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Every so often, a cry goes out from some well-known UFOlogist about the lack of "progress" in UFOlogy. The cry is often echoed by others, typically with great wailing and gnashing of teeth. Solutions are proposed, but ultimately nothing changes. As those of you who follow the UFO Blogs and postings already know, the most recent cry of this kind comes from the Spanish UFOlogist Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos. Olmos has been researching UFOs for fifty years now, and since the year 2000 has been

By Robert Sheaffer badufos.blogspot.com 6-19-17

concentrating his efforts on FOTOCAT, a world-wide catalog of UFO photo events. Many researchers have assisted with this collection, myself included. Olmos is well-respected among UFO Realists (those who attempt to adhere to facts (more or less) in investigating UFOs, as opposed to the Unrealists who are always ready to believe exciting UFO stories with little or no proof). In Jacques Vallee's autobiographical Forbidden Science (Volume 2), he mentions in an entry for 1970 that he has been corresponding regularly with Olmos concerning reported Spanish landing cases. In fact, Vallee mentions Olmos several times in that volume. You won't find anyone with better UFO street cred than that.
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This month is the 70th anniversary of the beginning of a new epoch, when the flying discs invaded our skies for the first time…officially. For some, it began in 1946 with the “ghost rockets” in Sweden, or in the IIWW theatre with the “foo fighters”, or with the “phantom airplanes” of 1912-1913, whilst others would go back to the “airships” of the late XIX century, or to ancient times. But, we all know that it was since the US press attached the “flying saucer” tag to this subject that a large-magnitude phenomenon emerged. One that has had a heavy impact on the general population all over the world. The way I wish to commemorate this ephemeris is by writing down my present vision about the UFO phenomenon, after 50 years of personal

By Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos UFO FOTOCAT BLOG 6-9-17

study, centering on the nature of the supposed evidence that has been collected in all these 70 years of UFO phenomenology. These are the views of a sincere investigator of a mystery that seems to play with us, until we realize that we have simply allowed ourselves to be led astray by a number of surrounding circumstances and influences. What seems at first sight absurd, really is illogical, irrational, incoherent ... finally inadmissible.

I have prepared an essay on the foundation of what can only be a portent or a chimera: the true level of certainty, proof and conviction, that is, the evidence. And I have asked Indiana University emeritus professor Thomas Bullard to accompany me in this global evaluation of the UFO problem with his own thoughts. We agree for the most part but we also have a degree of disagreement. But we both recognize that advancement and progress in this study will only happen when ideas are confronted in a framework of respect and tolerance.

For bibliography quotation purposes, the formal reference to this article will be as follows:
Ballester Olmos, V.J. & Bullard, T.E. (2017), “The Nature of UFO Evidence: Two Views,”




It is exactly 70 years since the society of the United States was thrilled and shaken by the first report of “flying saucers”. This was the early sighting by Kenneth Arnold on June 24, 1947. It also started a phenomenon ufologists would later call “wave”, a huge avalanche of reports throughout all the nation’s newspapers. It was short-lived and profiled as a sharp Gaussian curve developed over only three weeks: following the initial sighting’s press coverage, news interest ignited, peaked, reached a saturation point and quickly declined. This aftermath triggered two important developments: (1) the stories were disseminated all over the globe, taking on a life of their own in every country, and (2) the Army Air Force (later, USAF) jumped on the matter, beginning to investigate the visions of flying saucers (later, unidentified flying objects or UFOs).

Seven decades of UFO history have provided countless facts and histories, actions and reactions, military and civilian initiatives, Congress and Parliamentary hearings, symposia, scientists and laypersons declarations, and countless UFO-related portrayals in media, cinema, television, publishing and advertisement, daily bombarding and influencing the citizens. Not to mention the millions of supposed UFO reports that emerged from the public and the feedback they yielded. Not to neglect the important effect produced by thousands of UFO proponents all over the globe, people that James Carrion, ex-CEO of MUFON, the top UFO organization in the world, characterized as “self-proclaimed investigators or investigation journalists, whose modus operandi is to perpetuate the mystery, not to solve it”. Seen from a European perspective, this diagnostics is right on target.
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     Psst Dave Grohl –

Since you’re a “UFO fanatic” – obviously nobody in the biz knew what foo fighters were until you came along – just wanted to tip you off to some new cool stuff online about your band’s namesake. OK, check that, it’s not new, right, we’re talking Second World War. But it’s the latest accessible material from Keith Chester, posted in December at "U.F.O Historical Revue."


