Radar Confirmed UFO over Pinecastle Electronic Warfare Range Tracking Station - May 14th, 1978.

Intriguing radar/visual UFO case taken from Bernard Haisch's website 'UFO Sceptic' where an unidentified flying object was seen by seperately located witnesses and tracked on radar over Pinecastle Electronic Warfare Range Tracking Station on May 14, 1978.

The Navy radar technician who tracked the UFO stated he had "never seen anything like it" and Dr J. Allen Hynek's CUFOS organisation described the incident as a 'case of high merit' - the object's highly unusual flight characteristics are described at the links below and there's also additional testimony from the Watch Tower Guard who states he was ordered never to talk about the incident by his commanding officer.

Ocala Radar-Visual Case

Pinecastle Electronic Warfare Range Tracking Station, a restricted facility operated by the U.S. Navy 32 miles east-southeast of Ocala, Florida (in the north central part of the state) was the site of a puzzling, still-unexplained UFO incident late on the evening of Sunday, May 14, 1978.

The incident began with a phone call from a civilian. At about 10:05 p.m., she called from nearby Silver Glen Springs to ask if the installation was shooting off flares. She had just seen something that looked like a flare. The duty officer, SK-1 Robert Clark, assured her no such operation was going on at that moment. A second call came a few minutes later. A man, later identified as Rocky Morgan, said that he and seven other persons traveling on Highway 19 near Silver Glen Springs had just seen an oblong-shaped flying object, some 50 to 60 feet in diameter and "almost the color of the moon," pass over the top of his car. It had a flashing light which was intensely bright at its center.

Clark checked with the Jacksonville Air Route Traffic Control Center, which told him no aircraft were in the area. He and the base air controller, Gary Collison, climbed up an observation tower next to a van containing the base's radar equipment. Clark contacted external security and directed them to contact TD-2 Timothy Collins, a radar technician. Collins rushed to the tower. The personnel already there were watching a cluster of glowing lights off to the west-northwest. They were at eye-level and seemed to be just above an old Civil Defense tower three miles away. Even though it was a clear, quiet night, the witnesses heard no noise emanating from the lights, which apparently were attached to a single object.

After watching them through binoculars, Collins went down to warm up the track radar, which took five minutes, and the acquisition radar, which took 20 minutes. As he waited, he looked for the object with a periscope on the van and saw it again. At around 11:20 radar locked on to the target. The object was located at 0.2 degrees elevation, or just a hundred or so feet off the ground, at the assumed distance:"treetop level," Collins would say. Its image on radar was "as strong [as] or stronger than" the image of the tower. The object seemed to be the size of a jetliner.

Ten to 15 minutes later it abruptly vanished from both sight and radar. But at around 11:40 the same or a similar object appeared 15 degrees to the north. Collins located it visually, but the second, computer-assisted radar did not track it for some reason. He also saw it through the periscope. A few minutes later it disappeared suddenly from both instrumented and visual observation.

Around midnight it or another object was seen three miles to the northwest. For five seconds it moved at more than 500 knots on a course, then accelerated for two seconds, and executed a hairpin turn in one second. When it made that turn, it was 15 miles south of the base, which meant it had covered 15 miles in seven seconds; most of that distance was covered in the last two seconds (a speed of 7700 mph is required to cover this distance in that time). The turn was a radical reversal of direction; now the UFO was shooting northward and toward the observers at the base. Its speed had slowed almost instantaneously to a mere two knots. It was at this point that Collins's radar locked on to it. After a little more than a minute, the object vanished. The sighting was over.

A dozen or so personnel had seen the object or objects. One of them, TD-AA Carol Snyder, told a newspaper reporter, "We saw three very blurry lights: red, white, and green. We watched them for about 30 minutes. We couldn't see how fast they were traveling. We were holding the binoculars, and the lights appeared to be bouncing,"

The Navy conducted an investigation out of the Jacksonville center but came to no conclusions. Allan Hendry of the Center for UFO Studies interviewed several of the witnesses and gathered radar, meteorological, and astronomical data. He considered, then rejected, various prosaic alternatives before declaring this a CUFOS case of "high merit."

Radar Operators:

UFO tracked by Navy men at electronic range in Fla.

OCALA, Fla. (AP) — "I've never seen anything like it," says Timothy Collins, a Navy radar technician who tracked an unidentified object over the Florida sky. "And I don't want to see anything like it again."

Collins was among at least a dozen workers at the Navy's Pinecastle Electronic Warfare Range who said they spotted brightly lit objects.

"The computer wouldn't handle it," said Lt. Cmdr. John Sullivan, commander of the range, used by the Navy to train its combat pilots in tactics for avoiding enemy weapons..

