365 lines
21 KiB
Plaintext
365 lines
21 KiB
Plaintext
SUBJECT: IS THE WALL OF SILENCE CRUMBLING ? FILE: UFO1553
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(9272) Wed 17 Apr 91 6:13p
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By: ParaNet(sm) Information Service
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To: All
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Re: Belgium Information
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St:
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@MSGID: 1:104/428 48923a02
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This file was provided by ParaNet(sm) Information Service
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and its network of international affiliates.
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You may freely distribute this file as long as this header
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remains intact.
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Date Prepared: April 17, 1991
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Contributed by: Antonio Huneeus
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============================================================
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For further information on ParaNet(sm), contact:
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Michael Corbin
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ParaNet Information Service
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P.O. Box 172
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Wheatridge, CO 80034-0172
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or
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FidoNet 1:104/422
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Internet mcorbin@scicom.alphacdc.com
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===========================================================
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Article as it appeared in UFO Universe, June/July 1991.
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BREAKING DOWN "THE WALL" OF UFO SILENCE
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FOR THE LAST SIX MONTHS, ALMOST THE ENTIRE EUROPEAN CONTINENT HAS
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BEEN PLAGUED BY A WAVE OF UFO SIGHTINGS UNSURPASSED IN HISTORY,
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PERHAPS MOST PUZZLING HAVE BEEN THOSE OF A GIGANTIC "FLYING
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PLATFORM" SIGHTED NEAR THE GERMAN BORDER IN BELGIUM.
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By Antonio Huneeus
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(c) 1991 by A. Huneeus. All Rights Reserved Reprinted with
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permission to ParaNet(sm) Information Service No further
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reproduction is allowed without written permission from the
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author.
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In a totally unprecedented move in the history of ufology, the
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Belgian Air Force and government has not only carefully
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documented the great UFO wave over Wallonia, but shared its
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results with civilian investigators and the public, in effect
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literally breaking down "The Wall" of UFO Silence that still
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stands in the western world.
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* * *
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For the past year, citizens in the French-speaking region of
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Wallonia in Belgium have experienced an extraordinary UFO wave.
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Thousands of witnesses, including dozens of gendarmes (national
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police) and officers of the Belgian Air Force, have described
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triangular-shaped vehicles flying slowly over rooftops, hovering,
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shooting searchlights and performing incredible maneuvers. The
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objects have been captured on some 25 videotapes and tracked on
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both ground and airborne radar by the military.
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Few, if any, will doubt that the triangular UFOs have been seen
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all over Wallonia since November of 1989. According to a front
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page story in The Wall Street Journal published on October 10,
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1990 and entitled "Belgium Scientists Seriously Pursue A
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Triangular UFO," "since the rash of sightings here began almost a
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year ago, more than ]2,600 have been reported of a triangular
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object with three huge lights hovering in the night sky over
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Wallonia." The question that some are asking is whether these
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objects could be explained by the testing of a new top secret
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military aircraft. Remotely Piloted Vehicles (RPVs), AWACS, the
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F-117 Stealth Fighter, and a modified version of the B-2 Stealth
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Bomber, are some of the options that have been suggested.
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Besides the large amount of well documented data gathered by
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the Gendarmerie, the Air Force and civilian scientists from the
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Belgian Society for the Study of Space Phenomena (SOBEPS), the
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Belgian Map has broken another record. For the first time ever in
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the controversial history of UFOs anywhere in the world, the
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Belgian Minister of Defense, Guy Coeme, has authorized the Air
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Force to fully cooperate with SOBEPS, forwarding their reports,
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and even putting at their disposal a Hawker Sideley aircraft
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equipped with infrared cameras and sophisticated electronic
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sensors.
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As the well known French physicist, Jean Pierre Petit, explained
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to Paris Match magazine, "we are living in a time that is the
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beginning of a period of openness. First the Berlin Wall
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crumbled, now the wall of silence about UFOs is falling.
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Concerning the UFOs, we are entering a phase completely different
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from the earlier ones. It is the end of commercialism and fakery.
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The true scientists are finally making their appearance." Dr.
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Petit is a senior physicist and director of research with the
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National Center for Scientific Research of France. An iconoclast
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and a world class expert on magnetohydrodynamcs (MHD), Dr. Petit
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has also conducted some rather interesting UFO research of his
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own, publishing recently his results in the book, INVESTIGATION
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OF UFOS.
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Unlike many other UFO groups around the world, the SOBEPS
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has a team of respected scientists, including Leon Brenig, a
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nonlinear dynamics theorist at the Free University in Brussels,
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and Professor August Meessen, a physicist from the Catholic
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University at Louvain. Among the numerous UFO witnesses, in fact,
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were Lucien Clerebaut, Secretary General of SOBEPS, Patrick
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Ferryn, a film producer and founding member, and Jose Fernandez,
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another SOBEPS investigator. "Here is an opportunity where we can
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apply the scientific method," remarked Professor Brenig.