Now, dude, I know you know how foo-fighter encounters first broke in the U.S. press big-time in late 1944-early 1945, and how the guys on the front lines thought official attempts to blow it off as ball lightning and/or St. Elmo’s fire was a big joke. (Hell, a 415th Night Fighter Squadron veteran right here in Sarasota chuckled in contempt a few years back when he recounted the contortions ...) But were you aware that what the Allies began referring to as “phenomena” started turning heads from the very beginning of the war? And that before they were dubbed foo fighters late in the game, there were reports of “stove pipes,” “cylinders,” “orange crates,” “pie-plate discs,” “flying doughnuts,” “fire extinguishers,” “ball and chains,” “egg shapes,” “soap bubbles,” “resembling Zeppelins” and “balloons,” even when they moved against the wind? Thank god foo fighters was the name that stuck, ay? I'm guessing you wouldn't have gone from Nirvana to The Flying Doughnuts.

Anyhow, the documents Chester recovered are loaded with so many incidents of bombers and fighters trying unsuccessfully to shake their spooky and infuriating maneuverability, you start losing track after awhile. If I were going to Hollywood this thing, I’d cast Richard Pryor – yeah, I know it’s not accurate or feasible – as an excitable ball turret gunner finding the range – “Whoa mother*#!%errrrr! My turn now, MY turn!” – and raking the sky with twin .50s. Then I’d zoom in on the bug-eyed disbelief. Because shooting these things was useless.

While crossing Holland on 6/25/42, RAF bomber pilot Lt. Roman Sabinski tells his tail-gunner to “Give it a blast” when a full moon-sized copper-colored object jumps from just off the left wing to the right at instantaneous speed; tracer rounds indicate direct hits, to no effect. Shortly after D-Day, British Lancaster bomber pilot George Barton reports being followed home following a raid over Germany by a cluster of “spheres”; neither evasive tactics nor gunfire deter the ultimately harmless pursuers (if that’s indeed what they were).

In August 1944, after striking oil refineries in Sumatra, numerous crews with the 468th Bombardment Group are rattled by what they regard as “a bizarre and confusing type of new weapon.” One bomber reports being “under continuous attack for 1 hour and 10 minutes” by a swarm of baseball-sized reddish-orange spheres that tend explode into four to five smaller balls without inflicting any damage. No ground or ocean flashes are detected, and “on one occasion,” states a report, “the course was altered sufficiently to allow tail guns to bear in the direction of the bursts, but 20-mm and 50-cal. fire from the B-29 had no visible effect.”

Anyway, man, I’m guessing if any foo fighters had killed any our guys, you might’ve chosen a different name for your band. But De Void likes the title of this report: “Additional Information On The Observation Of Silvery Colored Discs On Mission to Stuttgart, 6 Sept. 1943,” prepared by the 384th Bombardment Group for the 1st Bombardment Wing. During an air battle with German planes, two B-17 crews watched as a third was descended upon by a “cluster” of silver colored objects that may have been as long as 75 feet, and 20 feet wide. Nobody saw attack planes dropping ordnance. They noted only that some of it collided with a B-17 and “the wing immediately started to burn,” which resulted in the loss of the bomber.”

Nazi tech or something else, this stuff couldn’t be ignored, and by January ’45, a secret report, subject matter “Night Phenomenon,” reached XII Tactical Air Command from one of the Air Force intelligence officers: “We have encountered a phenomenon which we cannot explain; crews have been followed by lights that blink on and off changing colors etc. The lights come very close and fly in formation with our planes. They are agitating and keep the crews on edge when they encounter them, mainly because they cannot explain them.”

On and on it goes. Bottom line, the latest installment of the history nobody knows is available online now at http://greenwoodufoarchive.com/uhr/uhr17.pdf It describes another couple of futile shooting incidents, but De Void likes the part where U.S. pilots tried to turn the tables and gave chase to the Foo Fighters, which then tried to lure the warplanes into “a concentrated flak area.” Those who suggested the airmen were being duped by St. Elmo’s fire invited this pilot response: “Well, let the sons of bitches come over and fly a mission with us.”

Want more links?

http://www.project1947.com/fig/1943a.htm

http://www.project1947.com/fig/1944a.htm

http://www.project1947.com/fig/1945a.htm

http://www.project1947.com/47cats/usnavydraft1.htm#1850

Getting a little long-winded here, Dave. Sorry. Only reason I bring it up is that with Hillary Clinton and campaign manager John Podesta stating they want to “get to the bottom” of this UFO thing, the Foo Fighters should consider contributing an anthem to nudge it along. It doesn’t really matter who you’re voting for. It’s about reminding them to keep their eyes on the ball. 'Til then, see you at the Devil's Tower.
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