As the contents of the documents that have remained secret for many decades are revealed, and the former pilots go on a well-deserved retirement and no longer consider themselves obligated to keep official secrets, new facts of their contacts with UFOs during their stay in the ranks of military or civil aviation become known.
On the evening of June 29, 1954, James Howard, the commander of the British airline BOAS, took his car into the air at one of the airports in New York and headed for London.
About 30 minutes after take-off, Howard was instructed by New York's Air Traffic Control Center to steer the aircraft towards the coast of Rhode Island and remain in the area until further instructions. After 10-12 minutes Howard informed the Center that he had only fuel left for the given route, and asked permission to continue the flight. He was allowed on the condition that he made a detour and overflying Cape Cod in the north of the state.
Three hours later, when the plane was at an altitude of 7000 meters above the mouth of the St. Lawrence River (Quebec, Canada), several UFOs appeared in the sky, which remained in line of sight for about 20 minutes. Howard later described them in his report: “They flew at about the same speed as we did - about 400 km / h on a parallel course, about three miles northwest of us. These objects were observed by all members of the aircraft crew, and the navigator determined the parameters of their movement."
Howard immediately reported his observations to the Control Center. They confirmed the receipt of the message and offered to report further on all "abnormal" events and situations during the flight. However, two hours later, Howard was unexpectedly instructed to make an unscheduled landing in the Canadian town of Goose Bay on the western tip of the Labrador Peninsula. Immediately after the plane landed, both Howard and his entire crew were interrogated by the United States Air Force Intelligence Agency. During the interrogation, Howard thought that "these specialists in civilian clothes" were not surprised by what they heard. He later learned that while his plane was circling over Rhode Island, Air Force reconnaissance was already tracking a group of UFOs flying to the northeast and discovered earlier over the state of Massachusetts. A visiting doctor and his wife reported about them to one of the police stations,who were here on vacation.
On June 4, 1955, the crew of a Boeing RB-47, a medium-range reconnaissance aircraft flying over the Waycount Melville Strait off the northern coast of Canada, established radar and then visual contact with a UFO. It was a silver-gray machine, it was located at a distance of about 5,000 meters from the aircraft, and the pilots observed it for nine minutes. Subsequently, journalists learned that during the entire observation period, UFOs were also filmed using a high-speed movie camera, however, the Air Force security officials said that the quality of the footage was very low and therefore it was impossible to extract useful information from it. This statement was greeted by journalists with great distrust, since no one except the mentioned employees had seen the filmed film. Mistrust intensified when it became known that three days later,On June 7, the Air Force command sent to the same area a second exactly the same reconnaissance aircraft, only additionally equipped with the latest radio, photographic and film equipment, as well as the most modern radar equipment. This aircraft from Alison Air Force Base in Alaska made three UFO radar contacts over Banks Island off the northeast coast of Canada on the same day. But the Air Force command did not give any details about this episode. This aircraft from Alison Air Force Base in Alaska made three UFO radar contacts over Banks Island off the northeast coast of Canada on the same day. But the Air Force command did not provide any details about this episode. This aircraft from Alison Air Force Base in Alaska made three UFO radar contacts over Banks Island off the northeast coast of Canada on the same day. But the Air Force command did not give any details about this episode.
On April 8, 1956, the commander of the civilian airliner, Raymond Ryan, and the co-pilot, William Nef, suddenly saw a UFO flying towards them with dazzling white lights straight ahead. Ryan pointed the plane steeply upward, while the UFO, suddenly illuminated by an orange light, made a 90 ° turn to the right and raced right under their very noses at a speed of at least 1,500 kilometers per hour. Fearing new "tricks" from the UFO, the commander turned on the landing lights and reported the incident to the nearby US Air Force Base Griffis. In response, Ryan was told that they had found an orange glow of unknown origin at an altitude of 2500 meters and had already sent two interceptors there, and he was asked to turn off the landing lights, change course and follow the area of the UFO's current location. Ryan obeyed the order,but his liner failed to approach the UFO, which was far superior in speed and maneuverability even to interceptor fighters, and soon disappeared from sight near Lake Ontario. Ryan returned the liner to its previous course and soon landed it safely at the airport in Syracuse.
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On February 19, 1956, at 22.50, a mark suddenly appeared on the radar screens of Paris Orly airport, twice as large as that which could correspond to the reflected signal for any known type of aircraft. Then, tracked by radars and, judging by the mark, the giant UFO for the next four hours, as if demonstrating its capabilities, maneuvered in the sky, developing fantastic speeds and making unimaginably sharp turns. So, being at some point in time over the city of Gomes-le-Châtel, the object in half a minute moved 30 kilometers to the side. To do this, he needed to develop a speed of 3600 kilometers per hour.
