by Dan Wright
While you were away from your desk . . .
At 8:30 p.m., April 23, 1991, in Plaistow, New Hampshire, a couple driving home saw a glowing disc with a hazy ring around the mid-section. The craft hovered, ascended and descended, turned abruptly, fluttered, and wobbled. Over the next four hours policemen in Plaistow and Atkinson tracked its movements. Once it appeared to land but quickly rose up and away when officers approached.31
Chapter 39
1992-94: Spy Planes and Homemade Saucers
High-altitude testing of the U-2 in the mid-1950s led to a “tremendous increase” in UFO reports, according to Agency sources. A major CIA publication in 1992 recounted the period. Many airline pilots flying in early evening were fooled by the anomaly high above, its wings glinting in the sun's rays. The article's author declared (dubiously), “U-2 and later OXCART flights accounted for more than one-half of all UFO reports during the late 1950s and most of the 1960s.”1
In a formal January 1992 visit to Ulyanovsk, Russian President Boris Yeltsin was shown a “thermoplane,” a saucer-shaped vehicle with the promise of multiple uses.2
To quell a rumor that a Soviet submarine—temporarily grounded in a Swedish fjord a decade earlier—carried nuclear torpedoes, a Swedish Coast Guard commander said later, “... the racket raised over the last 10 years about invasions of Swedish skerries by foreign submarines was simply fantasy, like with flying saucers.”3
On February 11, 1992, the South Korean Air Force scrambled 18 interceptors, a helicopter, and a cargo plane in response to an unknown intruder on radar tracked at nearly Mach 1. At a point, the unknown disappeared from radar. A search of the area found nothing. A spokesperson speculated that overlapping radars might have produced a phantom signal.4
Robert Durant on February 20, 1992, detailed the interests of former Naval Intelligence Commander Cecil B. “Scott” Jones in parapsychology and ufology. Jones was also a MUFON consultant.5
Moscow Radio's schedule for April 2, 1992, included a “Report on Economic Weekly Article on UFO's,” April 2, 1992.6
The China UFO Research Organization (CURO) held a conference in Beijing in May. CURO, organized in 1978, was included in the China Association for Science and Technology.7
In other UFO-related material mentioned on the radio program:
The Fourth National Congress of the China UFO Society reaffirmed it would always follow the dialectical materialist guiding principle and a practical, scientific attitude.
A 1978 UN resolution had asked all nations to pay close attention to the UFO problem.
Some 400,000 people worldwide claimed to have witnessed a UFO. In the previous decade plus, 5,000 reports were registered on the China mainland.
Chinese scientists studied ball lightning, superconductivity, and other physical phenomena.
The UFO Society's president said “studying UFOs with a serious scientific attitude will contribute to the development of science and civilization as well as to maintaining social stability.” China would seek more cooperation and exchanges with other countries.8
A June 16, 1992, JPRS Report featured an article in Moscow's Rabochaya Tribuna, “On ‘Flying Saucer’” that stated: “The rumors that the military industrial complex ... is rather seriously interested in ‘flying saucers’ are justified.” The essay referred to “Mohammed's Tomb,” a Russian-built saucer-shaped object from a cooled superconductor freely levitating in a magnetic field. Technical problems were resolved using a “fast electron flux,” which allowed speeds faster than the eye could follow. Aboard a space vehicle, a superconductor surrounded by such fluxes could create both a current and an electromagnetic field. “The vehicle will soar, as if floating in the electron medium which is itself created around itself.” ... “The sphere is the perfect shape for interstellar travel. Yet for moving in an atmosphere, it is difficult to find anything better than the ‘saucer.’”9
Moscow's Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper, in its August 6, 1992, edition, reported that aircraft and ground crews had searched for a missing SU-27 jet interceptor that disappeared July 25. The aircraft was at 7,500 meters altitude when it was lost from radar. No trace of a crash or even a radio beacon distress signal had been found. Air Defense Headquarters noted that “a UFO had been sited [sic] in the crash area during the SU-27's flight.”10
