UFO RESEARCH NEWSLETTER

Magazine Overview

Title: UFO RESEARCH NEWSLETTER
Issue: Vol. I, No. 1
Date: April, 1971
Publisher: UFO Research Associates (UFOR)
Country: USA
Language: English

This inaugural issue of the UFO Research Newsletter presents a critical examination of the UFO phenomenon, challenging official narratives and advocating for more serious scientific investigation. It highlights a surprising curriculum at the Air Force Academy and delves into historical and recent UFO cases, as well as a significant internal document from the Rand Corporation.

AF Academy Teaches Students UFOs Real

The lead article reveals that the Air Force Academy, contrary to the U.S. Air Force's long-standing denial of extraterrestrial evidence, has been teaching its cadets that UFOs are likely extraterrestrial probes. Major Donald G. Carpenter, an instructor in the Academy's Department of Physics, authored Chapter XXXIII of the textbook "Introductory Space Science, Volume II," titled "Unidentified Flying Objects." This chapter explicitly supports the extraterrestrial hypothesis, suggesting UFOs are either 'Manned' or remote-controlled by alien beings. The article notes that this teaching continued even after the negative conclusions of the University of Colorado UFO Project report and the demise of Project Blue Book.

Supporting Evidence from Modern Reports

Major Carpenter's chapter cites several startling cases as evidence:

• August 21, 1955, Kelly, Kentucky: Witnesses reported dogs barking and a bright UFO landing. A three-and-a-half-foot tall creature with a round head, long arms, and webbed hands and claws approached, leading observers to fire approximately 50 rounds of ammunition at it and other creatures.
• July 24, 1957, Kouril Islands: Russian anti-aircraft batteries fired on luminous, fast-moving UFOs without success.
• November 4, 1957, Fort Itaipu, Brazil: A large object emitting a "humming sound" shot a heat ray at two sentries, causing one to collapse and the other to rouse troops. Both sentries were found badly burned, one unconscious and suffering from deep shock.
• September 19, 1961, Near Portsmouth, N.H.: Betty and Barney Hill reported seeing a huge UFO, followed by a two-hour mental blackout. Under hypnoanalysis, they recounted an experience of being abducted onto a spacecraft and minutely examined.
• April 24, 1964, Socorro, N.M.: Police Officer Lonnie Zamora observed a UFO resting on four stilt-like legs in a gulley, with a small "figure" nearby. The UFO took off, leaving a burned-out area and four holes in the ground. An intensive Air Force investigation listed the case as "unidentified."

Major Carpenter suggests that UFOs are a global phenomenon that may have persisted for thousands of years, possibly dating back 47,000 years, and calls for valid scientific investigation.

Historical and Ancient Accounts

The ancient Indian Book of Dzyan is cited as evidence of extraterrestrial beings orbiting and colonizing Earth thousands of years ago. One faction settled in one city, and another in a second, leading to an aerial war that destroyed a city and caused an ecological disaster.

Other historical reports include:

• University of Peking Professor: Discovered granite carvings on a Hunan Province mountain and a Lake Tungting island, dated to 47,000 years old, depicting "people with large trunks," which Major Carpenter suggests could be breathing apparatus of space people.
• Ireland, circa 956 A.D.: The rope of a "demonship" was caught on a church spire, and its occupant attempted to free it but was seized by townspeople, though later released by the bishop.
• 10th Century France: Three men and a woman from an "airship or spaceship" were killed by a mob accused of being wizards.
• April 21, 1897, Yates Center, Kansas: A farmer and former state legislator saw a huge airship with occupants that lassoed his cow.
• 1908, Siberia: A highly publicized meteorite strike was speculated to be an "alien spacecraft" that suffered mechanical failure after entering the atmosphere too rapidly.

Carpenter's textbook also dismisses the Russian/American secret weapons theory and the idea that UFOs are entirely psychological aberrations or natural phenomena, concluding that the possibility of alien visitors or alien-controlled UFOs cannot be denied.

