Flying saucer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Flying saucer (disambiguation).
While disc-shaped flying objects have been interpreted as being sporadically recorded since the Middle Ages, the first highly publicized sighting by Kenneth Arnold on June 24, 1947, resulted in the creation of the exact term by U.S. newspapers. Although Arnold never specifically used the term "flying saucer", he was quoted at the time saying the shape of the objects he saw was like a "saucer", "disc", or "pie-plate", and several years later added he had also said "the objects moved like saucers skipping across the water." Both the terms flying saucer and flying disc were used commonly and interchangeably in the media until the early 1950s.
Arnold's sighting was followed by thousands of similar sightings across the world. Such sightings were once very common, to such an extent that "flying saucer" was a synonym for UFO through the 1960s before it began to fall out of favor. More recently, the flying saucer has been largely supplanted by other alleged UFO-related vehicles, such as the black triangle.[citation needed] The term UFO was, in fact, invented in 1952, to try to reflect the wider diversity of shapes being seen. However, unknown saucer-like objects are still reported, such as in the widely publicized 2006 sighting over Chicago-O'Hare airport.
Many of the alleged flying saucer photographs of the era are now believed to be hoaxes. The flying saucer is now considered largely an icon of the 1950s and of B-movies in particular, and is a popular subject in comic science fiction.[1]
Beyond the common usage of the phrase, there have also been man-made saucer-like craft. The first flying disc craft was called the Discopter and was patented by Alexander Weygers in 1944. Other designs have followed, such as the American Vought V-173 / XF5U "Flying Flapjack", the British GFS Projects flying saucer, or the British "S.A.U.C.E.R." ("Saucer Aircraft Utilising Coanda Effect Reactions") flying saucer, by inventor Alf Beharie.
Contents
Sightings
A record of a saucer-shaped object is from 1290 of a silver disc flying over a village in Yorkshire.[4] Disc-like flying objects were occasionally reported throughout the millennium. For example, in a mass sighting over Nuremberg in 1561, discs and spheres were reported emerging from large cylinders. (woodcut at left) They are also claimed by ufologists to frequently show up in religious artwork.[5][6]
Possibly the first well-documented instance to specifically compare the objects to saucers, and the first to be widely reported, was the Kenneth Arnold sighting on June 24, 1947, while Arnold was flying near Mount Rainier.[4] He reported seeing 9 brightly reflecting vehicles, one shaped like a crescent but the others more disc- or saucer-shaped, flying in an echelon formation, weaving like the tail of a kite, flipping and flashing in the sun, and traveling with a speed of at least 1,200 miles per hour (1,900 km/h).[7] In addition to the saucer or disc shape (Arnold also used the terms "pie plate" and half-moon shaped), he also later said he described the motion of the craft as "like a saucer if you skip it across water", leading to the term "flying saucer" and also "flying disc" (which were synonymous for a number of years).
Immediately following the report of, hundreds of sightings of usually saucer-like objects were reported across the United States and also in some other countries. The most widely publicized of these was the sighting by a United Airlines crew on July 4 of nine more disc-like objects pacing their plane over Idaho, not far from Arnold's initial sighting. On July 8, the Army Air Force base at Roswell, New Mexico issued a press release saying that they had recovered a "flying disc" from a nearby ranch, the so-called Roswell UFO incident, which was front-page news until the military issued a retraction saying that it was a weather balloon.
On July 9, the Army Air Force Directorate of Intelligence, assisted by the FBI, began a secret study of the best of the flying saucer reports, including Arnold's and the United Airlines' crew. Three weeks later they issued an intelligence estimate describing the typical characteristics reported (including that they were often reported as disc-like and metallic) and concluded that something was really flying around. A follow-up investigation by the Air Materiel Command at Wright Field, Ohio arrived at the same conclusion. A widespread official government study of the saucers was urged by General Nathan Twining. This led to the formation of Project Sign (also known as Project Saucer) at the end of 1947, the first public Air Force UFO study. This evolved into Project Grudge (1949–1951) and then Project Blue Book (1952–1970).
The term "flying saucer" quickly became deeply ingrained in the English vernacular. A Gallup poll from August 1947 found that 90% had heard about the mysterious flying saucers or flying discs, and a 1950 Gallup poll found that 94% of those polled had heard the term, easily beating out all other mentioned commonly used terms in the news such as "Cold War", "universal military training", and "bookie."
