|
The
2nd World War log book of Squadron Leader P.Wells
records "a screaming dog fight with balls of
light" (14th December 1943).
|
Foo Fighters - photographed over Japan towards the
end of the 2nd World War. |
|
|
Foo
Fighters
Towards the end of the Second World War many pilots and aircrews
reported seeing small orbs of light whilst flying military
missions. These orbs appeared alone or in groups and flew around
and between the fighter and bomber aircraft that they gave
the impression of being intelligently controlled
Somewhere along the line they were given
the nick-name "Foo Fighters" and were seen to emit a
bright light or to flash intermittently. On 23rd November
1944, Lieutenant Ed Schlueter was piloting a mission in France
when he, along with his crew, observed approximately nine
balls of light travelling at high speed. These "Foo Fighters" were
undetected by Radar and disappeared only to re-appear soon
after before vanishing completely. Similar reports of these
strange objects were made by many pilots throughout the rest
of the war and it was speculated that the anomalous objects
were a secret military device being developed by the enemy.
However, the objects were seen by pilots of all forces involved
in the war and suggestions that they were some form of Radar
jamming device developed by the Germans seem unfounded as
Foo Fighters were observed in the skies over Japan.
A
typical "Foo Fighter" |
|
Kenneth Arnold's
Sighting
1947 was a notable year
as far as UFOs were concerned being the year of The Roswell Incident
and a number of significant UFO sightings. Probably the most
important and certainly the most famous was the sighting of
a group of UFOs by Kenneth Arnold, a pilot, whilst flying over
the Cascade Mountains in Washington State (U.S.).
Arnold, aged 32 and a businessman based in Boise Idaho, took
off from Chehalis airport (Washington) at 2 p.m. on June 24th
in his own small aircraft intending to search for a missing
Marine C-46, in the hope of finding the craft and claiming
the reward of $5,000.
Flying conditions were very good and approximately an hour
after take-off Arnold was at a height of about 9,500 feet in
the skies near Mount Rainier when he was startled by an extremely
bright flash. There was another aircraft in the vicinity but
it was too far away to be responsible for the flash. Soon there
was another and to Arnold's amazement he observed nine shiny
objects in a chain-like formation, flying from the North to
the South.
The strange objects were flying between the mountain peaks
and because of his familiarity of the area, Arnold was able
to calculate their speed - in excess of 1600 m.p.h. which was
well above the top speed of the fastest aircraft of the times.
The anomalous objects had a strange appearance, having wings
but no tails. Arnold watched the craft from a distance of approximately
22 miles and for about 3 minutes.
Arnold, a highly responsible pilot, later reported his sightings
and was interviewed by the press. During his first press interview
he described the motion of flight of the objects "like a saucer
would if you skipped it across water", hence coining the name "flying
saucer".
Kenneth Arnold's sighting caused excitement all over the world
and was one of the main incidents causing the authorities to
become interested in UFOs. |
Many
people believe that Kenneth Arnold saw "flying
saucers". In fact they were not saucer-shaped.
Kenneth Arnold described the objects in a radio
interview shortly after his sighting. |
|
|
|
|
1947 was a busy year as far as UFOs were
concerned. On 24th June Kenneth Arnold saw a formation
of nine objects over Mount Ranier (Washington State) which
were later described as "flying saucers" by
a reporter. This description was based on how Arnold described
the manner in which the objects crossed the sky. This event
heralded a host of sightings of mysterious objects capable
of carrying out incredible maneuvers over a period of several
weeks.
The Army Air Force (U.S.) regarded the
matter so seriously that a reward of $5000 was offered to
anyone who could help in solving the mystery of UFOs.
Click on photo for larger size |
|
 |
Kenneth
Arnold's official report of a UFO sighting that would change
the course of history. click
on picture for larger size |
|
| Captain
E.J. Smith |
|
| On
July 4th 1947, United Airlines Captain E.J. Smith observed
objects very similar to those seen by Arnold whilst flying
over Emmett, Idaho. Smith and his first officer, Ralph Stevens
were flying a DC-3 airliner from Salt Lake City to Seattle
when they saw five disk-shaped objects in the sky ahead of
them. The sighting was confirmed by their stewardess, Martine
Morrow |
|
 A
UFO photographed by a Canadian Air Force pilot.Pilots who risk reporting such
objects risk being grounded or sent for psychological
assessment. |
|
Flight
Lieutenant John Kilburn
During a NATO exercise on 19th September
1952, an anomalous object was sighted following a meteor
jet. Three aircrew and two RAF officers observed the object
and the incident was described by Flight Lieutenant John
Kilburn:
"The Meteor Jet was crossing from east to west when I noticed
the white object in the sky. This object was silver and
circular in shape, about 10,000ft up some five miles astern
of the aircraft. It appeared to be travelling at a lower
speed than the Meteor but was on the same course.
I said 'What the hell's that?" and the chaps looked to
where I was pointing. Somebody shouted that it might be
the engine cowling of the Meteor falling out of the sky.
Then we thought it might be a parachute. But as we watched
the disc maintained a slow forward speed for a few seconds
before starting to descend. While descending it was swinging
in a pendulum fashion from left to right.
As the Meteor Jet turned to start its landing run the object
appeared hung in the air rotating as if on its own axis.
Then it accelerated at an incredible speed to the west,
turned south-east and then disappeared. It is difficult
to estimate the objects speed. The incident happened within
a matter of 15 to 20 seconds. During the few seconds that
it rotated we could see it flashing in the sunshine. It
appeared to be about the size of a Vampire jet aircraft
at a similar height.
We are all convinced that it was some solid object. We
realised very quickly that it could not be a broken cowling
or parachute. There was not the slightest possibility that
the object we saw was a smoke ring or was caused by the
vapour trail from the Meteor or from any jet aircraft.
We have, of course, seen this, and we are all quite certain
that what we saw was not caused by vapour or smoke.
We are also quite certain that it was not a weather observation
balloon. The speed at which it moved away discounts this
altogether. It was not a small object which appeared bigger
in the condition of light. Our combined opinion is that,
it was something we had never seen before in a log experience
of air observation." |
|
|
Captain
Michael Swiney.
In
October 1952, Captain Michael Swiney flew his third routine
training flight from an RAF base in Gloucestershire with
David Croft. They flew up through cloud to a height of
14,000 feet and Swiney was shocked to observe right in
front of him, framed in the windscreen, three circular
disk-shaped craft.
Swiney
turned to David Croft and asked if he had had a drink at
lunchtime, to which Croft replied in the negative. Swiney
told Croft to take a look right ahead! Croft too observed
the three shiny disks.
When
Swiney returned to base he admitted that the experience
had frightened him and was observed to be visibly shaken.
A
local radar station confirmed that the three “unknowns” had
registered on the monitors. |
|
Retired
Air Commodore Michael Swiney relates his sighting of 3
UFOs.  [audio
] |
|
|
|
 |
Retired
Air Commodore Michael Swiney - saw 3 UFOs whilst on training
flight. |
Retired
Lt. Commander Croft - verified Michael Swiney's sighting
of 3 UFOs. |
 |
|
 |
click
on picture for larger size |
| A
routine training flight resulted in a UFO sighting |
Michael
Swiney's pilot's logbook - contains entry referring to
the 3 UFOs he sighted |
|
click
on picture for larger size |
click
on picture for larger size |
| Croft's
log book entry was far more careful than Swiney - representing
the sighting with 3 disks! |
The
entry in Michael Swiney's log book - an official record
of his remarkable sighting. |
|
|
 |
|
Pilot
sightings 2 Pilot
sightings 3 Pilot
sightings 4 Pilot
sightings 5 |
