reply to post by skepticsnake (the OP)
Here's your "proof" ...
During the 1942 Battle of Los Angeles the military instituted a mandatory black out of the entire city of LA & fired 1400+ Anti-Aircraft rounds at a
single, quoting the military, "unidentified aircraft." This lasted for more than an hour. Despite numerous confirmed hits the craft remained
airborne and eventually flew off without ever being identified. (Read the
1942 LA times
article).
In 1948 green fireballs were seen over the south-western skies of the US near nuclear weapons research sites. Famous meteoriticist Dr. Lincoln La Paz
declared they weren't normal meteors. In 1949 the USAF started
Project
Twinkle under the direction of Dr. Anythony Mirachi.
The study concluded in a now declassified report that cinetheodolites had tracked 4 objects traveling at an "altitude of ~150K ft" (~28.5 miles!),
were "30 ft. in diameter", & traveling at an "undeterminable, yet high speed." Mirachi went on to later criticize a Time magazine article that
claimed there was no proof to support the existence of UFOs.
Mirachi wrote, "There was too much evidence in favor of saucers to say they could have all been balloons. 'I was conducting the main investigation.
The government had to depend on me or my branch for information.' He said he didn't see how the Navy could say there had been no concrete evidence
of the phenomena." (
see here for more details)
Also in 1948 Dr. J. Allen Hynek, a self-proclaimed skeptic, joined Project Blue Book as a scientific adviser. By 1969 when Blue Book was shutdown
Hynek did an about face. He wrote several books, particularly, "The Hynek UFO Report" which repeatedly stated that the attitude of Blue Book was,
"it can't be therefore it isn't."
He also gave an interview,
available on YouTube, where he said, "I was there at Blue Book and I
know the job they had. They were told not to excite the public, don't rock the boat, & I saw it [with] my own eyes. ... The cases that were very
difficult to explain they would jump handsprings to keep the media away from that." He later went on to found the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS).
July 13 - 29th of 1952, over the skies of Washington DC, numerous UFOs were seen by observers on the ground, in the air, & tracked on radar. The
situation escalated & General Samford, the Director of Intelligence of the USAF, held an emergency press conference. When asked by a reporters what
people were seeing he suggested the lights on the ground may have looked like they were in the air because inversions act like an "air lens" & bend
light rays. He added that something similar could have "tricked" radar in to thinking it was tracking aerial targets.
(
ufologie.net...)
In 1969 an Air Force scientific report titled "
Quantitative Aspects of Mirages" (Menkello, F.G.
Report No. 6112, USAF, Environmental Technical Applications Center) made it clear inversion strong enough to create the visual effect described during
the 1952 press-conference could not exist in earth's atmosphere.
1956 at Bentwater/Lakenheath an object was sighted by several military officers on the ground while simultaneously tracked on radar at 2 different
stations. The object moved at ~4000 mph and was monitored for several hours during which two planes were scrambled.
When the 1st DeHavilland Venom locked on to the object the UFO shot to the rear of the plane. The pilot tried evasive maneuvers, couldn't break free
& eventually had to return to base to refuel.
[edit on 25-7-2008 by Xtraeme]