Air Force statistics indicated that the basic saucer-shape continued to be the most commonly reported one through the 1950s and 1960s until Project Blue Book ended in 1970. There have been some claims, still undocumented by scientific study, that reports of saucers began to decline in the 1970s, being supplanted by other craft such as black triangles, cylinders, and amorphous shapes. It has also been asserted that despite the increase in portable cameras, photographs dwindled as Cold War and Space Race interest decreased and a number of notable images were exposed as fakes.[citation needed]
Explanations
Another theory states that most are natural phenomena such as lenticular clouds and balloons, which appear disc-like in some lighting conditions.[9]
A third theory puts all saucer sightings down to a form of mass hysteria. Arnold described the craft he saw as saucer-like but not perfectly round (he described them as thin, flat, rounded in front but chopped in back and coming to a point), but the image of the circular saucer was fixed in the public consciousness. The theory posits that as the use of the term flying saucer in popular culture decreased, so too did sightings.[10]
However, one Air Force commissioned study contradicted some of these contentions. A scientific and statistical analysis of 3200 Air Force cases by the Battelle Memorial Institute from 1952 to 1954 found that most were indeed due to natural phenomena, about 2% were due to hoaxes or psychological effects and only 0.4% were thought due to clouds. Other very minor contributors were birds, light phenomena such as mirages or searchlights, and various miscellany such as flares or kites. The vast majority of identified objects (about 84%) were explained as balloons, aircraft, or astronomical objects. However, about 22% of all sightings still defied any plausible explanation by the team of scientists, and percentage of unidentifieds rose to 33% for the best witnesses and cases. Thus when carefully studied, a substantial fraction of reports (given the available data) is currently not understood.
Fata Morgana (mirages) and flying saucers
Main article: Fata Morgana (mirage)
Similarly some unidentifieds seen on radar might also be due to Fata Morgana-type atmospheric phenomena, though more technically known as "anomalous propagation" and more commonly as "radar ghosts". Official UFO investigations in France suggest:
As is well known, atmospheric ducting is the explanation for certain optical mirages, and in particular the arctic illusion called "fata morgana" where distant ocean or surface ice, which is essentially flat, appears to the viewer in the form of vertical columns and spires, or "castles in the air."Fata Morgana was named as a hypothesis for the mysterious Australian phenomenon Min Min light[11]
People often assume that mirages occur only rarely. This may be true of optical mirages, but conditions for radar mirages are more common, due to the role played by water vapor which strongly affects the atmospheric refractivity in relation to radio waves. Since clouds are closely associated with high levels of water vapor, optical mirages due to water vapor are often rendered undetectable by the accompanying opaque cloud. On the other hand, radar propagation is essentially unaffected by the water droplets of the cloud so that changes in water vapor content with altitude are very effective in producing atmospheric ducting and radar mirages.
Earth-based examples
See also: Military flying saucers
"These airplanes we have today are no more than a perfection of a toy made of paper children use to play with. My opinion is we should search for a completely different flying machine, based on other flying principles. I consider the aircraft of the future, that which will take off vertically, fly as usual and land vertically. This flying machine should have no parts in movement. The idea came from the huge power of the cyclons" [13]Other attempts have been made, with limited success, to produce manned vehicles based on the flying saucer design. While some, such as the Avrocar and M200G Volantor have been produced in limited numbers, most fail to leave the drawing board. The Avrocar, with vertical takeoff and landing, was originally intended to replace both the Jeep and the helicopter in combat situations, but proved to be inadequate for both. In spite of a powerful turbojet, it could not rise more than four or five feet off the ground, i.e., out of ground effect.[14] Thus, the Avrocar could be seen as a prototype for the early generations of hovercraft, lacking only a 'skirt' to make it a truly effective example of the type. Unmanned saucers have had more success; the Sikorsky Cypher is a saucer-like UAV which uses the disc-shaped shroud to protect rotor blades.
