The Bridgeport Post from Bridgeport, Connecticut • Page 108

ET-TWELVE BRIDGEPORT SUNDAY POST, MAY 14, 1967 Pressure to Probe UFOs May Result In Man Knowing More of Own Universe After years of (alk ibout unidentified flying objects-UFOs, one fact stands out--no thorough, scientific study ever teen made lo tee If Ihe little green men really do But now pressure Is growing, and scientists are beginning to lake a deeper look. If nothing else, man may learn more about his own universe. I ALTON BLAKESLEE (AiKK'latrd Ftw Sclttca Wjlfcr) From his lOth-floor office atop the highest building on the University of Colorado campus, Dr. Edward U. Condon: has a magnificent eyrie to scan the skies for UFOs--unidentified flying objects.

Quite a View His windows vie 1 upon foothills, of Mountains, north enne, east o' plains 'stretching Cheyenne, vast plains stretching Mississippi," southeast Denver 40 miles away. And -Edwari cist, -is in: a sense UFOs. 'He -heads scientists investiga of UFOs which sc believe are visitors planets; Dr. 'Condon has nlly-s'een a UFO. National' 'I lives tig; mittee'on-Aerial works in'a'third-floi a view of downtown his working- gue's: UFOs come ipace: nevei seen a UFO.

UFO Consi And Hynek; Northwestern' For nearly -2 have created a Americans of sion, debate, belief, concern of The 1 poles of.b conviction that be. exp.lained-as chological phenomena cqnvic.Ubn' that' are'millions of Why-Oil Perhaps the" question 1 is whs eratioh Of time some far advanced civilization also be inspecting earth? UFOs have brought sizable income to some authors, but serious investigations have limped along on limited budgets. Project Blue Book, the Air Force's continuing study, is budgeted directly at $72,000 a year: The annual budget of NI- CAP, a voluntary civilian organization, is $50,000 and there have been far leaner years, Hall it adds, all'photographs aluated have been determined be "a misinterpretation" of tural or conventional ob- To Project Blue Book, an "un- entitled" sighting Is a icport at seemingly all ririerit data necessary to sug- a valid hypothesis'' con- rning the cause of explanation the report, hut the descrip- m- of the object or its'motion nnot be'correlated with any losophy, who joined NICAP In' 19 58. "We try to be open-minded 'and objective', but we can't rule out the possibility that. there have been More than JO NICAP field teams, working mainly in their own localities, investigate numerous reports "if they look promising.

We investigate because there is so much evidence of fraud, and a number of cases of psychosis," among reported sightings'. Field team results frgm interviews, assessment of character and background, plus a search -for any a 'forwarded to headquarters Washington for analysis. "We are willing to subject Ihe inherent problems, one that adverse report jnay be called whitewash because the Air Force supported it. Or, he says, other people 'may think the 1 study means the government is admitting there really is some- hing to UFOs. The committee has called on Project Blue Book and NICAP for particular reports it wants, and is receiving some reports directly.

Some Don't Report If everyone had reported or more have they not communicated with earthlings directly? One-reply Is, "Why should they?" Handlings' first explorations of other planets are by unmanned probes. Or, it is suggested, UFO crews may repre? sent beings with a to life span, to whom 20 years of reconnaissance ia but an eyeblink of time. Why have UFOs' not been picked up by the network of space tracking stations, telescopic sky surveys, or observatories? Perhaps they can leave sightings they've seen, there tne sp a ce continuum as might be 10 to 100 times (he numans know it, or dematerial- 000.br so collected by the Air tmls escaping radar and Force, Dr. Condon Gal- photographic detection. lup Poll says five million people ny do they not break the have reported seeing sound barrieiC causing sonic they believed to be "flying sau- booms if UFOs, as often report- iv northwest the Rocky award Chey- ver the vast orlh toward est over the hing lo the ast toward vay.

