MUFOB ARCHIVE/02 1966 MUFORG Bulletin 01

MUFORG Bulletin No. 1. February 1966

Edited by John Harney

COMMENT

Investigators Investigated

The latest developments in UFO investigation and research are rather encouraging. Ufologists are at last becoming generally aware of their own inadequacies and are thinking seriously about how they can attract people with the intelligence, application and technical knowledge that this difficult subject demands.

Jacques Vallée’s survey of UFO organisations in the USA is an invaluable first step towards the compilation of a list of the world’s more reliable UFO organisations. This should help to divide the world’s UFO enthusiasts sharply into two camps – those who uncritically accept contact stories and make a sort of mystical cult of the subject, like the people described by H. Taylor Buckner of California, whose findings were published in this country in New Society, and those who wish to see each report investigated objectively and scientifically. The latter group could perhaps arouse the interest of the scientific fraternity by the exchange of relevant information. For example, ufologists receive reports from observers all over the world. Many of these are obviously misinterpretations of such natural phenomena as meteors, mirages and ball lightning. Some of the phenomena reported, such as ball lightning, are very rare and imperfectly understood by modern science. Reliable reports of the more unusual manifestations of atmospheric electricity would be most useful to meteorologists and physicists. Accurate descriptions of meteors are of great interest to astronomers. When we gain the confidence of scientific organisations by means of an objective attitude and reliable observations we shall be able to call on them to help us in our investigations into the more difficult cases, such as the Cappoquin and Liverpool sightings described in this Bulletin.

The editorial in the Jan-Feb 1966 issue of Flying Saucer Review is very timely and seems to have been inspired by the work of Jacques Vallée. There is no reason why we should worry ourselves about the statements put out by government departments. Utilising our own resources to the full may eventually lead us to a definite conclusion without their help. Flying Saucer Review’s world coverage of sightings is impressive, but it would be better if more indications could be given as to the genuineness of some of the more sensational reports. This is where Vallée’s work on UFO organisations comes in. All serious UFO groups should give him their full co-operation.

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MUFORG NEWS

New Members:

One of the latest applications for membership of the Group is a Professor of Herpetology in New York. The Group decided, at their January meeting, to offer him honorary membership. Since a recent television appearance of Gordon Creighton the Group has received several membership enquiries.

Change of Officers:

Mr A. Rawlinson handed over the following offices at the Group’s January meeting. Mr R. Donnelly became BUFORA information officer for this area, Mr R.D. Hughes was elected to the BUFORA National Council, and Mr J. Harney took over the editorship of this Bulletin

Getting Acquainted:

Several MUFORG members are going to Manchester on February 26th, to hear a talk on Adamski-ism by Ron Caswell, of International Get-Acquainted Programme. We hope to publish a report of the meeting in our next issue.

Press:

The Group has been contacted\\recently by three local papers, including the Liverpool Daily Post, who wish to do a feature article on the Group’s members and activities. The Group has recently been giving much consideration to the problem of press and public relations, being well aware of the dangers of sensationalism. (Advice and comment on press relations from other UFO organisations will be welcomed.)

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CAPPOQUIN SIGHTING – SIMILAR OBJECT SEEN OVER LIVERPOOL

An important UFO sighting, with photograph, was recently brought to the attention of the British public by aviation historian Mr Charles Gibbs-Smith.

A friend of his, Miss Jacqueline Wingfield, with a Miss Mortensen, was driving along a road near Cappoquin, Co. Waterford, on December 26th, 1965. The weather was perfect with a clear, blue sky. The time was between 3.15 and 3.30 p.m. Miss Mortensen suddenly saw a strange object moving steadily across the sky in front of them. The car was stopped and a photograph taken and later successfully developed. The object was round in shape and had a solid, metallic appearance. There was a large plume of flame-like brightness trailing behind it.

In the Liverpool Daily Post of January 28th, a letter from a Mr C.F. Campbell was published. Mr Campbell claimed to have witnessed an object similar to the Cappoquin one, and on the same day. The object was also seen by five of his children. They were walking on the Knowsley Estate, near Liverpool, “sometime after midday”. The object “eventually went away in a SSW direction, climbing from a height of about 8,000 – 10,000 feet”. Visibility was excellent and the object was observed for some three or four minutes.

Alan Rawlinson, Hon. Secretary of MUFORG, telephoned Mr Campbell to request an interview. Unfortunately, Mr Campbell declined to be interviewed, but said he was willing to answer queries by telephone. He said that the object appeared to be hovering at first, moving up and down for about two minutes, then it moved off, moving against the wind. It appeared to change colour from greyish to reddish.

ANOTHER LIVERPOOL SIGHTING

Miss Black, Hon. Treasurer of MUFORG, reported seeing a red, oblong object moving high over Merseyside on December 10th, at about 6.0 p.m. A spokesman at Liverpool Airport Meteorological Office suggested that it could have been a high-flying aircraft, illuminated by the sun. Miss Black was not satisfied with this explanation and at MUFORG’s February meeting, drew the attention of members to a UFO-LOG report of an orange, oblong object, with rounded ends, sighted at Enfield, Middlesex, on the evening of December 10th.