Some more advanced flying saucers capable of spaceflight have been proposed, often as black projects by aeronautics companies. The Lenticular Reentry Vehicle was a secret project run by Convair for a saucer device which could carry both astronauts and nuclear weapons into orbit; the nuclear-powered system was planned in depth, but is not believed to have ever flown. More exotically, British Rail worked on plans for the British Rail "Space Vehicle" a proposed, saucer-shaped craft based on so far undiscovered technologies such as nuclear fusion and superconductivity, which was supposed to have been able to transport multiple passenger between planets, but never went beyond the patent stage.[1]
There is at least one design that received a US patent in 2005: U.S. Patent 6,960,975 It claims to be "propelled by the pressure of inflationary vacuum state".
Additionally, a professor at the University of Florida has begun work on a Wingless Electromagnetic Air Vehicle (WEAV) for NASA which has received public interest because of its coincidental resemblance to a flying saucer.[15][16][17]
In popular culture
After 1947, the flying saucer quickly became a stereotypical symbol of both extraterrestrials and science fiction, and features in many films of mid-20th century science fiction, including The Atomic Submarine, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Plan 9 from Outer Space, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, as well as the television series The Invaders. As the flying saucer was surpassed by other designs and concepts, it fell out of favor with straight science-fiction movie makers, but continued to be used ironically in comedy movies, especially in reference to the low-budget B movies which often featured saucer-shaped alien craft.
MGM, however, gave its high production value 1956 film Forbidden Planet a flying saucer called the United Planets Cruiser C-57D, presenting a plausible human exploration, faster-than-light starship of the 23rd century.
In the TV show Lost in Space, the Robinson family had a disc-shaped space ship.
The saucer design did, however, make a temporary comeback on the television series Babylon 5 as the standard ship design used by a race called the Vree, described in the series as one of Earth's long-standing allies who had visited Earth in the distant past, and who bore a strong resemblance to the "Greys".
Aliens in the film Independence Day attacked humanity in giant city-sized saucer-shaped space ships.
The sleek, silver flying saucer in particular is seen as a symbol of 1950s culture; the motif is common in Googie architecture and in Atomic Age décor.[19] The image is often invoked retrofuturistically to produce a nostalgic feel in period works, especially in comic science fiction; both Mars Attacks![20] and Destroy All Humans![21] draw on the flying saucer as part of the larger satire of 1950s B movie tropes.
The Twilight Zone episodes "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street", "Third from the Sun", "Death Ship", "To Serve Man", "The Invaders" and "On Thursday We Leave for Home" all make use of Forbidden Planet's iconic saucer.
McMinnville UFO photographs
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Contents
The incident
At 7:30 p.m. on May 11, 1950, Evelyn Trent was walking back to her farmhouse after feeding rabbits on her farm. Mrs. Trent and her husband Paul lived on a farm approximately nine miles from McMinnville (closer to Sheridan, Oregon).[1] Before reaching the house she claimed to see a "slow-moving, metallic disk-shaped object heading in her direction from the northeast."[1] She yelled for her husband, who was inside the house; upon leaving the house he claimed he also saw the object. After a short time he went back inside their home to obtain a camera; he managed to take two photos of the object before it sped away to the west. Paul Trent's father claimed he briefly viewed the object before it flew away.[1]Publicity and investigation
It took some time for Paul Trent to have the film developed, and he apparently sought no publicity immediately following the incident. When he mentioned the incident to his banker, Frank Wortmann, the banker was intrigued enough to display the photos from his bank window in McMinnville.[2] Shortly afterwards Bill Powell, a local reporter, convinced Mr. Trent to loan him the negatives. Powell examined the negatives and found no evidence that they were tampered with or faked. On June 8, 1950, Powell's story of the incident—accompanied by the two photos—was published as a front-page story in the local McMinnville newspaper, the Telephone-Register. The headline read: "At Long Last—Authentic Photographs Of Flying Saucer[?]" The story and photos were subsequently picked up by the International News Service (INS) and sent to other newspapers around the nation, thus giving them wide publicity. Life magazine published cropped versions of the photos on June 26, 1950, along with a photo of Trent and his camera.[3] The Trents had been promised that the negatives would be returned to them; however, they were not returned—Life magazine told the Trents that it had misplaced the negatives.[2]In 1967 the negatives were found in the files of the United Press International (UPI), a news service which had merged with INS years earlier. The negatives were then loaned to Dr. William K. Hartmann, an astronomer who was working as an investigator for the Condon Committee, a government-funded UFO research project based at the University of Colorado Boulder.[4] The Trents were not immediately informed that their "lost" negatives had been found. Hartmann interviewed the Trents and was impressed by their sincerity; the Trents never received any money for their photos, and he could find no evidence that they had sought any fame or fortune from them.[5] In Hartmann's analysis, he wrote to the Condon Committee that "This is one of the few UFO reports in which all factors investigated, geometric, psychological, and physical, appear to be consistent with the assertion that an extraordinary flying object, silvery, metallic, disk-shaped, tens of meters in diameter, and evidently artificial, flew within sight of two witnesses."[6]