An August 26, 1992, JPRS Report described a weeklong air show near Zhukovskiy, Russia. “Some of the aircraft had radical new designs suggestive of flying saucers.”11
Moscow's Central Television First aired an interview with an official of the Ministry of Defense Space Units that included this intriguing quote:
I personally do not believe in the existence of UFO's in the form described as some kind of mysterious apparatus from which humanoids appear. However, I can confirm that there are real, to date incomprehensible and unidentifiable phenomena, inasmuch as I have seen such phenomena during a flight in an aircraft ... in the form of a ray of light which performed definite movements in the air ...12
As reported on October 23, 1992, by the Khabarovsk Radio Network, on July 24, a Russian SU-27 pilot returning from antiaircraft and missile training went missing near the Okhotsk Sea coast when contact was suddenly lost. The plane had experienced an engine malfunction during the flight but was deemed flyable. Possible explanations put forward included an accident, loss of consciousness, escape to another country, or abduction by a UFO. Investigation revealed no trace of the interceptor in Japan, South Korea, or the United States.13
An unknown aerial object near the Shetland Islands was observed at high speed and drew speculation about a top-secret American spy plane (SR-71 Blackbird successor), rumored to reach 5,500 mph. The local police, coast guard, and observatory recorded sightings of a large white, low-flying object at 9:00 p.m., December 12, 1992.14 Note: Somewhere in rumor or myth was the Aurora, with a triangular outline, the supposed next in line. Whether the Aurora was actually built or flown was never confirmed.
Reported by Krasnaya Zvezda on January 14, 1993, the circulation of Russian military newspapers had declined in recent years. To restore readership to prominence, their editors had broadened the subjects covered. “It is true that some military publications, in trying to attract readers, are filling their pages with light fiction, detective stories, and yarns about UFO's.”15
Moscow Central Television First furthered speculation on human-created discs. A “large” saucer-shaped structure was filmed—exterior only—at the Saratov aviation factory. The developer claimed that it could lift half its weight and, with its air cushion, land on snow or water. No mention was made of the propulsion system or any performance data.16
From a non-sourced report, the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) planned to form a research institute to study parapsychology, including telepathy and clairvoyance, plus UFOs, for application to next-generation industry. The goal was an industry more sensitive to human needs for art, inner peace, and other intangibles. Brain wave checks of claimed telepaths, enhanced plant growth via music, and other correlative scientific examinations would be applied. Virtual reality applications for audio-visual equipment would logically be a target.17
The first test models of a high-velocity, economically efficient “flying saucer” aircraft were being developed at the Saratov Aviation Plant, as reported by Radio Moscow World Service on March 9, 1993. With its air cushion, the aircraft could land anywhere. Passenger models would carry from 20 to, eventually, 2,000 people.18
The Canadian Weekly World News reported on March 27, 1993, that US intelligence had obtained a 250-page report of a UFO attack on a Russian military unit in Siberia. Per the KGB, the unit was conducting routine training when a saucer arrived overhead. Someone fired a surface-to-air missile, which struck the disc, causing it to crash. Five short beings with oversized heads and eyes emerged from the wreckage, joined together and transformed into a brilliantly lit sphere. It issued buzzing and hissing sounds then grew much larger and “exploded,” turning 23 soldiers i
nto sandstone. Two men a distance away survived. The debris and “petrified” men were taken to a secret facility near Moscow.19 Note: As has often been said, consider the source.