Pacific Stars And Stripes (pdf file)

Tower Guard testimony:

I was the watch tower guard that night, and there are some facts that were not mentioned. Such as that Jacksonville NAS launched 2 aircraft to intercept. Once they were on our radar, the UFO vanished.

They had it locked into their radar as well. Our radar locked onto one of the UFOs. I have never seen a radar act so crazy. Spinning around and around, up and down.

I just wanted to add my 2 cents worth due to the fact that I saw the UFO first from the tower. I and airman K.C. woke the Petty Officer of the day, and drug him up the tower to see what we saw. (before any calls were received).

That night we were told not to talk to anyone about this by the commanding officer. I have told this story to many of my friends and they all thought I was crazy! I am sure you can check Navy records to confirm I truly was there

link

..

NICAP Case Directory:

May 14, 1978; Pinecastle Electronic Warfare Range, Florida

The target was observed for approximately one hour when it began to move at about 400-500 knots.
The radar operator said he tried to "train" the radar on the object but it accelerated rapidly, evading his efforts to lock and track it on the computer. When he caught up with the object, it reversed direction and started back toward Pinecastle. The radar operator finally locked on the object after it had practically stopped moving. Shortly after the target broke radar lock. Collins, the radar operator had been operating radar for most of his eight years of service. A total of eight Naval personnel visually observed red, green and white lights of the object from the control tower for over an hour.

link

Newspaper Articles:

Radar tracks UFO over Forest

Lights Baffle Witnesses / Part 2

Radarman, 12 others spot UFO

Even if you confirm an unidentified radar blimp you still don't answer to important questions.

What is the flying object?
Who is flying it.

could it be the chinese tampering with the radar to mess with the US? Theyre in all your systems and have been for years (since at least 2004 for the drone command centre)

reply to post by Maponos

But this occurred in May, 1978.

Originally posted by BIGPoJo
Even if you confirm an unidentified radar blimp you still don't answer to important questions.

What is the flying object?
Who is flying it.

Indeed, but we all know these are question that we can almost never answer when it comes to UFO's.
What can maybe help is to try to search for any meaningful events that happened prior or after the sightings.

But a meaningful event is still a broad term... and it can be classified as well.

Great thread S+F

For five seconds it moved at more than 500 knots on a course, then accelerated for two seconds, and executed a hairpin turn in one second. When it made that turn, it was 15 miles south of the base, which meant it had covered 15 miles in seven seconds; most of that distance was covered in the last two seconds (a speed of 7700 mph is required to cover this distance in that time). The turn was a radical reversal of direction

The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird holds the official Air Speed Record for a manned airbreathing jet aircraft with a speed of 3,530 km/h (2,193 mph). It was capable of taking off and landing unassisted on conventional runways. The record was set on 28 July 1976 by Eldon W. Joersz and George T. Morgan Jr. near Beale Air Force Base, California, USA.[42]

en.wikipedia.org...-41

Thing is, today our fastest jet is the blackbird which can travel 2,193 miles per hour. If back in 1978 there were things doing three times this speed and then completely reversing direction immediately.... Hmm.

Karl 12 ---- That is a very intriguing radar/visual indeed. The 70's was a very good decade for UFO sighting's. Those kind of research test center's, seem to be UFO magnets.When I showed my perported alien picture too the museum director of Calvert Marine Museum at Solomons Island Maryland, USA, he mentioned a UFO sighting over Pawtuxent Naval Research Test Center which is about a mile south of Solomons Island. I did not ask him what year it happened. Have you ever heard or read any information about any UFO sighting's over Pawtuxent Naval Research Test Center.


Thanks,

Erno86

Thanks for the replies, I have to agree with Erno86 about this being a very intriguing radar/visual case and it states in the paragraph below that the Captain of a boat on the Apalachicola River also witnessed the object shortly after the Naval personnel at the radar tracking station saw it.

10:20 PM. 12 men witnessed a UFO with multicolored lights at the Pinecastle Tracking Station, near Ocala Forest, Florida. It hovered over trees and an old Civil Defense tower, then made a hairpin turn. It flew at only 50 to 100 feet altitude as confirmed by radar, and had red, green and white lights flashing in sequence.
The Captain of the "Lisa C" on the Apalachicola River also witnessed it at 10:30 p.m.

(Sources: Allan Hendry, International UFO Reporter, June 1978, p. 4; Richard H. Hall, The UFO Evidence, Volume II: A Thirty-Year Report, pp. 22, 244; Xenolog, June 1978, p. 9; NICAP UFO Investigator, September 1978, p. 1).

link

This free E-book also mentions the case and states that UFOs were also reported by town residents in the days following the incident -it also has a nice chapter on other historical UFO sightings in Florida including more from the Ocala National Forest region - see page 16:

Chronicles of the Strange and Uncanny in Florida

link

Originally posted by BIGPoJo

Even if you confirm an unidentified radar blimp you still don't answer to important questions.