ndon, physi- looking for a team of ting reports ame persons from distant lever person- Uchatd Hall, the ations Corh- henorhena -of office with i streets. It is some from- outer personally ultan: Dr Alte astronome decades -ha consultant ce on loor i servatory a niversity i Hynek fully scieh Fp phenome- contributed 't years, UFO on trail amqn yste'ry, confu notion, scorn i potent poin ef range from ca atural or ps meria to th ieV In betwei -P why the bate? Why a icre unexplained sightings? Some UFOs could-be extratcr- cstrial and there's no proof icy are not. Very provocative ghtings have been 'made by rained observers, including cientisls and pilots. The Air "orce hasn't really made a good nvcstigation. The Air Force is ngaged in a conspiracy to hide le truth.

The "scientific estab- ishment" knows the facts, but embarrassed to admit that a uperior civilization and science xist elsewhere. Scientists and thers- have often ridiculed hon- st, reputable people for de- cribing what they saw- rather lan listen to and investigate their stories. On another hand: See No Threat The Air Force says it is satisfied UFOs do not represent a hreat to 'roving that UFOs are'superna- ural should rest upon the bel- money, probably all sightings could be explained without in- erring extraterrestrial origin Some sightings are hdaxes most are aircrafls, stars, me- eors or other phenomena. And, says one psychologist or some people "the indignit; of the explanation" doesn't sui "the 'enormity of the event" tha was experienced or the- wish to believe in from space. In similar vein, he adds some -persons reject the Warren Commission 'report that irio con spiracy was involved in.Presi dent John F.

Kennedy's a'ssassi nation. People who feel this fee that somehow such large event' require large explanation's. Are We Watched Cerlainly there is growing public fron science fiction and published suppositions "of- astronomers there, could be life on mil lions or billions of other planet among all the'billionsitimeS'bi lions. of, in the, universe With man sending space probe to nearby planets, could nc ays, In both cases, actual ex- are-higher if indirect and time of associated iersonnel are included. For Centuries For centuries, people have Ighted.

curious unexplained ights or phenomena in the ikies. Some legends, in China, 'ei'u and elsewhere, have been nterpretedfas 'meaning liv-. ng beings came from 'space to )opulate the. earth. Current) continuing UFO in- in' the' Unite'd States was sparked by.

the report in' 1947 a businessman pi'pt, Kenneth Arnold, of'' seeing nine' strange moving over Mt. Rainier, in the State of Washington: The 'term "flying saucer's" was cbine'd." Later- came the designa on any aerl al object the. observer is. unable identify. Late in a year of' intensifying cold war, the Air Force launched a study which -later was dubbed Project Blue Book.

Each year has brought a steady of reported sightings to Blue'Book, with flurries of 1,50 cases in 1952, 1,006 in 1957, am the' runner-up high of 1,060 i 1966: Some Unidentified At Wright-Patterson A Force Base near Dayton; Ohi Maj. Hector A. Quintanilla, Jr career officer in charge of Blu Book, sums up the 1..107 repor since 1947: Six per cent-- 676-- are s( listed as unidentified, includin of -last year's. Another, 2 are listed as Jacking sufficie hi formation, to -to -answer, remai negative on three questions': No evidence that any. UFO has evaluated is, any threat lational security.

No evidence that "unide tified" sightings involve an i thing beyond the; ringe 1 present-day ci iv't i knowledge. No evidence that "unide tifieds" -are extraterrestrial' nicies. But, AirForce' doe J. deny the possibility tha life may exist other planets in'the universe." iwn oojeci or whole thing to objective anaiys- Then what are people seeing? is, and are working toward that ue Book, ascribes the bulk of end," Hall says. ghtings to aircraft, weather Juridically, he adds, "the nd sounding balloons, satel- onus of proving that UFOs are es, meteors, bright stars and ft extraterrestrial lies with those anets, -missiles, searchlights, who believe that they are." ouds birds, reflections, tern- FLYING SAUCER George W.