An April 1, 1993, JPRS Report quoted the chief of the Russian Ministry of Defense Space Units, who said some UFO sightings were Soviet space launches. However, about five years before, an incident wherein three unknowns passed over the Baykonur facility (Russia's Cape Canaveral) was not resolved. As expressed by the head of Russia's space personnel, “... I cannot deny the possibility of the existence of UFO's as many people do.”20
The Moscow periodical Argumenty I Fakty for April 1, 1993, included discussions of certain facilities, for example, Baykonur, plus the budget and UFOs.21
Per ITAR-TASS World Service, a prominent Russian economics minister predicted that “‘flying saucers' could become a normal form of air transport in Russia.”22
The Moscow Russian Television Network addressed the Saratov Aviation Plant's most unusual project, the “flying saucer,” on July 8, 1993. It would, in theory, be able to land anywhere without a runway, carry passengers and cargo, help fight fires, prospect for minerals, and provide a normal living environment in extreme weather conditions.23
Izvestiya reported on July 14, 1993, that the Ekip firm had built an economical, saucer-shaped prototype aerial vehicle. The 2.5-meter drone flew over the plant's airfield at Saratov in 1992. A full-scale model would be 25 meters in diameter and weigh 120 tons, capable of carrying half that weight in cargo. It would fly at 8–10 km altitude over 8,500 km at 650–700 km/hr. The production model would cost $70 million per copy. Several countries had expressed interest, but Russian authorities had not offered funding for its assembly.24
Izvestiya again addressed the prospect of human-created flying discs:
Yermishin's office contained . . . a machine of an intrinsically new design that is reminiscent of a fantastic ‘flying saucer.’ The series-produced machine would soon receive its international certificate and join ‘Boeing’; it cost $21 million. The saucer had already been made up in metal, and preparation for series production was supposedly underway.25
As reported by Pressfax on the final day of August 1993, a renewed Pravda intended to cover, among many topics, “encounters with ‘flying saucers’ ...”26
Radio Moscow World Service announced on September 3, 1993, “Russian scientist from Khabarovsk claims in local press article that aliens cause explosions on earth to use the energy for boosting the operation of their UFOs.”27
A non-sourced December 7, 1993, document reported that a jointly produced Taiwan-Mainland UFO symposium in Beijing had concluded. In their tallies of sightings over the years, nearly 6,000 UFOs had been reported across the Taiwan Straits. Over 5,000 sightings had occurred on the Chinese mainland. Some “defied rational explanation.” Witnesses included observatory staff plus civilian and military pilots. Four months earlier on August 7, “two rim-linked, hat-like objects” soared over Taipei International Airport for 15 minutes, media reported. The world over, an estimated 400,000 reports had been made since World War II. In 1978 the UN had called on all nations to be alert and to form UFO investigative bodies. China's group was part of the government-supported China Association for Science and Technology.28
On Moscow Ostankino Television came some criticism aimed at Russia's investor class, decrying the absence of investors in the Saratov factory's saucer-shaped aerial vehicle.29
On December 19, 1993, the Moscow Russian Television Network aired film of a Russian-made flying disc. The voiceover intoned: “This is secret footage of a laboratory for the production of UFO's. . . . It is a modern Russian airship, our ‘thermoplane.’. . . It is designed for installation work in Siberia.” The vehicle was saucer shaped.30
As reported in a non-sourced message two days later, December 21, just before 7:00 p.m. a group of Matanzas City, Cuba, residents, including the writer, observed a bright white light with a tail, likened to a comet, on a trajectory from north to south. It then divided into several such lights. The sighting lasted 30 seconds.31
From January 7, 1994, a non-sourced message announced that the town of Hakui, in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, sought to build a center for the study of UFOs and other space phenomena. It would feature a library with 10,000 plus documents. A city employee with thousands of files led the effort.32
The Moscow Ostankino Television First Channel Network on January 24, 1994, reported on a trip to England by Saratov Aircraft officials to find financing for their prototype flying disc. On a visit to Birmingham to interest potential investors, Saratov principals showed video and stills of a “flying saucer” from various angles in a hangar. The prospective 120-passenger craft, supported by an air cushion, would need no airstrip and could land on either the ground or water.33
The March 23, 1994, edition of the Moscow Robochaya Tribuna newspaper took its place in the press selection list with an “Article on flying saucers containing information ‘from our secret archives.’”34
On May 28, 1994, Pravda speculated on the cause of two unexplained craters discovered near Kursk. Specialists initially concluded only a 500 kg bomb could have caused the craters, 7–8 meters across, in a ravine near the Kursk nuclear power station. But no related sound was heard and no damage reported. However, locals had observed a fiery body in the sky. Civil defense and emergencies staff considered two possibilities: a large meteor or a UFO.35
While you were away from your desk . . .