After Hartmann concluded his investigation he returned the negatives to UPI, which then informed the Trents about them. In 1970 the Trents asked Philip Bladine, the editor of the News-Register (the successor of the Telephone-Register), for the negatives; the Trents noted that they had never been paid for the negatives and thus wanted them back. Bladine asked UPI to return the negatives, which it did. However, for some reason Bladine never told the Trents that the negatives had been returned.[4] In 1975 the negatives were found in the files of the News-Register by Dr. Bruce Maccabee, an optical physicist for the U.S. Navy and a ufologist. Maccabee did his own extensive analysis of the negatives and concluded that they were not hoaxed and showed a "real, physical object" in the sky above the Trent's farm.[7] He then ensured that the negatives were finally returned to the Trents.
In the 1980s two UFO skeptics, Philip J. Klass and Robert Sheaffer, argued that the photos were faked, and that the entire event was a hoax.[8] Their primary argument was that shadows on a garage in the left-hand side of the photos proved that the photos were taken in the morning rather than in the early evening, as the Trents had claimed.[9] Klass and Sheaffer argued that since the Trents had apparently lied about the time the photos were taken, their entire story was thus suspect. Klass and Sheaffer also argued that the Trents had shown an interest in UFOs prior to their sighting, and their analysis of the photos indicated that the object photographed was small and likely a model hanging from power lines visible at the top of the photos. They also believed the object may have been the detached rear-view mirror of a vehicle.[9] When Sheaffer sent his studies on the case to William Hartmann, Hartmann withdrew the positive assessment of the case he had sent to the Condon Committee. However, Maccabee offered a rebuttal to the Klass-Sheaffer theory by arguing that cloud conditions in the McMinnville area on the evening of the sighting could have caused the shadows, and that a close analysis of the UFO indicated that it was not suspended from the power lines and was in fact located some distance above the Trent's farm; thus, in his opinion, the Klass-Sheaffer explanation was flawed.[10]
In April 2013, three researchers with IPACO posted two studies to their website entitled "Back to McMinnville pictures" and "Evidence of a suspension thread."[11] They used proprietary computer software designed to analyze UFO photos by François Louange, who previously has done image analysis for NASA, the European Space Agency, and GEIPAN. They concluded the geometry of the photographs is most consistent with a small model with a hollow bottom hanging from a wire, though no thread was detected. Further investigation, however, detected the presence of a thread, and the study concluded: "the clear result of this study was that the McMinnville UFO was a model hanging from a thread."
In August 2013, UFO researcher Brad Sparks posted a rebuttal regarding the IPACO McMinnville UFO studies in which he stated that the studies contained multiple foundation measurement inconsistencies. An example of this was IPACO applying and working with a 5 inch diameter for the UFO [in the McMinnville photos] in some instances, and also applying and working with a 6 inch diameter for it in others. Sparks argued that certain measurements within the studies were manipulated whenever they proved unable to support the "UFO-model-hanging-by-a-string" hoax hypothesis. [12]
Aftermath
Antônio Vilas Boas
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Antonio Vilas Boas | |
|---|---|
| Biography | |
| Born | 1934 Brazil |
| Died | 1991 (aged 56–57) |
| Alleged abduction | |
| Status | Single Abductee |
| First abduction date | October 16, 1957 |
| Location | São Francisco de Sales, Brazil |
| Taken from | Open Fields |
Vilas-Boas' story
At the time of his alleged abduction, Antônio Vilas-Boas was a 23-year-old Brazilian farmer who was working at night to avoid the hot temperatures of the day.[3] On October 16, 1957, he was ploughing fields near São Francisco de Sales when he saw what he described as a "red star" in the night sky. According to his story, this "star" approached his position, growing in size until it became recognizable as a roughly circular or egg-shaped aerial craft, with a red light at its front and a rotating cupola on top. The craft began descending to land in the field, extending three "legs" as it did so. At that point, Boas decided to run from the scene.According to Boas, he first attempted to leave the scene on his tractor, but when its lights and engine died after traveling only a short distance, he decided to continue on foot.[4] However, he was seized by a 1.5 m (five-foot) tall humanoid, who was wearing grey coveralls and a helmet. Its eyes were small and blue, and instead of speech it made noises like barks or yelps. Three similar beings then joined the first in subduing Boas, and they dragged him inside their craft.
