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Important Foreword
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A recent libel action brought and won against an author has
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caused jitters which may not subside till the laws are
amended. Since this manuscript was completed legal experts
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"" have advised the withdrawal of many details such as names
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and dates; for example, in Chapter 10 has now been used
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the phrase 'an important scientist' instead of the name, title
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lJ,, and post as previously specified, also the expression 'higher
1;: authorities' instead of the actual name; similarly in Chapter
,l,'.I 5 'senior officials' has replaced more specific data, and in
I'. Chapter 6 the lifeboats launched and the identities of the
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,f aircraft have been omitted. Ruthlessly depleted has been the
'straws in the wind' section of Chapter 9 and the list of
'' contactees in the appendix.
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All this was seemingly necessary partly because this book
r. swims against the tide in the sense that Flying Saucers are
often held (a) not to exist, (b) if they do, to be only psychic
~·· and/ or hypnotic figments of imagination and (c) if factual
then (since 1967) are increasingly being depicted as hostile.
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The author does not consider any of these three prejudices
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i:; to be truth.
r The enforced elimination of some specific details is re
gretted, particularly on behalf of the ultra-sceptic who
loathe to accept the very concept here presented, or even for
the mildly sceptical, hesitant to cross the point of no return
of Chapter 10.
Perhaps the majority of readers will find sufficient facts
and dates amply to satisfy them and, it is hoped, appraising
the presentation as a whole, have no difficulty in reaching
the last chapter, that on 'People of the Web'.
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.·,,i. The expression
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'·· 'Flying Saucers' is born
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1r;1"' The very expression Flying Saucers has a magic of its own;
it has defied attempts to change it, to make it more re
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" spectable, more dignified, more scientific. The expression
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has stuck. There can't be many people round the entire
planet that have not heard of it-whether they believe in
Saucers or not; wider known than is the Bible in the Far
East, or is the Hindu sacred book, the Bhagavad Gita in
t Europe; the poorest of peasants in Asia, or the simplest of
1· bushmen in Africa all seem to have heard, and all can
understand even in poverty and in backwardness what a
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Saucer looks like and what flying means. The expression
Flying Saucer has a simplicity, a universality and a
timelessness that sticks. Whence came such a firmly im
pressed expression?
It was popularised by Kenneth Arnold in his now famous
sighting of June 24, 1947. A business man, piloting his own
plane in the region of Mount Rainier, Washington D.C.,
that was how he described them on landing, together with
vivid details of their height, speed, manoeuvres and
brilliance, all of which made them utterly unlike any known
aircraft, missiles or balloons. Arnold was a competent
trained pilot, authoritative enough to inspire confidence
and his story was, and is, widely believed. And most people
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left it at that.
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Yet, let's look deeper.
A psychologist might note that below the surface appeal
of the authority of being a trained and competent pilot,
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FLY ING SAUCER VIEWPOINT THE EXPRESSION 'FLYING SAUCERS' IS BORN
there was perhaps a subtle but unrecognised appeal arising weather may perhaps have been symbolised; certainly the
from deep within our subconscious, and contributing to 10 of perfection appears to belong to tomorrow rather
our acceptance. Arnold was piloting his own plane : he than to today. The time of the sighting was three in the
~ was successful enough in business to own a plane, not afternoon, another trinity. Simultaneously there was a con
I merely an expensive car. We all seem to like success, as we junction of planets - beloved by astrologers amongst others
.1.... 1 do authority; the two combined appeal powerfully. And - of Jupiter (Higher Mind Consciousness) and of Venus
' most people would leave it at that. (Love-Wisdom aspect). By now, many readers may have
Yet, let's look deeper. begun to revolt. After all, the Christians have been taught
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The sighting took place at Mount Rainier. In all the that numerology and astrology are of the devil, are supersti
exoteric religions of the world the mountain has allegorised tion, are to be avoided. And that may have burnt deep into
Spirit as distinct from the vale of Matter. The Christian our subconscious too. But the other exoteric religions of this
Bible speaks of distinguishing the word of God on a moun planet accepted these things, and they have burnt deep into
tain; similar allegories are found in the Moslem Koran, the the subconscious of Africa, Asia, Peloponnesia, Indonesia,
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Hindu Bhagavad Gita, the Buddhist Noble Eightfold Path, Philippines, etc. And they too are of this planet. Of this
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I the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Egyptian Book of the Humanity. So, do you necessarily have to revolt, or can
Dead of the ancient Pharaohs. All peoples of all times in things be examined from other points of view?
all continents and in all civilisations stretching far far back Yet, let's look deeper.