More local sightings: Some UFO sightings in the Netherton district of Bootle are being investigated. Details will be published in our next issue.

SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR SCIENTIFIC UFO RESEARCH

by R.D. Hughes

The ultimate aim of scientific research into UFOs is obvious – i.e. to build such a machine and understand their scientific thought. This is easily said, but where do we start? I think that it is easier to build a copy of something that we can see than to understand their scientific thought, which is largely unsubstantiated and pure hearsay by contacts. (1) I feel we could use some basic techniques of military espionage and logic rather than wild guesses and blind acceptance of contact stories.

I would like to offer a few ideas on the organisation of research with a view to cutting out dead wood and supplying a foundation on which to work.

Analysis of External Structure

Although the external dimensions and general configuration of Adamski type scout ships have been known for a long time, the surface details, such as nuts and bolts, are not known because our equipment has been not nearly good enough. To obtain such good surface detail would require the use of cameras similar to those used in high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, which can photograph a golf ball at 10 miles and read the name on a crate on the deck of a ship at 8 miles. (2) This equipment is not beyond our reach. Although it will be larger and more cumbersome than the aircraft type there will be closer control by operators.

Like spies photographing an aircraft, we would be able to determine whether their craft are riveted, bolted, welded, or one-piece constructions. Methods of securing windows, details of coil assemblies, various details around the underside, and numerous other points could be determined. The photographs of aircraft used for military espionage enable an analyst to discover the exact construction of the aircraft.

Spectrum Analysis

For aircraft and rockets of unknown type it is possible to determine the fuel used. It is possible to tell whether a high-altitude aircraft is rocket-assisted, if so what type and power. Kerosine/oxygen rockets give vastly different results to hydrazine/nitric acid rockets.

We are lucky in that the UFO is luminous over the whole surface of the disc. If the light is strong (as from such a body) then more accurate readings can be obtained. If the light produced is analysed properly, it is an easy matter to determine the origin of the light. By this I do not mean whether or not the light came from a port hole but, rather, how the light was produced. A good analogy is a street light. Assuming one cannot see the shape of the light, it is possible to tell the type of light it is, whether tungsten, mercury arc, or fluorescent (sodium is obvious), what type of glass surrounds the bulb, and even which company made the lamp!

Using this technique, an apparently self-luminous UFO can be shown to be luminous only by reflection from sunlight, glowing itself, or the air around it glowing. Prominent lights, e.g. the intense, blue light from the top, could be mercury, cobalt, copper, or chromium arc, or just a white light surrounded by blue glass.

Performance Analysis

Often a clue to the power of a machine is given by its performance. The fact that a fighter can fly faster and manoeuvre more elegantly than a bomber shows that the power/weight ratio and the thrust/drag ratio is higher in the former case. If a machine is incapable of a certain manoeuvre it means that the system will not stand it, there is just not enough power, or the occupants do not want to do it. Some contacts claim that the UFO is remote controlled by being locked in a gravitational beam. (3) If this is so the UFO would find it impossible to loop or roll because a gravitational beam could not exert force in the required direction. To my knowledge, no UFOs have been seen to loop or roll. (4) Maybe this is because of the control system, or maybe they just do not want to.

Checking Contact Claims

Dino Kraspedon puts forward a wealth of information which, if true, is invaluable to our studies. (5) He tells of electromagnetic systems of repelling air, atomic batteries which are three times as efficient and possibly one-tenth the size of our best reactors, “G” fields, the mysterious “Bismuth Cycle” and many others. If his claims are tested and found to work, then he has had contact with extraterrestrials. With science moving ahead so rapidly, constant reference must be made to books and journals in order to check that the claims are not just recently discovered phenomena.

From the above parts it may be seen that the first and second parts could give us the nature of the power. For instance, if a machine used a gravity drive the structure would not need to be much stronger than a bubble car, but if a system like Kraspedon claims is used, the structure would be as solid as a Sea Vixen or Buccaneer. The first part would also give us a good idea of their constructional techniques. The third and fourth parts should give us the theoretical power system, whereas all four taken together is likely to give us the basic technology to build a flying model at least.

Notes

See section 4.

U2 reconnaissance planes over Russian ships bound for Cuba.

Orfeo Angelucci.

Latest edition (Jan-Feb 1966) of Flying Saucer Review contains a report from France of UFO which “executed several loops”. – Ed.

Dino Kraspedon, My Contact with Flying Saucers.

WARMINSTER

The editor of the Warminster Journal (and, no doubt, several local hotel-keepers) has recently been wondering where the famous “Thing” has got to. He is planning to write a UFO book to be entitled Haunted by the Thing.

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