Location of São Francisco de Sales, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Shortly after this, Boas claimed that he was joined in the room by another humanoid. This one, however, was female, very attractive, and naked. She was the same height as the other beings he had encountered, with a small, pointed chin and large, blue catlike eyes. The hair on her head was long and white (somewhat like platinum blonde) but her underarm and pubic hair were bright red.[5] Boas said he was strongly attracted to the woman, and the two had sexual intercourse. During this act, Boas noted that the female did not kiss him but instead nipped him on the chin.
When it was all over, the female smiled at Boas, rubbing her belly and gestured upwards.[6] Boas took this to mean that she was going to raise their child in space.[6] The female seemed relieved that their "task" was over, and Boas himself said that he felt angered by the situation, because he felt as though he had been little more than "a good stallion" for the humanoids.[7]
Boas said that he was then given back his clothing and taken on a tour of the ship by the humanoids. During this tour he said that he attempted to take a clock-like device as proof of his encounter, but was caught by the humanoids and prevented from doing so. He was then escorted off the ship and watched as it took off, glowing brightly. When Boas returned home, he discovered that four hours had passed.[8]
Antonio Vilas Boas later became a lawyer, married and had four children.[8] He stuck to the story of his alleged abduction for his entire life.[9] Though some sources say he died in 1992, he died on January 17, 1991.[10] [11]
Investigation
Following this alleged event, Boas claimed to have suffered from nausea and weakness, as well as headaches and lesions on the skin which appeared with any kind of light bruising. Eventually, he contacted journalist Jose Martins, who had placed an ad in a newspaper looking for people who had had experiences with UFOs. Upon hearing Boas' story, Martins contacted Dr. Olavo Fontes of National School of Medicine of Brazil; Fontes was also in contact with the American UFO research group APRO. Fontes examined the farmer and concluded that he had been exposed to a large dose of radiation from some source and was now suffering from mild radiation sickness. Writer Terry Melanson states:- Among [Boas's] symptoms were 'pains throughout the body, nausea, headaches, loss of appetite, ceaselessly burning sensations in the eyes, cutaneous lesions at the slightest of light bruising...which went on appearing for months, looking like small reddish nodules, harder than the skin around them and protuberant, painful when touched, each with a small central orifice yielding a yellowish thin waterish discharge.' The skin surrounding the wounds presented 'a hyperchromatic violet-tinged area.'[3]
Boas was able to recall every detail of his purported experience without the need for hypnotic regression. Further, Boas' experience occurred in 1957, which was still several years before the famous Hill abduction which made the concept of alien abduction famous and opened the door to many other reports of similar experiences.
Researcher Peter Rogerson, however, doubts the veracity of Boas's story. He notes that several months before Boas first related his claims, a similar story was printed in the November 1957 issue of the periodical O Cruzeiro, and suggests that Boas borrowed details of this earlier account, along with elements of the contactee stories of George Adamski. Rogerson also argues:
- One reason why the [Boas] story gained credibility was the prejudiced assumption that any farmer in the Brazilian interior had to be an illiterate peasant who 'couldn't make this up'. As Eddie Bullard pointed out to me, the fact that the Villas Boas family possessed a tractor put them well above the peasant class ... We now know that AVB was a determinedly upwardly mobile young man, studying a correspondence course and eventually becoming a lawyer (at which news the ufologists who had considered him too much the rural simpleton to have made the story up, now argued that he was too respectable and bourgeois to have done so).[12]
The Trindade Island's UFO
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The story
At 12:00 p.m. on January 16, 1958, Brazilian ship Almirante Saldanha, taking part in projects of the International Geophysical Year, was preparing to sail away from Ilha de Trindade, off the coast of the state of Espírito Santo.Among the crew of the ship, there was a member of the Brazilian Air Force, Captain José Teobaldo Viegas, the submarine photographer Almiro Baraúna, several scientists and a group of highly trained explorers.