\1 to 5,000 B.c. and more. It must be burnt deep into our June 24, 1947 was the date of the Arnold sighting, that
subconscious, and might appeal. burned the expression Flying Saucers into our minds.
,; Yet, let's look deeper. June, the sixth month of the year; the height of summer
Mount Rainier has three peaks, and the Saucers were in the West (where the sighting took place) at the time when
flying in and out of these peaks - focusing Humanity's the day is longest and night is shortest - when Sun of Spirit
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!, attention there. So often as to be almost invariable the predominates over Moon of darkness. June, the sixth month;
Trinity is found in the Scriptures of all peoples at all times. six being the number of the New Aquarian Age, replacing
1'~i:i·\·.· 11I Not just modern ones like the Christian or Shiva, Vishnu with its sixth sense the old age of Pisces with its rigid five
~!1 and Brahma, or the Shinto Divine Monarch, Exalted senses.
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Imperial Divine Offspring, and offspring of the Gods, but 24; the double twelve, of light and dark, of good and
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in an unbroken thread of seven millennia back to Osiris, evil and of positive and negative. The twelve hours of
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Horus and Thot of the Ancient Pharaohs. Combined with the day, the twelve inches of the foot, the twelve apostles,
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\ the Mountain of Spirit and the Trinity of Gods the appeal the twelve signs of the Zodiac, or the twelve inner petals of
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I must have been burnt deeper into our subconscious than the Crown Chakram if you are not too adverse to delving
•1 t a mere glamour of authority and success of a pilot and rich into esoteric symbology of the East who thus depict the
tl businessman. glory of the initiated human head-featured by the
Yet, let's look deeper. Christians as a halo round a saint.
There were nine Saucers flying through the three peaks 1947; added together the figures make 21 - always a num
of the mountain. The great philosopher Plato always ber of importance in numerology. Often shown as a trinity
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seemed to make nine the number of initiation and of affecting the seven planes of consciousness. The 3 x 7.
' trial, of test; not the 10 of perfection. Humanity's time of How deep can we get? Where along the line did you drop
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trial and test from nuclear bombs, poison, war, and freak out - and why? Is the wholeness of the above a series of
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14 15
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,p FLYING SAUCER VIEWPOINT
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empty far-fetched coincidences, or is there something more
I, for those who have eyes to see?
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All this, too, summarises our difficulty in dealing with
Flying Saucers. Usually starting with sincere (but unin
formed) scepticism, we begin to investigate and invariably
So, we need·
find convincing evidence of their reality. For a sceptic to
tum believer is well known; for a believer to revert to
physical proof
scepticism is not. But, somewhere along the line we tend to
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stop abruptly, hesitating to go forward. The trouble with
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!' (' these darned Saucers is that they soon lead us step by step
·n from the familiar and the known, from the solid practical
}'I. no-nonsense of radar proof, to things beyond our mere five
And quite right too. Otherwise we should be building on
senses, our familiar little space time continuum, our nice
Ii' sand. Yet it is getting on for a quarter of a century since
;'..' little three dimensions, our fixed idea of time.
June 24, 1947 and during that time over two hundred books
Ilj.•.,''. Why we should have the cheek to insist that all life in the in English alone have been published on Saucers, reinforced
vast Universe should be limited to our tiny concepts, and
i by literally dozens of amateur or semi-professional
l" behave only like us earthlings, is a mystery to truth - but is magazines giving facts, dates, sightings and reports by
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a fact on Earth.
