105 lines
4.5 KiB
Plaintext
105 lines
4.5 KiB
Plaintext
SUBJECT: 07/86 WITNESS SEES AIRCRAFT EXPLODE IN AIR FILE: UFO1353
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Report #: 198
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From: UFO INFO SERVICE
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Date Sent: 12-10-1986
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Subject: BAKERSFIELD, CA
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CASE TYPE: LRS
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DATE: 12 JULY 1986
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TIME: UNKNOWN
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CFN#: 0320
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DURATION: UNKNOWN
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WITNESSES: THREE
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SOURCE: MERCURY NEWS, SAN JOSE, CA
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REDONDO BEACH - Andy Hoyt admits he has no proof - not anymore, at least -
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that he witnessed the crash of an aircraft that may be the Pentagon's most
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carefully guarded secret.
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His sister, Lisa, and her 16-year-old son, Joey, reportedly also saw the
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plane, but both declined to discuss the alleged incident. Hoyt, an unemployed
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Redondo Beach carpenter, says he snapped photographs of the plane as it
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plummeted to the ground in the Sequoia National Forest near Bakersfield.
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But the photographs were given to the Air Force, Hoyt says, and the Air
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Force isn't talking.
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Defense experts, however, say Hoyt's description of what he claims he saw
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that night fits the most educated guesses of the configuration of the top
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secret F-19 stealth fighter - a plane the Air Force will not confirm even
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exists.
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In a scenario that sounds like a science fiction movie, Hoyt says he and two
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relatives saw something drop out of the sky and explode into flames on the
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other side of a hill about a half-mile away.
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"It seemed like it was something other than an airplane, said Hoyt, 26, who
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was on a camping trip. "Believe it or not, I thought it was a UFO."
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Whatever it was, he says, the military has been treating him royally since
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he called Edwards Air Force Base when he returned home the following Sunday
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evening and told the Air Force about the photographs.
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Hoyt says he and his party were driving east on state Highway 178 about 15
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miles northeast of Bakersfiled in the early morning hours of July 12 when they
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pulled over for a brief rest. He was just climbing back into his truck when
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he saw it.
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"All I saw were three red lights and a dark image behind them like an
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upside-down triangle." Hoyt said, adding that each light was at a point of
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the triangle. He said he pulled a camera from the dashboard of the truck and
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managed to take two or three pictures before the plane disappeared over the
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hill.
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Then, a pair of explosions "lit up the sky like it was daylight out."
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Contrary to published reports on the day of the accident, Hoyt says, the
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aircraft did not explode before it crashed. At least one Air Force source has
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been quoted as saying plane exploded in midair, which could explain why the
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pilot, who was killed, was not able to eject safetly.
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"It was definitely not on fire when it came down," Hoyt said. "Why couldn't
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the guy eject?"
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After making sure the blaze was reported on an emergency roadside phone, the
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party continued to its campground north of nearby Lake Isabella.
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His call to Edwards upon returning home brought a sudden response from the
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Air Force, Hoyt says. "They took my name and number and within an hour
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someone had flown down here and talked to me," he said.
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"They didn't press me, but they wanted to see the film in my camera."
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The next day, the Air Force officers took Hoyt, his sister and nephew to
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Hawthorne Municpal Airport, where they flew them to a command post a few miles
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from the crash site, he says. The visitors were treated to lunch, then driven
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back up the mountain road where Hoyt said he saw the crash.
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"They wanted to know what the angle was when it came down," he said. "They
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used some tool to measure something after we pointed at the spot."
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After developing the film in Hoyt's camera, he says, the Air Force returned
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two sets of enlarged prints of the family camping trip - minus the frames
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that could have shown the descending aircraft.
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An Air Force officer who interviewed Hoyt and his relatives asked them not
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to talk to anyone about what they saw, "but said he couldn't force me," he
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said.
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The Air Force will confirm only that a plane crashed, killing its pilot. It
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refuses to divulge what kind of aircraft, the base from which it took off or
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its mission.
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Military guards armed with M-16 rifles have sealed off a large area around
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the crash site.
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Back home in Redondo Beach, Hoyt says he feels a bit bewildered by all the
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attention his claims have brought.
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**********************************************
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* THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
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********************************************** |