1967-2017 = Fiftieth Anniversary of Greatest Russian UFO Flap EVER

This year is the fiftieth Anniversary of the greatest Russian UFO flap EVER, the repeated flyovers by giant crescent-shaped spaceships that sparked mass public fascination and a rapid government squelch, that still echoes in world UFO lore. In hindsight the top cases were actually misperceived sightings of Soviet top secret space-to-ground weapons, but that didn't stop them from becoming enshrined in Western Ufology as canonized miracles.

Here's my new report of that series of events and the ripples down the decades that it caused.

It's a draft, so suggestions over content, exposition, or presentation are requested.


Direct link to PDF (7.7mb)

a reply to: JimOberg

So far I've read about a fourth of your work, very enjoyable and insightful, thank you.

I tend to read a lot in the shower and will finish the rest later on the train.

Just bookmarking

a reply to: JimOberg

All human technology eh Jimbo?

I dont believe you.

Which sightings in history do you believe are of extraterrestrial origin?

a reply to: JimOberg

...the greatest Russian UFO flap EVER, the repeated flyovers by giant crescent-shaped spaceships that sparked mass public fascination and a rapid government squelch, that still echoes in world UFO lore.

Ermm... do we have video by chance of any of those giant crescents?

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: JimOberg

...the greatest Russian UFO flap EVER, the repeated flyovers by giant crescent-shaped spaceships that sparked mass public fascination and a rapid government squelch, that still echoes in world UFO lore.

Ermm... do we have video by chance of any of those giant crescents?

And shouldnt there be a photo of this mid 60s Russian tech by now? It has been 50 years.

200+ witnesses ... and not ONE picture was taken
bah..

originally posted by: Urantia1111

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: JimOberg

...the greatest Russian UFO flap EVER, the repeated flyovers by giant crescent-shaped spaceships that sparked mass public fascination and a rapid government squelch, that still echoes in world UFO lore.

Ermm... do we have video by chance of any of those giant crescents?

And shouldnt there be a photo of this mid 60s Russian tech by now? It has been 50 years.

There are multitudes of YouTubes and sites, same with China, India, etc. Thing is the shapes and reports tend to differ according to culture and demographic.

a reply to: JimOberg

Were are you going with this Jim? I respect your input, but even you know the pics at the top of your PDF are of an upper stage rocket ascending to orbit? Is that what you conclude they saw? Could be...

or a crescent cloud formation...?

hmmm.

Did you compare it to the Arizona sighting of a gigantic crescent? Not the later video of parachute flares, not the stupid press conference the governor had with an alien costume on stage.

Remember he is the one that first put on that phony press conference, then recanted and told what he really saw.

From I know what I saw...

awesome thread s+f
however i must alert you that the 1967 ufo wave wanst the biggest russian one the real biggest was the 1989-1990 humanoid wave

Soviet Union/Russia had some unique sightings.

I have quite a lot of friends who are Russians (I grew up close to the Polish-Russian border) and I also met some Russian naval officers when I was studying @ the Naval Academy in Gdynia.

All I could say is that they told lots of pretty weird stories about what objects were sighted by boomer crews or fast attack sub crews, as well as surface ships. I had 2 acquitances who were flying the Tu-95 long range patrols with nukes onboard in prep for doomsday. What they saw while flying over polar regions of Russia was also interesting.

Long story short, this is a huge country that had lots of UFO flaps happen. Bear in mind that quite a lot of people in Russia, especially the northeast part of the country, had no means of photographing the sightings or even telling them to the media back when the USSR was alive and well. Both because many of themw ere too poor to afford a camera and because of an oppressive secrecy that Soviets had a total fixation on. Many people thought UFOs and suspicious activity (like strange lights or silhouettes in forests) to be secret military work and Russians tended not to ask too much questions about that in simple fear of being pushed into the unwelcome spotlight of scrutiny by KGB/GRU. As mother of my friend said: " I never paid too mucha ttention to these lights, we all thought it was probably military, and I feared to tell it to anyone because what if I stumbled upon some secret that needed to be kept? They would label me as a spy!"

UFOs and Soviet Union = very curious stories, very interesting sightings and lots of tales. I have no contact with my Russian pals now, most of them moved on with their lives, some died of age or in unfortunate accidents. One Russian naval officer once told me when we were having a nice drink that he remembered several stories passed on between his peers in the Navy.

He spilled the beans when I told him that one of my hobbies is UFO research and he basically admitted that several boomer (that's SLBM carrier subs) crews had witnessed various objects going into water, out of water, hovering over water and even hovering above the sub. The boomers in question were both Typhoons, Deltas and Yankees on med and long range patrols on the Pacific and traversing thru Kara/Barents sea. I dont remember more details, so it's more of anecdotal evidence than anything else. I also vividly remember him mentioning one situation when there were "violators" spotted near the fence of one of the sub bases in arctic region of Russia. It caused quite an uproar and there was talk that they might've been probably U.S. SF...a pretty story to boost paranoia, but I personally doubt it was an SF or SEAL detachment especially since the base security apparently failed to intercept and apprehend these "guests". Was it all true or was it just a fancy story? I don't know so I pass it only as an anecdote heard over shots of fine, cold vodka.

He also emphasized he was certain that the Soviet Navy was onto the phenomenon, along with infamous "quacker sounds". But he also stated that he didn't know what the higher-ups did with that info. He didn't mention sailors photographing the UFOs though he didn't explicitly state that photographing didn't take place either, so that's that. Remember that in any military, not only Soviet Russia, taking pictures is strictly forbidden sans designated persons with designated, carefully controlled photographic equipment. Whoever made pictures of military sightings then probably filed them under appropiate label and passed them to intelligence services.

One Polish officer I knew was in 32 BROT (Brygada Rakiet Operacyjno-Taktycznych - Tactical Missile Brigade) and he was participating in test shootings of SCUDs in Kapustin Yar in '62, thenr eturned to KY several times at various stages of his career. He also remembered some stories passed along with vodka on long nights after training was completed, but he mentioned it only briefly that there were sightings of various "aeroforms" mentioned by his Russian counterparts.

There's a high probablility that KGB/GRU and now FSB/GRU might have lots of interesting material on the entire topic of the UFOs, as many people I talked to mentioned that the intelligence services probably kept a close tab on this affair both then and now. However, given their extremely tight-lipped and secretive nature of these agencies I fear we might never read or hear much about some sightings/contacts sans occasional slip here and there.

Well if Jim is on the case I guess it means... well you know, disinfo expert and all that...

a reply to: skyblueworld

Shorter version just published in 'Air & Space' magazine.
www.airspacemag.com...