'I literally tens of thousands over the years. Not everybody
seems to know this. Nor, too, the obvious fact that sightings
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continue even now, round the whole planet, at least of the
order of 50 to 100 per week, month in, year out; not
many people seem to realise that either. The reports seldom
make the Anglo-Saxon National Daily Press except for
oblique sneers and smears, but regularly are reported in
the local papers of Britain for example; a subscription to
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a newspaper cutting service would readily have proved
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that during the 1960-70 decade; but not everyone has
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I done that and few appreciate the continuous, planet-wide,
overwhelming volume.
Why has this not been widely reported?
Find any Saucer enthusiast you know, or approach some
of the magazines listed at the back of this book, and all
will tend to produce mountains of cuttings and reports,
whose very frequency and continuity will stagger the un
Ji informed.
l•'l Let's take a pair of typical sightings; similar in essentials
yet a continent apart in space, and a decade apart in time.
Both have been widely reported in Saucer circles, but less
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FLYING SAUCER VIEWPOINT SO, WE NEED PHYSICAL PROOF
to the public. A scoutmaster Sonny Desvergers was driving the thicket. Then said the government, perhaps there were
along a deserted Florida road near Lantana at night on some underground springs and chemicals that would burn
di August 19, 1952 when he saw a light in a palmetto thicket the grass roots without harming the blades. There weren't.
that he took to be perhaps a crashed aircraft and decided Now let us look again at the scoutmaster's story. He
to investigate. Leaving the two boy scouts who were with said he saw the Saucer overhead, felt a prickling sensation,
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him with instructions to continue listening to the car radio and felt he couldn't breathe. The Saucer was overhead, i.e.
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and, if he did not return when the programme finished in it was in flight and its force-field was activated. Earth man
ten minutes, to go to that farmhouse and get help. The still does not seem to know too much about this force-field
scoutmaster then started hacking his way through the beyond recognising that the electro-gravitic effects are
palmetto thicket with a machette and carrying a torch. He similar to heat induction; neatly explaining the 'electrical
did not return in ten minutes and the two boy scouts did discharge' holes which had burnt into the scoutmaster's
go to that farmhouse and did get help - altogether there cap and into his clothes at the shoulders and arms, as was
were fourteen witnesses to this, all of whom knew the local verified by the hospital to which he was taken; also the
land well (an important point) including the State Highway same effects would cause an imbalance of ozone, making it
Patrol Police, awaiting the return of the scoutmaster. difficult for him to breathe.
His story was that he had hacked his way towards the Much effort has since been spent to discredit the scout
light, till suddenly he saw the Flying Saucer overhead, he master as an unreliable witness - yet, the roots of the grass
had a prickling sensation all over him, felt he couldn't were burnt and the blades were not. Why try (deliber
breathe, dropped his machette and torch, and staggered ately?) to draw attention away from that?
back to the road. Of course, he was called a liar. Now let's swing the story from North America 1952 to
But in those days the United States Government was South America 1962 where a road was being built across
openly investigating Saucers - which it still discreetly does, the pampas grass, and there was a conference of senior
Condor report notwithstanding - and sent a three-man team technicians when all of them saw a Flying Saucer hover
i' to investigate. Now, please, do let's see how tight is this over the grass. Four of the most senior of the technicians
chain of evidence. A named member of the government mounted a jeep and approached the Saucer. When the jeep
~;. team personally went to the spot, personally collected got near the hovering Saucer glided over a hillock and
samples of the grass growing there, and personally took hovered again; the jeep gave chase and when it closed in
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them back to the laboratory for analysis. The roots of this the Saucer flew away.
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,:I.:,~ grass were there found to be burnt although the blades were The two spots where the Saucer was seen to hover were
'" not. The main method known to earth man of burning the afterwards examined - the roots of the grass were found to
"h roots without harming the blades is heat induction - a be burnt, but the blades were not.
•t method that wants sophisticated equipment clearly not
found in the deserted palmetto thicket.