Earley of Bloomfield holds The sc i en tist with perhaps the erature inversions, mirages, a drawing of an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) seen by police on st experience with UFOs, parking of electric wires, and residents. of Oradell, N.J. a few years ago. Mr. Barley re- jj Hynek, says, "No matter wamp gas, even a lighthouse, cently spoke on "Flying Saucers: Factor Fiction?" at the Van what the UFO phenomenon is, ecently, ball lightning, and Dyck Corp.

in Southpcrt. An administrative engineer with a et ta j( a serious look. There itasmas of ionized air have major aerospace firm, he is president of NICAP'CONN, Cons no compelling evidence to een suggested as one cause by neclicut affiliate of the National Investigations Committee on believe in other than natural hilip Klass of the viation Week and Space Tec h- ology. Receive Reports Quintanilla and his a of ire'e, including- one secretary, eceive. reports from: civilians nd from: Air vForce bases to which are reported.

Each ase has officer on UFO uty. Recent regulations call for leir paying closer attention to irst-hahd reports. Book-procedure is to ook-'iirst for a likely explana- ion or from among Ke many 'reports. They check out balloon launchings and light paths, Air Force operations 'that- might be they, check, star charts and satellite paths or other possible causes that might fit initial reports. A good deal of checking is done by; telephone and by questionnaire forms seeking more details' from Occa a sight ing persists, for a few days, they go 'scene, oh military, available, "pth erwise.

going by commercia 'Mystified' "Some sightings leave mystified," Quintanilla says. "A high 'percentage of report are submitted by serious people mystified by what they saw, an motivated' by patriotic respons bill ty! But "many sightings ar subjective, about what peopl thought they saw. Some offe more of a challenge, th'anoth s' "If a -citizen is going to tak the time' and pains to report sighting, it is our duty to tak Aerial Phenomena. NICAP, with national headquarters in Washington, D.C., the privately supported, non-governmental UFO. research organization of over 10,000 members.

me and. pains to find out more out it," the major a'dds. according -to eather'and how much publici- any -sightings receive nation- lly. If publicity continues for everal days, sighting reports up throughout the country as well as in that locality. Hight- ngs pick up in the spring and all when meteorological hanges are more common." No Hidden Saucer Quintanilla grins at rumors lat.the Air Force has a morgue' containing "humanoids from a UFO crash," or that the Project ilue 'office once had a ''flying saucer in its basement." "The building didn't have a basement," the major says, United 'States stands vir- ually 'alone in.

having any offi ciai agency investigating UFO reports, an Associated Pres survey: of 21 nations finds. Th comment 'from Moscow is tha "are not Jritain has no official agency i'li'r. sightings are -reported: to' th Defense Ministry. In Sweden the-Defense Research Institut registers reports and inves tifciies some sightings. -In Aus tralia, the Australian air fore tries lo evaluate reports.

Civilian UFO clubs or organ zations are active in about hal the countries surveyed. News paper coverage ranges from avid, at least at times, to occa sional or little interest. Critics charge the Air Fore with making a sketchy, superf al investigation of UFO re- brtsi of taking a negative ap- roach, of having, in- Project a staff far too small eally to probe the quertion. Air Force officials reply that leir job is to determine wheth- UFOs represent a-, security and ask whether Con- ress would grant the money to ig deeply into the question ol vhether some are exlrater- estrial. -The 10-year-old NIGAP, 'a irofit-group with governors am nembers many walks of life including some cientists, engineers and pilots, charges the Air Force' "has practiced an intolerable degree of secrecy, keeping the public in he dark about the amount am possible significance of.

