conflicts between the haves & the have-nots, and since a huge chunk of the American population has found themselves suddenly thrust into the have-not category, maybe they're laying the groundwork for future manipulation of Christan America.
Then again, maybe the little aliens really are Satan's spawn.

Don't know.

If the Collins crew are making it up, Jeff should sue for intellectual property theft since it appears they have cribbed some of his ideas.

[Allegro]

... Does Pilkington give any evidence that Palladium or a similar program was operating in 1952?

Still, this is interesting:

The clearest hint that the Washington sightings were no accident was given to Bluebook’s Edward Ruppelt a few days before events kicked off. Ruppelt wrote that he and a scientist “from an agency I can’t name” had a two-hour discussion about UFOs, at the end of which the scientist made a ‘prediction’: “Within the next few days… they’re going to blow up and you’re going to have the granddaddy of all UFO sightings… in Washington or New York… probably Washington.”

I just don’t think it was some guys screwing around with a radar.

I also don’t think “... it was some guys ...”

Although, I presume “from an agency I can’t name” would refer to the guys in RAND, which was in part assigned to purportedly counter military attacks from the purported primary enemy, Russia, in the 1950’s. References to RAND and Russia are spotted in Adam Curtis’s documentary, The Trap, which I viewed while RI was getting fixed, last week. I use the word purported because, generally, I am no longer sure of much.

All of which to say that UFO stories are not intimated in Curtis’s documentary, yet the conspiratorial like me is always waiting for validated proof that people in RAND knew the UFO circumstances. My only 2 cents.

[Simulist]

There are many cases that show the Air Force traveling back in time to perform aeronautics experiments and to affect the psyche of the populace of that time, in order to plant the seed for future UFO disinformation campaigns - such as in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia, on July 25, 1868, where a witness, Frederick Birmingham, saw a telepathically communicating "ark" fly over him, land, produce a humanoid figure who then instructed him to board the craft, was shown a math equation onboard, passed out, and awoke the next morning with missing time; or in Siberia in 1865 when a shepherd stumbled upon a sphere-shaped object on stilts surrounded by four humanoids operating on one of his lost cows, which was laying there bloodlessly mutilated. The shepherd was noticed by the humanoids who gestured towards him, and he fled the scene.

I have these and many other stories that clearly illustrate the use of the time-travel by the USAF to instill a disinfo campaign that spans centuries. The Kinsgsbury piece is some fine journalism - he's pretty tapped in.

Tongue planted firmly in cheek, right?

[Elvis]

It's certainly one truth, but calling one aspect of the global phenomena The truth is a highway to certainty hell.

Right. I've heard so many otherwise open-minded people being quick to say, "It's pretty clear now that UFO phenomena was cooked up by the Air Force to conceal their own projects."

'Case closed!'

[Luther Blissett]

There are many cases that show the Air Force traveling back in time to perform aeronautics experiments and to affect the psyche of the populace of that time, in order to plant the seed for future UFO disinformation campaigns - such as in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia, on July 25, 1868, where a witness, Frederick Birmingham, saw a telepathically communicating "ark" fly over him, land, produce a humanoid figure who then instructed him to board the craft, was shown a math equation onboard, passed out, and awoke the next morning with missing time; or in Siberia in 1865 when a shepherd stumbled upon a sphere-shaped object on stilts surrounded by four humanoids operating on one of his lost cows, which was laying there bloodlessly mutilated. The shepherd was noticed by the humanoids who gestured towards him, and he fled the scene.

I have these and many other stories that clearly illustrate the use of the time-travel by the USAF to instill a disinfo campaign that spans centuries. The Kinsgsbury piece is some fine journalism - he's pretty tapped in.

Tongue planted firmly in cheek, right?

No way, I heard the Lourdes flap of spring 1858 was a cover for X-37b tests, and that Vimanas in India were really just Chinooks. There are so many examples of this. Hugh will back me up. It all makes sense.