The result was so startling that the government de
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manded a re-check. Perhaps the grass had come from the
',:,~,J wrong spot - there were the fourteen witnesses who knew
1'',1 the local land well, and the scoutmaster's footprints stop
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ping in the middle of nowhere together with his dropped
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t machette and torch where he had stopped hacking through
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18 19
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PHOTOGRAPHS
addition were two more (inexperienced) boys although it
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was not their first attempts at photography: another
Stephen, aged fifteen, photographed three Saucers at
Connisborough, Yorkshire 1954 (showing roof tops and a
telephone pole as well) and John at Hallam, Victoria,
Australia who took his six photos of the one Saucer on
Photographs
March 5, 1967. How could these kids, none knowing the
other, each ignorant of the very techniques of trick photo
graphy, all aged fifteen or under, all decide to fake the
same type of Saucer from the many available, and four do
it with their first camera, first film?
However, let us examine in detail the case of Alex from
Mussborough. He was in the garden of his home with a
Many are the photographs that have been taken. One of the
school playmate taking snaps with his first film and in
more obvious untruths is the widely held belief that Saucers
expensive popular-type camera late in February or early
are seldom if ever photographed. How such a patent lie is
in March 1962. Suddenly both the boys saw five flying
generally accepted in the face of clear, positive, repeated,
Saucers (or Ford hub-caps) overhead; Alex later reported
verifiable proofs to the contrary is a mystery; as already
'I felt I had to take the photograph', simply pointed his
asked on page 17, why are these facts not more publicised?
camera at them and took his now-famous photo of all five
Part of the myth is that all photographs are fakes of
hub-caps which then flew off. The two boys rushed indoors
lampshades or of Ford hub-caps, and why the hub-caps
to tell the news but were somewhat sceptically received and
have to be Fords, and never General Motors or British
it was some days before the film - still on the strip, i.e.
Leyland's, is again a mystery.
in one continuous roll - was developed by the local chemist.
But let's look deeper.
To everyone's amazement the five flying Saucers came out
Fourteen quite distinct types of Flying Saucers have been
loud and clear. It was the science master at Alex's school
catalogued (see appendix) by researchers, and most of
who first caused the story to get around, and it was then
these have been photographed over the decades since 1947;
taken up by the local paper, The Yorkshire Post.
it is not very likely, therefore, that people setting out to
The picture, and its attendant circumstances were so
fake a picture would all choose the same type of Saucers;
convincing that people came from all over England and
still less is this likely if they are greatly separated by
even from abroad to look and see. 'By sheer good luck'
distance and time, and even less so if they were mere boys
Alex had photographed the tops of two trees together
who had just received their first camera and were using
with the Saucers, and, by triangulation, this gave the exact
their first film.
height of the Saucers as 614 feet, and the exact diameter
Examples of photographs so taken are by four such
of the five Ford hub-caps as 28 feet, each. All five of
boys (Christian names only are given-see Important
Foreword): thirteen-year-old Stephen at Conniston Lanca them; first camera, first film.
Pressure grew for some form of authoritative govern
shire in 1952; Michael aged fifteen of San Bernardino,
ment statement and finally the Defence Department was
California on July 19, 1956; Alex of Mussborough,
needled into a statement: it was 'pin holes in the camera'.
Sheffield, in the spring of 1962; and a nine-year-old
Neither The Yorkshire Post, nor the Saucer researchers
Japanese boy in 1956. All were first camera, first film. In
20 21
FLY ING SAUCER VIEWPOINT
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could find these convenient 'pin holes in the camera' and
finally forced an appointment with a somewhat reluctant
official (see Important Foreword) at the Defence Ministry
in London on August 27, 1962, who merely repeated the
official 'pin holes in the camera'. Politely he was shown
the camera and the film, and asked to point out the pin Films
holes that completely had eluded everyone else. When the
official declined to comment further, The Yorkshire Post
grew so insistent that finally additional experts were roused
out of the Ministry to examine the case afresh on August
28, 1962.