UFO svidence." NICAP has received mor than 10,000 first-hand signe reports of UFOs, and 2,500 "ar lard-core reports, some givin remarkable detail that can't Explained routinely" says Hal a tall, brown-haired deput; dire.ctor of the organizatio leaded by Donald Keyhbe, re Marine major. most common pattern'! objects' that are. egg or oval-o disc shaped that sit there, the zoom away. -It. doesn't corre spend with any objects we brd narily know about.

think the most reasonabl working hypothesis is that the are extraterrestrial," say; Hall, a Tulane graduate in ph and 95 per cent of sight- hgs are easily explicable as allooris; meteors, fireballs, rds, satellites, mirages, or ho' things." Why Have Reports? "But why should such reports xist? What do people have to Some are sighted by res- ectable scientists who cannot xplain what they saw. Yet ome stories are very far out. ''I know of 20 or 30-baffling ases that -I would love to have me to pursue further. So long as there are some unidentifieds," the question whether some UFOs are extra- errestrial must remain open." "No truly scientific investiga- ion of the UFO phenomenon las ever been undertaken," Dr. Hynek says.

1 "Are we making he. -same mistake the French Academy of Sciences made when they dismissed stories ol 'stones that fell from the Finally, however, meteorites were made. respectable in the eyes of Grant To make an independent study of UFOs, the Air Force granted $313,000 to University Colorado scientists headed by Dr. Condon, 65, a professor physics and former director the National Bureau of Stand ards. The assignment, he explains is to' spend 15 months "taking good look" at the: UFO matter The report is due next Febru ary, and its recommendation will be reviewed by an evalua tion committee from the Nation al Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Condon is aware of som uujr fc owners." And about 100 persons claim have been aboard- or taken rides on extraterrestrial vehicles. The Condon group spent its irst few months trying to decide procedure; for example, whether and'how to try to classify reports by categories. One would be cases in which auto- nobile ignition was reported to lave gone dead near a reported UFO, ostensibly from electromagnetic emanations. The Condon includes physicists and psychologists and m.ay'call.

upon as many as 100 'consultants from other universities and special research agencies. How to Question? Psychologists are. expected be helpful in the study. One assistance could be in preparing interview schedules that do no ask leading questions, and in standardizing basic data collection. Suggestibility may play a role in.

some sightings. And psychol ogists haVe made detailed studies of perception, how the eye and mind can be deceived under certain conditions. Different people are'- subsceptible to illusions in-different degrees. Psychological needs, can in- Tluence what is perceived, one psychologist says, citing the example; that "a picture of a half-dollar looks bigger to poor kids than to rich kids," Some persons, another psychologist remarks, may hope "to find a more satisfying ex planation as to how the universe works if UFOs are explained on nonscientific grounds, if they do have some extraterrestrial. con hectiori." Others may be "the honcoijformist skeptic, ofter aware ''of.

previous errors scientists'. And they are skepti cal of someone else's pontifica lions," Believers and unbelievers ir UFOs as extraterrestrial ob jects have no lack. of points fo i -If they represent -'distant, in telligent life, why for 20 year ooms as UILCII icyun- suddenly zoom off from landing position to speeds of housands of miles per hour? How can they disobey physital aws known on earth? One reply is that perhaps they do sometimes cause scnic booms, but the observer may be so positioned he doesn't hear it. Or perhaps UFOs, representing technology, have knowledge to circumvent some of the physical laws known on earth. More More Why, asks Dr.

Hynek, Is there rarely a chain of events or sightings, why, do UFOs not follow a horizontal trajectory? In answer, some suggest there's no reason for extraterrestrial vehicles to fly flight patterns la- miliar on earth. Why, as appears frequently in sighting reports, are -animals or birds' described as disturbed and restless? Are they sensitive to some electromagnetic effects from the UFO? Or are such reports just coincidence or elaboration? Arguments boil up whether visual and radar sightings have been made at the same time, or of the same how sensitive radar is, whether peculiar blips represent UFOs or quirks in radar returns. Hynek comments that he does not know of reports that fit completely with simultaneous radar and visual sightings, but knows of some could. So, in the main, go some of questions and answers. The mystery intrigues millions of people.

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