At this time, a DC-3 Dakota transport plane was flying over the Le Muro military airbase, about 40 kilometers from Orly, at an altitude of 1400 meters. Air dispatcher Orly told the Dakota commander that there was an unidentified object in the air, 250 meters below his plane. Dakota's radio operator Beapertu saw the UFO through the cockpit window and said that the object was enormous and glowed with red light. Later, the commander of the Desavaux plane sent a report to the French Ministry of Aviation with the following content:
"… We observed the UFO for 30 seconds, but could not accurately determine its shape or size. During the flight, these parameters are difficult to estimate. However, we are all sure of one thing - it was not a civilian aircraft. Oi did not have navigation lights, which, according to international law, should be on any such aircraft. Then Orly warned me that a UFO was approaching us on the left, and I turned the plane towards him. But after a few seconds Orly reported that the object turned around and headed north, towards Le Bourget. And ten minutes later controller Orly reported that the UFO was already several kilometers above us. But we could no longer see it …"
On the evening of September 4, 1957, a link of four F-84 jet fighters of the Portuguese Air Force under the command of Captain José Lemos Ferreira took off from Ota airbase for a training flight. The weather was excellent with a cloudless sky, a full moon and a visibility of more than 70 kilometers. What happened next, Captain Ferreira detailed in his report:
… When at 20.06 we reached Granada and began to make a right turn to head for Portalegre, I saw an unusual light source above the horizon to my left. I decided to inform the other pilots about it, and we began to discuss what we saw on the radio, but understand It looked like an unusually large and very bright, sparkling star with a core in its center, the color of which was constantly changing from green to blue, taking on a reddish or yellowish tint. began to increase rapidly and became six times more than it was a few seconds ago, then, after a few more seconds, it also rapidly began to decrease and soon turned into a dull yellowish star, barely visible above the horizon.
Such expansions and contractions were repeated several times, and after each change in magnitude, the object remained in its new form for several seconds. All this time, the position of the UFO relative to our course remained unchanged, approximately at an angle of 40 to the port side, so we could not determine what caused the changes in the size of the object - its rapid approach to us and the same rapid removal, or whether it increased and decreased, staying at the same distance from us.
These transformations took place with the UFO for eight minutes, after which it began to descend to the horizon and at the same time, as it were, moved from its place, eventually taking a new position relative to our course - at an angle of 90 to the port side.
At 20.38 I decided to end the flight, gave the command to make a left turn and head for Korushi, remaining at the same altitude of 7500 meters. We turned almost 50, but the UFO was again on the left at an angle of 90, although much lower than us, but it became much closer. All this could only happen if he also made the appropriate maneuver.
The UFO was now bright red and shaped like a curved bean pod. Several minutes passed, and we saw a small circle of yellow lights near the "pod". Soon, three more similar circles appeared next to him. They moved quickly, their relative position was constantly changing. We still could not determine the distance to these objects, although we understood that they were close enough and located below us. But it was obvious that the "big object" is 10-15 times larger than the yellow circles and that he somehow guides them.
When we approached Korushi, the UFO suddenly "fell" down, and then rushed up to meet us. In view of the unexpectedly arising danger of a collision, each pilot independently performed an evasive maneuver, the formation of aircraft disintegrated. After a few seconds, everyone came to their senses, restored the formation, and when they looked around, they found that the UFO had disappeared. In the future, the flight proceeded normally, we landed safely at our base.
We tracked the UFO for more than forty minutes, but we still did not understand what it was. Nevertheless, we are all sure that it was not a balloon, an airplane, the planet Venus, or some other object from among those that appear in ridiculous attempts to explain the UFO phenomenon with the help of everyday concepts …"
On November 15, 1960, the crew of the RB-57 reconnaissance aircraft of the US Air Force, taking off from the Australian airbase East Sale, noticed a UFO in the air 50 kilometers from the city of Cressy, Tasmania. About this case, the aircraft commander sent a report to the leadership of the Australian Air Force intelligence service with the following content:
“At about 10.40 local time, when we were 25 kilometers from Launceston, my navigator reported that he saw a plane below, approaching us from the left side. Our altitude at that moment was 12,000 meters, speed 600 km / h, course 340. I also saw an object approaching at very high speed and immediately told the navigator that it was not an airplane and that it looked more like a balloon. In our opinion, he walked at an altitude of about 10,000 meters, course 140. Based on my experience, I determined that the speed of the object exceeded 1400 km / h. We observed this UFO for about six seconds until it disappeared under our left wing. Since the UFO looked very unusual, I immediately laid a left bank to continue observing it, but it was nowhere to be seen.
The diameter of the UFO was about 25 meters, outwardly it looked like a translucent ball of indeterminate color, there were no protruding parts on it, its outlines seemed vague ….
On April 30, 1962, NASA test pilot Joseph Walker once again lifted the X-15 experimental aircraft, which was being tested at Edward Air Force Base in California. This supersonic aircraft with a liquid propellant rocket engine had fantastic flight characteristics for those times. When on this flight the X-15 reached an altitude of 60,000 meters and a speed of 5,000 kilometers per hour, the pilot reported on the radio to the ground: two light silver disc-shaped UFOs had just flown over him, easily overtaking him.
Referring to this episode on May 11, 1962 in Seattle, Washington, at the Second National Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Space Research Results, Walker said that the tasks assigned to him by his superiors also included the search and identification of UFOs.
The following information will help to understand the reason for the "taciturnity" of the pilots who served when it came to the UFO problem:
On February 17, 1954, executives from all civilian airlines in the United States were invited to a conference in Los Angeles, where the Office of Military Transport Aviation Intelligence officers presented a document codenamed JANAP-146 to the audience. The document was the "Instruction of the Joint Information Service of the Army, Navy and Air Force", forbidding all crew members of civilian aircraft to talk about their UFO sightings, not only to the media, but also to their relatives and friends.
For pilots who violated the instructions and told about their encounters with UFOs, a very harsh punishment was established: imprisonment for up to ten years or a fine of up to $ 10,000.