You might have been exaggerating to say that they
grilled the young boy to try and break down the story - Many are the films that have been taken. At Montana,
the process took a long time, three whole hours - but there U.S.A. as quoted by Major Keyhoe; at Trementon, Utah,
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·I was nothing to break down: the two kids saw the five on July 2, 1952 by a Naval Warrant Officer; in North
~ I Saucers, and Alex had just snapped them. Finally the long Norway by a holidaymaker who had it confiscated; at
drawn out proceedings came to an end with the Depart Warminister, England, by many people from 1967 on
ment still refusing to advance on 'pin holes' unless the boy wards including ones by Arthur Shuttlewood; by a hus
would state in writing the exact time and exact day on band and wife at Blackpool, as discussed below; by Pilot
which the photographs had been taken (we already had Joe Walker during his record breaking high altitude flight
fl! the exact place, the exact height of the two trees, the exact on the experimental American XIS plane on March 25,
height of the Saucers, their exact number, and their exact 1960 (not publicised till 1962, and then immediately 'ex
diameter). plained' as ice flakes); and Major James McDivvett, the
By now weeks had elapsed since the event, the prolonged astronaut, while on his Gemini IV flight in June 1965. To
examination had tired the boy, and it was eventually agreed name but a few that managed to escape out of the hush
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11 111 nH that he should go home to Sheffield, consult his mother's hush bag. Saucers have been filmed from the ground, some
diary, and decide on the exact day-and time. This he times together with familiar pylons, trees, roofs, etc, and
duly did, and stated in writing to the Ministry. have been filmed from airborne jets.
ii I Believe it or not, at that exact time, on that exact day, Of course they were officially all fast-moving Ford hub
at that exact height, and in that exact number there were caps, sometimes in formations of sixteen as at Montana,
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ice crystals in the sky which the boy could have photo and sometimes far out in space as filmed (and then
graphed. The Ministry statement in October 1962 was denied) by experimental aircraft and by astronauts. The
very very carefully worded not actually to say that the five case of Joe Walker of the Xl 5 is illustrative. His flight
ice crystals were photographed, but strongly gave that im was on March 25, 1960 when he took the film of
pression and was accordingly reported - to the complacent five Saucers while in flight. Not till 1962 did the news slip
satisfaction of the many and the utter bewilderment of the out when he lectured the Second National Conference
researchers, and of Alex himself. of Space Research for Peaceful Uses at Seattle when Joe
admitted that this was the second film of Saucers
he had taken while in flight, and that he had specifically
22 23
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FILMS
FLYING SAUCER VIEWPOINT
Flying Saucers manoeuvring round one another. The chief
been briefed before take-off to look out for them. This
camera man hurriedly unpacked his instruments and
indiscretion brought on immediate official explanations of
managed to get a ten second sequence on colour film,
'ice flakes' and no further comments from the pilot. Private
showing both saucers.
researchers have long grown wary of submitting their films
To fake a photograph wants time and equipment; to
for examination as an alarming number tend to find
fake a film wants more time and equipment; to fake a
exceptional difficulty in disentangling them from red tape.
colour film wants even more. Can you honestly imagine
Mr and Mrs X (see Important Foreword) were flying on
the chief camera man, flying at 10,000 feet, on the spur of
an internal British airline when they both saw the Flying
the moment, and in the presence of so many witnesses of
Saucer; the wife continued to keep watch while the husband
that calibre, faking such a film? Ten seconds is not long,
L hurried to get his cine film, returned, and took the Saucer.
but gives an appreciable number of 'frames' as they are
They were both shattered to learn later that, according to
technically called which were later enlarged and examined
officialdom, all they had done was to film the tail of their
at leisure. We even arranged for the film to be shown round
own plane through the extreme edge of the porthole where
the A.B.C. film circuit in England.
the glass curvature is pronounced, and that the appearance
I Norway is one of the six governments that admits the
•II and disappearance of the Saucer was merely the wobbling
I; reality of Flying Saucers.
of the camera as it focused via the curved extreme-edge of
To repeat, there are many films, and many many photo-
the porthole on to the tail fin.
graphs - hush-hush bag notwithstanding.