Secret Rand UFO Document

A secret, in-house document from the Rand Corporation, titled "UFOs: What to Do?" (Rand Document No. 18154-PR, dated November 27, 1968), acknowledges that UFOs are real and "a class of phenomena rather widely occurring today (and perhaps since earliest times) that is elusive, puzzling and often at variance with known scientific and technical experience." The document is stamped "For Rand Use Only." Part I of the document discusses the historical aspects of the phenomenon, including the "miracle" at Fatima, Portugal.

The Fatima Miracle

For six months in 1917, people witnessed UFOs. On October 13, approximately 70,000 witnesses, including scientists and reporters, observed the "sun" through clouds. Dr. A. Garrett described seeing the sun as a "disk with a clear cut edge, with a vivid rim, luminous and shining," like a "burnished wheel cut out of mother-of-pearl." The sun then "detached itself from the firmament and advanced, blood-red, towards the earth," creating a terrifying impression.

Robertson Panel Report and CIA Recommendation

George Kocher's work discusses the beginning of the modern "flying saucer" era, starting with the Kenneth Arnold sighting in 1947. The Robertson Panel report of January 1953 recommended that the CIA advise the Air Force to negate UFO reports for national security reasons. Kocher states that this CIA recommendation became policy, leading to vestigial investigative procedures and a tendency to ridicule witnesses, yet reports persisted.

Kocher hopes more scientists will study the subject. He believes historical aspects suggest an extraterrestrial explanation and that galactic considerations make alien probes probable. He counters the argument that interstellar travel is impossible due to vast distances by suggesting that if a way to circumvent the speed of light has been found, it would likely be used by advanced planetary populations.

Impressive Sighting Reports (Rand Author)

• June 1947, Tucson, Arizona: Nine erratic-moving discs were seen darting from a cloud, followed by a larger UFO, forming a V-formation and disappearing at high speed.
• April 24, 1962, Springfield, Pa.: A circular UFO, house-sized, passed over at about 50 feet altitude, emitting green light flashes and white light shafts from its base, and later executed a sharp 90-degree turn.
• July 4, 1967, Corning, Calif.: Police officers saw a disc with a bright light shining upwards, moving slowly, which then sped away.

Kocher emphasizes that such sightings have led him to take the subject seriously and hopes the scientific climate will change to allow witnesses to report sightings without fear of ridicule.

Recommended Investigative Procedures

Kocher suggests:

• Establishing a central report receiving agency staffed by scientifically trained investigators.
• Making the agency immediately accessible for investigations.
• Creating a network of scientists to investigate local sightings.
• Persuading "hidden" witnesses to come forward.
• Encouraging the press to report sightings accurately and non-sensationaly.
• Examining existing sensor records for anomalies, especially when visual reports are made nearby.

He believes that after a few years of operation, report statistics could reveal generalities about appearance and behavior, and anticipate times and locations of appearances.

AIAA Hits Condon Report

The UFO Subcommittee of the American Institute of Astronautics and Aeronautics (AIAA), in the November 1970 issue of the AIAA Journal, expressed difficulty in ignoring the "small residue of well-documented but unexplainable cases" forming the core of the UFO controversy. The AIAA also criticized the conclusions of the University of Colorado UFO Project (Condon) report.

The AIAA UFO Subcommittee, organized in 1967, found that the Condon Report's summaries were insufficient and that there were internal discrepancies. They stated that the report provided no basis for predicting that further studies would yield no scientific value. The subcommittee argued that a short-time, one-shot approach is uneconomical and that concentrating on current rather than past observations misses the "signal" in UFO statistics. They questioned Condon's statement that alien life has no possibility of visiting Earth in the next 10,000 years and felt the committee did not seriously attempt to discover "common attributes" in UFO reports. The AIAA scientists concluded that it is unacceptable to ignore substantial numbers of unexplained observations based on premature conclusions and stated they would publish further information in AIAA journals.