January 10, 1992
From a classified Department of Defense letter, at an unnamed US Army base in Germany, a disc-shaped object hovered near three adults and two infants. Following the encounter, they received ten days of medical care for severe headaches, burns on their hands, faces, and genital areas, and loss of hair. Radiation from the intruder was noted as the cause of their conditions.36
February 24, 1993
A Sylvania, Alabama, farm wife awoke around 2:00 a.m. to see a red- orange light the size of a full moon pulsing over the pasture. Later that day her husband discovered a dead cow, its udder excised. Microscopic cellular analysis of the wound indicated the cuts were “consistent with sharp dissection” rather than “tearing or chewing as would be seen by predator attack.”37
Chapter 40
1995-1998: Psychic Woo Woo
No UFO-related CIA documents were filed and subsequently released to the Agency's website for 1995, 1996, or 1997.
In a journal prepared at California State College, Sonoma, a psychic fair was attended by 1,200 on November 5, 1998. Included were lectures and workshops on Kirlian photography, biofeedback, psychic development, UFOs, dream theory, palmistry, astrology, and humanistic parapsychology.1
In a lengthy essay published on December 7, 1998, the Guangdong, China, Somatic Sciences Research Committee addressed what to some would be an exotic topic: “Some Brief Notes on the Development of Research into Human Paranormal Capabilities in Guangdong.” “In ‘hyper time and space flight,’ real flight time has no meaning.... [O]bjects effectively ‘break through the time barrier.’” Separately “Research into ‘unidentified flying objects’ (UFOs) has provided a type of indirect data.... [W]e can see a number of reports of abnormal circumstances surrounding UFO flights.... [T]he almost simultaneous occurrences of UFOs over China's Xizang and California ... remind us of the ‘hyper time and space flight’ ...” The brain emits a “thought field” which breaks through spatial barriers, disassembling and reassembling matter, the writer then asserted.2
While you were away from your desk . . .
May 25, 1995
During a night flight aboard an America West Boeing 757 over Texas, the captain, his first officer, and lead flight attendant noticed a line of brilliant lights somewhat below their 39,000-foot altitude. The lights strobed continuously in sequence from left to right. Momentarily, silhouetted by lightning flashes from a thunderhead, the structure was revealed as wingless and cylindrical. They kept the object in view for five minutes while contact
ing the Albuquerque Air Route Traffic Control Center and NORAD. Neither facility was able to identify the intruder as a conventional aircraft.3
July 31, 1995
At 8:10 p.m., an Aerolineas Argentinas Boeing 727 was on approach to the San Carlos de Bariloche airport, when a blinding white light rushed the airliner head on. It halted in the air 100 meters away, turned, and flew parallel to the aircraft, revealing itself as an inverted saucer shape, with a pair of green lights on either side and an orange light at the center. Its diameter equaled the expanse of the 727. The pilot climbed back to 3,000 feet with the intruder still nearby. When once more on approach, suddenly the runway lights went out, as did those in the control tower. The entire city, in fact, experienced the blackout. Then the saucer flashed away and out of sight, all the lights came back on, and the pilot was able to land safely.4
January 20, 1996
In the predawn hours, two persons near Varginha, Brazil, reported sighting a submarine-shaped object apparently experiencing difficulty—flying slowly and close to the ground with smoke or vapor pouring out. At daylight, a number of nonhuman entities were observed by multiple witnesses as they wandered within the town. Military police were called out, capturing two without resistance and shooting a third to death.5
March 15, 1997
At 5:00 a.m. an object that was not described was seen exploding in the sky over Wegorzewo, Poland. Soldiers immediately removed the remains of the structure.6
October 19, 1998
In China's Hebei province, radars at four locations tracked an unknown moving target approaching. At least 140 people on the ground served as eyewitnesses, describing the object as having a flat bottom covered in bright rotating lights and an overlying dome in the shape of a mushroom. A base commander ordered a Shenyang JJ-6 interceptor trainer into the air. When it was still a few miles away, the object abruptly shot upward, only to descend again and pace the aircraft from above. This maneuver was repeated multiple times, outdistancing the plane then returning. At a point, the pilots requested permission to fire their cannon at the saucer, but that was denied. Low on fuel, the JJ-6 was forced to land. The intruder left the area before two more modern interceptors were airborne.7