BIGPoJo, very perceptive - I have absolutely no idea what the object was.

There are some statements about radar confirmed UFOs here but I think this one from the head of Project Bluebook just about sums things up:

"Of these UFO reports,the radar/visual reports are the most convincing. When a ground radar picks up a UFO target and a ground observer sees a light where the radar target is located,then a jet interceptor is scrambled to intercept the UFO and the pilot also sees the lights and gets a radar lock only to have the UFO almost impudently outdistance him,there is no simple answer."

Edward J Ruppelt USAF Capt 1956

Cheers.

reply to post by karl 12


Sorry if this makes people mad...
But this is true..
You say UFO..
People auto think, ALIENS!!!!

A UFO isn't exactly alien aircraft... IT's just un-identified air vehicle... It could be a jet, tests for planes, ect...

But this is true... my uncle buck was near there working.

reply to post by matty1053


Hi Matty, here's the best definition I've come across taken from probably one of the most famous scientsts to have studied the phenomenon:

UFO

"the reported perception of an object or light seen in the sky or upon the land the appearance, trajectory, and general dynamic and luminescent behavior of which do not suggest a logical, conventional explanation and which is not only mystifying to the original percipients but remains unidentified after close scrutiny of all available evidence by persons who are technically capable of making a common sense identification, if one is possible."

The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry by J. Allen Hynek, Henry Regnery, Chicago, 1972, p. 10.

Of course when you look at some of the close range sighting descriptions and reported flight characteristics, then perhaps some of the objects involved in certain cases realy are 'not us'.

link

Cheers.

Originally posted by Erno86
Have you ever heard or read any information about any UFO sighting's over Pawtuxent Naval Research Test Center.

Hey Erno, I've not heard of any UFO sightings there but Timothy Good speculates below that the U.S. Naval Air Station at the Pawtuxent river may be home to Amerca's secret UFO programme - see pages 339 and 34

E-book


This report involving a 'small, neon green, egg-shaped object' was sourced by Kenny Young and also mentions a multiple sighting of a blue UFO on Highway 235 but the details are admittedly vague.

UFO incident near the Patuxent Naval Air Test Center in Lexington Park, Maryland (population 9,743). "Witnesses saw a blue UFO that same evening" near the center on Highway 235, and "It hovered for a few minutes, then sped away." (See the Fredericksburg Free-Lance Star for April 7, 1998)

link

Cheers.

reply to post by karl 12


karl 12,

Thanks.... for your outstanding work, and investigation prowess on the subject of aliens and UFO's. I did read Timothy's Good's page 339 & 340, but I think that page 34 is missing. I found it very intriguing, that Patuxent Naval Air Research Test Center, could be "the headquarter's for it all," in relation to the UFO enigma.

I wonder if the UFO program is still underway at the Navy test center? The test center, is approx. 5 miles south of my space alien contact attempt's at Calvert Cliffs, Maryland. Whats your opinion on --- space alien hiding behind fossil rock --- picture, that I took, back in the summer of 1972 at Calvert Cliffs?

Thanks,

Erno86

reply to post by Erno86


Erno, here we go mate -Easynow's made a great post below about a UFO incident at Patuxent River Naval Air Station in 1964, the NICAP links don't work anymore but there's some very interesting posted info including a CIA document about the case.

Post

Cheers.

reply to post by karl 12


I spoke to Mr. Collins about this many moons ago. Our brief conversation didn't clue me into anything Karl hasn't already pointed out though.

A diamond in the rough case here, unfortunately there is nothing that can really be done with it now.

Close range sighting report from the Ocala National Forest which corresponds with the Pinecastle sightings:

"..IT HAD ROUND POD LIKE COMPARTMENTS CONNECTED WITH LARGE CYLINDERS. IT HAD GREEN, WHITE AND I THINK RED LIGHTS (LOOKED PINKISH) ANYWAY THE COLORS SEEMED TO LOOK LIKE MUTED AND BLURRED NEON LIGHTS. I THINK THAT IT WAS NO MORE THAN 20 - 30 FEET AWAY FROM US. I DO NOT REMEMBER GETTING OUT OF MY CAR OR GETTING BACK INTO MY CAR AND GOING HOME. THE NEXT MORNING I SAID TO MY FRIEND, OFF-HANDEDLY "DO YOU REMEMBER SEENNG THAT LAST NIGHT"? HER REPLY WAS YES. AND THAT WAS THE END OF THE DISCUSSION. THE EVENT SEEMED DREAM LIKE AND I HAD NO IMPULSE TO TALK ABOUT IT FURTHER WITH HER, NOR DID SHE WITH ME.