Power Black-Out Among Sighting Reports

Several incidents are reported where UFOs apparently caused power blackouts:

• June 24, 1970: Four witnesses in Hinton, West Virginia, reported a large, bright, orange object with searchlights that lit up the ground and trees, and then disappeared rapidly.
• September 1970, Middletown, Ohio: Employees of WPFB Radio reported sightings of "strange lights" and a "red and green pulsating light" hovering above trees, described as "like fire falling from the sky." One witness saw a multi-colored object skip across trees at high speed.
• October and November 1970, Massachusetts: Residents in Mt. Greylock, Raynham, and Williamstown reported seeing UFOs. In Williamstown, two objects were seen, one with orange-red lights and a rotating white light. Less than an hour later, nearby towns experienced an electrical power blackout, explained as an unexplained "power-drain."
• March 19, 1966, Freeport, Texas: A Coast Guardsman reported watching a town blackout for two minutes as a blue UFO passed over.

While the great Northeast power failure of November 9, 1965, has been speculated to be UFO-caused, the newsletter notes there is no concrete evidence, though numerous reliable cases of UFOs causing localized blackouts exist.

UFO Overtakes Car

February 1971, Buhl, Idaho: A witness starting his car saw an "elongated, slightly flattened, egg-shaped object" rise from a pasture. Later, the witness was followed and overtaken by an object with "one oversized headlight" that lit up the road, moving at "at least 200 miles an hour." The UFO, about 20-30 feet long and 15 feet tall, passed over the car at tree-top height and disappeared.

Sighting Capsules

• February 1, 1971, Delia, Kansas: Fred Lundin reported an object exploding with a red light and crashing near his home, burning with a high flame. Metallic fragments were found, but NASA stated that the rocket stages involved in their space program did not fall in that area.
• February 3-6, 1971, Horseshoe Bend, Idaho: Witnesses saw "very large and bright" objects with flashing red, blue, and clear lights. One object moved straight up, returned larger, and disappeared. Another was described as round with a red light at the bottom and flashing lights around its circumference. A possible explanation offered is "Planetary illusions."
• February 16, 1971, Malott, Washington: A company foreman and his daughter saw a disc with one steady and one flashing light fly over Soap Lake Mountain for six minutes.

McDonald, The SST -- And UFOs (An Editorial Comment)

This section addresses the relationship between Dr. James E. McDonald, a senior physicist at the University of Arizona, and the SST hearing, clarifying misconceptions. The newsletter defends McDonald, stating he is a careful scientist who does not make unsubstantiated statements and has never claimed UFOs caused the 1965 Northeast blackout, though he keeps an open mind to the possibility. The article criticizes the press for misrepresenting McDonald's testimony before the House Appropriations Subcommittee, where he discussed the potential dangers of the SST, including increased ultraviolet rays. When asked by Rep. Silvio Conte if he believed in flying saucers, McDonald reportedly stated that "belief" was not the question, but a serious scientific study was.

Several newspaper clippings are cited, implying McDonald linked UFOs to power failures. The editorial argues that such implications hurt both the anti-SST and pro-UFO causes. It suggests that funds for the SST could be better spent on pressing problem areas and on UFO investigations. McDonald is quoted as stating there is "no relationship of any sort between UFOs and SSTs."

The newsletter laments the public and media perception that a scientist who is pro-UFO is anti-science, making it difficult for scientists like McDonald to convey their ideas. It suggests that a closer look at the UFO subject might lead to a more objective perspective.

Upcoming Issue: Vol. I, No. 2, planned for May 15, will feature first-hand information on the Godman AFB case of January 7, 1948, where Captain Thomas Mantell was killed chasing a UFO, and a report on UFOs and status inconsistency in Science magazine.

Recurring Themes and Editorial Stance

The UFO Research Newsletter positions itself as a publication devoted to a scientifically-oriented concept of UFO sightings and information. It aims to be discerning in reporting, providing a comprehensive round-up of sighting information while qualifying cases that might involve misinterpretation. The newsletter does not accept contactee claims outright but keeps an open mind and will investigate such reports, acknowledging their historical lack of documentation. It believes the hard-core percentage of unexplained UFO reports likely represents extraterrestrial vehicles but remains open to other possibilities. The publication intends to serve as an open forum for scientists and interested individuals, maintaining high journalistic standards and airing opposing views if they meet these standards. The editorial stance is one of critical inquiry, advocating for rigorous scientific investigation and challenging official dismissals of UFO phenomena, while also cautioning against sensationalism and unsubstantiated claims.