Reportedly Captain Viegas was on the deck with several scientists and members of the crew when he suddenly noticed a flying object, which had a "ring" around it, just like Saturn. Witnesses present reportedly saw the U.F.O. at the same time.
It reportedly came toward the island from the east, flew towards the "Pico Desejado" (Wished Peak), made a steep turn and went away very quickly to the north-west.
As soon as the object was noticed, Almiro Baraúna was sought for photography. After getting the camera and going up the quarter-deck, he managed to take several pictures of the object.
After being disclosed, the pictures were exhaustively analyzed by the Laboratório de Reconhecimento Aéreo da Marinha (Brazilian Navy's Aerial Reconnaissance Laboratory) and by the Serviço Aerofotogramétrico Cruzeiro do Sul. All the pictures were considered genuine, taken from a real occurrence, with the certification of military personnel. The pictures even received confirmation from Juscelino Kubitschek, president of Brazil at that time.
To this day because of the certification of the witnesses and the official recognition, the object in Almiro Baraúna's pictures remains unexplained.
In 2010, a document containing a testimonial by Baraúna was unveiled:[1]
| “ | On January 16, 1958, the Navy training ship "Almirante Saldanha" was moored at a bay in Trindade Island, some eight hundred miles off the coast of Espírito Santo. It was around 11:00 a.m., the sky was clear and the crew was getting ready to return to Rio de Janeiro when suddenly a group of people at the stern, among them the retired Força Aérea Brasileira captain-aviator José Viegas, alerted everyone.
Instantly, all who were in the deck (some fifty people) started to
see a strange, silver, saucer-shaped object moving above the sea towards
the island. The object didn't make any sound, was shiny and sometimes
it moved quickly, then slowly, up and slightly down and when it
accelerated, it would leave a white phosphorescent trail that would
disappear shortly. In its trajectory, the object disappeared behind the
Desejado Peak and all expected it to reappear on the other side of the
island, it reappeared from the same direction, stopped for some seconds
and then disappeared again with great speed at the horizon. At first,
when the object returned, I was able to take six pictures, two of which
were lost due to the confusion at the deck, and the other four showed
the object on the horizon, in a reasonable sequence, approaching the
island from the mountain's side, and finally disappearing, going away. I
took the film from my camera twenty minutes later following the
commander's request, who wanted to know if the pictures had good
quality. Almost the entire crew of the ship saw the film and they were
unanimous in their reports to the Secret Service of the Brazilian Navy.
These were the crew of the ship: Chief Amilar Vieira Filho, banker, diver and athlete; Vice-chief: retired Força Aérea Brasileira captain-aviator José Viegas; Divers: Aluizio and Mauro; Photographer: Almiro Baraúna. The group above was part of a group of spearfishing from Icaraí. Among the five members, only Mauro and Aluizio didn't see the object because they were at the ship's kitchen and when they ran to see it, it was already gone. According to the rumors I heard at the deck, the electronic equipment of the ship stopped working during the apparition of the object; what I can confirm is that after the ship left the island, the equipment malfunctioned three more times and the officials didn't have any plausible explanation for what was happening. Every time the ship stopped, the lights weakened slowly until the point they completely went out. When this happened, the officials would walk to the deck with their binoculars, however, the sky was clouded and they couldn't see anything. I need to say that if the reporter of the newspaper Correio da Manhã hadn't been smart enough to take copies of the pictures offered to then president Juscelino Kubitscheck, maybe no one would ever be aware of this pictures since the Navy had "marked" me, asking how much did I want not to publicize the pictures. I would like to make it clear that every official with whom I had contact during all the period of the interrogation were quite lovely with me, I felt completely comfortable and they didn't impose any objection to the possible unveiling of the case. they only mentioned that the sensationalist nature of the case could cause panic among the population and that was the reason the Brazilian Air Force wanted to avoid the publicizing of such cases |
” |
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