I VAGUELY REMEMBER SOMETHING ABOUT MY FRIEND'S FACE LOOKING LIKE IT WAS SUN BURNT, BUT DON'T RECALL IF MY FACE WAS BURNT. I REMEMBER SEEING THIS OBJECT HOVERING SILENT AND STILL ABOVE US AND I REMEMBER BEING OUTSIDE MY CAR AND EVERYTHING ELSE IS A BLANK. MY RESEARCH OF THIS EVENT CORRESPONDS WITH THE SIGHTINGS AT THE PINE CASTLE ELECTRONIC CENTER. SO FOR ANY OTHER REPORTS OF THIS SIGHTING, I WILL ATTEST 100 PERCENT THAT THIS CRAFT WAS THERE.

link

Perhaps not "Aliens".....Perhaps Earth Cousins?

This is what Lacerta says...

"Question: I’ve read your full statement (which you have given to E.F.) about this, but can you give me now just a short answer: are UFOs real flying objects piloted by extraterrestrials or do they belong to your species?

Answer: Some observed UFOs - as you call them - belong to us, but most not. Most of the "mysterious" flying objects in the sky are not technological devices but mainly misinterpretations of natural phenomena your scientists have not understood (like spontaneous plasma flares in the high atmosphere.) Nevertheless, some UFOs are real craft belonging either to your own species (especially to your military) or to other alien species or at last to us (but a minority of sighted craft belongs really to us, because we are generally very careful with our movements in the atmosphere and we have special ways to hide our ships.) If you read a report about a sighting of a metallic bright-gray cigar-shaped cylindrical object with a length of —there are different types— let me say between 20 and 260 of your meters and if this object had made a very deep humming sound and if there were 5 bright red lights on the metallic surface of the cigar (one at the top, one in the middle, two at the end) then it’s likely that someone of you have seen one of our ships and this means that it was either partly defect or that someone of us was not careful enough. We have also a very small fleet of disc-shaped craft, but such UFOs belong usually to an alien species. Triangular UFOs belong generally to your own military but they use foreign technology to build them. If you really want to try to see one of our craft, you should have a look at the skies over the Arctic, the Antarctic and over Inner Asia (especially over the mountains there.)"

Quote from "The Lacerta Files"

I dont know if "The Lacerta Files" is real or not. BUT....

For All those people you laugh at the possibility of "Evolved Dinosaurs", please consider the questions...

How the Hell did Frogs evolve? (Metomorphosis from a "Sperm" Tadpole into a totally different "adult Frog", that Lays eggs and often contains venom...just like a reptile.)

Why are there Mammals (like us) on planet Earth, Right Now!!, that Lay eggs to bare their young AND produces Venom from a retractable claw?...Just like a Reptile!!!

If you can answer those questions, then explain why Sauroids Cannot exist!!

reply to post by gort51


Gort, I thought you'd posted in the wrong thread then.. but then I saw you were replying to Matty1053 - I don't know if you've seen the article posted by Gazrok here but I think it makes some fair points about logical and scientific mistakes in the texts and the general consensus of the thread seems to be that the files are a hoax (not definitive though).
Cheers.

MUFON International Director John F. Schuessler brings up the case in his 1994 article about missing UFO information.

Unidentified Flying Objects: The Missing Information

A significant number of UFO reports and rumors of UFO reports since WW-II have involved various government individuals or organizations. UFO investigators have been endeavoring to get answers to these cases, but the results I have seen have been less than satisfying. Often inquiries are met with total denial. When replies were given, they usually contained blank or censored segments, even when requested through official FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) channels. This has resulted in the feelings of distrust between citizen and government and the continual cry of ‘cover-up.’

There is little doubt that government officials could put an end to this mystery if they were motivated to do so. Files could be opened. Satellite data could be released. Films could be released. Military and other government officials could be relieved of security oaths were UFO reports are concerned. NORAD, Dew Line and other tracking systems data sets could be released. NASA files could be released and crewmembers given permission to speak freely. This all should all be done while the principle players are still alive.

In the case of the older reports in government files, none of this would hurt national security because none of the older technology is still in use today. For newer cases the UFO information could be separated from sensitive material and fully released. Either way, it is time for some forthright help from government officials. The mass of information awaiting release is phenomenal...

The investigative report of the May 14, 1978 sightings at Pinecastle Electronic Warfare Range, Ocala, Florida, and witnessed by the base air controller and other personnel should be released.

Full List

it seems lots of people think UFO has got something to do with aliens..

it could just be someones flying object..

nice find