·,; To accept this official explanation all you have to do is
I.! to (conveniently) forget that both Mr and Mrs X saw the
Saucer visually through the main (straight) body of the
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porthole; that she continued watching with her eyes and
seeing it through the main glass area, while he fetched the
It is regretted that as a result of a recent judgment in
cine; that he returned and again also similarly saw it with
a libel case, it is impossible to print the full facts about
his eyes; and that he filmed not through the extreme edge
~, the above cases, and others elsewhere in the book. This is
but through the main part of the porthole. Then you're
;I II'i j,, left with an unpalatable (to some officials) Flying Saucer, despite the fact that at the time they received considerable
1~·1 !111 publicity.
I and a more serene and less-shattered Mr and Mrs X - and
I the film.
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Yet another film, also taken in Norway, was so interest
ll: ' ing that it was very difficult to deny - so, of course, it was
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t'tf port, for example. The story was as follows :
In 1954 the Norwegian Government wanted to film a
particular eclipse of the sun, and sent up three special
aircraft with hand-picked men and equipment to do so,
particular care being taken to obviate glass refraction
from portholes, for instance. The job done, the craft were
descending when suddenly all three separate aircraft, some
forty to fifty hand-picked men aboard, all saw the two
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LONDON AIRPORT
ollice rooms around noticed the sudden increase in
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luminosity. On lecture tours the author still meets people
whose friends and relatives experienced and heard of these
events. 'Senior officials' (see Impcrtant Foreword) watched
the Saucer through binoculars, it is said (and never denied),
and finally sent for Fighter Command. When the fighter
London Airport
came at 19.43 hours, the saucer which had been motionless
und silent, accelerated upwards vertically leaving the fighter
.. standing, and vanished.
There are at least two news agencies on duty at the air
port to report unusual events. Normally a commercial plane
lands or takes off every few minutes so that several lots of
captains and crews, passengers and friends, would have
Of the fourteen known types of Flying Saucer there is one
been delayed 19.25 to 19.43 hours-some eighteen
whose chief characteristic is extreme luminosity - it literally
minutes. No major English newspaper mentioned the event,
lights up the whole surrounding area. A registered osteo
path living in Surrey, England (see Important Foreword) nor did the radio or T.V.
Seven days later - the mystic figure 7 for those who
was awakened one night to find the whole room lit up; his
did read to the end of Chapter 1 - at exactly 19.25 hours,
wife saw it too, and they both saw the Saucer hovering over
again, the same or similar intensely luminous saucer re
the trees outside. Next day, they told their three children
peated the whole performance - hovering silent and motion
and the au-pair girl the story, and the children made the
less, only 200 feet up, lighting up every office room and
parents promise to wake them should the Saucer come
the tarmac; again watched by 'senior officials' and their
again. The very next night, the Saucer lit up the room
staff, again (it is said) through binoculars, and again they
again, and, true to his promise, the osteopath went along
sent for Fighter Command. Again, the saucer accelerated
the corridor to awaken the children and on to the au pair's
vertically out of sight leaving the fighter standing at 19.43
room too; all then watched the intensely luminous Saucer.
Later, a researcher asked him if he had put the electric hours.
I" Next day the papers had some watered down garbled
light on when he went down the corridor to awaken the
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versions, but none mentioned that this was the second time
others; he looked absolutely amazed for a moment at the
the event had happened, spaced a week apart. None men
recollection and replied 'You know, it was so bright, I
tioned Fighter Command.
didn't need to'.
The Friday 1 p.m. news radio bulletin offered a sooth
Of course, a true human story of six nice people may not
ing explanation from the Ministry of Civil Aviation -
carry weight in some quarters, so let us return to official
'it was the illuminated nose cone of a commercial airliner',
and authoritative circles.
i.e. the landing light. Which was the commercial airliner
On Thursday, February 26, 1959 at 19.25 hours a Flying
that hovered motionless and silent two hundred feet up,
Saucer of this intensely luminous type silently swooped
and then accelerated vertically to leave a jet fighter stand
down to a mere two hundred feet above the tarmac at
ing? And why don't 'senior officials' at London Airport
London Airport, and stayed motionless, and silent, light
recognise a landing light when they see one? Apparently
ing up the whole area in the fading daylight. People on
someone thought of that because on the 6 p.m. news
the tarmac saw it of necessity, but even those in the many
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