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SOBEPS files show that the first sightings occurred on the
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night of November 7, 1989, when two gendarmes from Esneux
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observed a silent huge craft "with two very powerful white lights
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directed downwards and 'a sort of green and red garland.'" The
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flap, however, gained momentum and notoriety on the evening of
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November 29 when 41 witnesses, including six gendarmes, observed
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the huge triangle - sometimes referred as "a stationary platform
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" - in Eupen, Verviers, and several other locations in Wallonia
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near the border with Germany. As the press speculated with AWACS
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and Stealth aircraft on the following days, the Defense Minister
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Guy Coeme dismissed these rumors, stating that "all hypotheses
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involving the presence of military aircraft in our air space are
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definitely to be ruled out. "
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It is perhaps because the objects are so far unidentified, that
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the Belgian Air Force has undertaken the task of chasing and
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investigating the intruders. As Col. Wilfried de Brouwer, the
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Chief of Operations of the Belgian Air Force who is coordinating
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the UFO investigation, told The Wall Street Journal, "Our
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approach is that it's our job to see what's going on." Indeed,
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the UFO flap climaxed on the night of March 30-31 of 1990, when
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unknown targets were tracked by two radar installations. The one
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at Glons, located southeast of Brussels, belongs to the NATO
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defense group - NATO Headquarters is in Brussels - while that at
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Semmerzake, west of Brussels, is in charge of controlling all
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military and civilian traffic in the entire Belgian territory. At
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that point, the master-controller at Glons ordered the scramble
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of two F-16 interceptors, which also locked the UFO on their
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onboard radars.
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We have obtained, courtesy of French researcher Jean-Luc
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Rivera, a copy of the complete report of this incident, which was
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prepared by Air Force Major P. Lambrechts, from the Air Force
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General Staff in Brussels, and which was forwarded to the SOBEPS
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following the instructions of full cooperation with that group.
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The "Report Concerning the Observation of UFOs During the Night
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of March 30 to 31, 1990," includes a full chronology of the
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events, as well as a thick dossier of enclosures with eyewitness'
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descriptions from several gendarmes and maps of where the
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sightings took place.
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Major P. Lambrechts explains at the inception that, "the
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observations both visual and by radar were of such nature, that
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it was decided to order the scramble of two F-16 aircraft with
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the goal of identifying these UFOs." The report also indicates
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that "the presence or testing of B2 or F117 (Stealth Bomber),
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RPVs (Remotely Piloted Vehicles), ULMs (Ultra Light Motorized)
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and AWACS at the moment of these events in the Belgian airspace,
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can be excluded. "
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According to the Chronology, the Sequence of events began at
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22.50 hours, when the "master controller at Glons " received a
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telephone call from gendarme Renquin, who reported he was seeing
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from his house in Ramillies, "three unusual lights. . . forming
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an equilateral triangle, and with changing colors of red, green
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and yellow." At 23.05, the Gendarmerie at Wavre sent a patrol,
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which confirmed the observation. At 23.15, Renquin called again
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to inform that he was seeing a new set of three lights, while the
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radar screens at Glons detected " an unidentified contact moving
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at a speed of around 25 knots." (A knot is equivalent to one
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nautical mile - 6,080 feet - per hour. )
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For the next two and a half hours, an increasing number of
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gendarmes and other witnesses continued to observe the strange
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maneuvers of up to three sets of triangular lights in the
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outskirts of Brussels. By 23.49 hours, the radar screens at
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Semmerzake confirmed the targets and the order to scramble two F-
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16s was given at 23.56 hours, taking off at 00.05 on March 31.
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According to the report, "the aircraft had brief radar contacts
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on several occasions." However, each time that "the pilots were
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able to secure a lock on one of the targets for a few seconds,
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this resulted each time in a drastic change in the behavior of
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the UFOs."
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During the first lock on at 00.13, continues the report, "the
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speed of the target changed in a minimum of time from 150 to 970
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knots and from 9,000 to 5,000 feet, returning then to 11,000
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feet, in order to change again to close to ground level; this
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resulted in a 'break lock' in a few seconds and the pilots lost
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the radar contact." In another lock on at 00.30 hours, the "break
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lock" was achieved by what the report calls "a jamming signal on
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the screen."
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Col. de Brouwer explained to Paris Match reporter Marie-Therese
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de Brosses, that the change of velocity from 280 KPM to 1,800 KPH
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while descending from 3,000 meters to 1,000 meters in one second,
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was a fantastic acceleration equivalent to 40 Gs. This would
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exclude any human pilot onboard the UFO, since humans can only
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withstand 8 Gs. (A "G " is a unit of acceleration equivalent to
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the gravitational pull of the earth, 9.81 m/sec/sec.) When the
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UFO approached the ground level, continued Col. de Brouwer, "it
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was out of the question for the F-16 to catch up with the object
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at this low altitude, where the density of the air limits the
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speed to 1,300 KMP. Above that speed, the temperature in the
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compressors of the jet turbines would cause the engines to burst.
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There was a logic behind the motions of the object," added the
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Colonel.
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In any case, the cat and mouse game went on until shortly after 1
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am, when the F-16s were ordered to return to their base. On the
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ground, however, Captain Pinson and other gendarmes continued to
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observe "four white luminous spots forming a square" until around
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1.30, when "the four UFOs lost their luminosity and seemed to
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disappear in four different directions." Significantly, the
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weather conditions on that night were very clear, allowing ground
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witnesses to observe the objects in detail, as well as the
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pursuit by the F-16s. The pilots, however, did not observe the
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objects visually.
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Major Lambrechts finally excludes a number of alternative
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hypotheses for the UFOs, such as "optical illusions, confusion
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with planets or other meteorological phenomena... weather
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balloons. . . or meteorological inversions. . . holographic
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projections," etc. More importantly, he writes that "the speeds
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measured at he moment of the change of altitudes, exclude the
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hypothesis that the UFOs observed could be confused with
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aircraft. " Still more puzzling was the fact that, "despite that
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on several occasions high speeds above the speed of the sound
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barrier were measured, the shock wave was never observed. Here,
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no explanation can be given." The French physicist Jean Pierre
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Petit concurred: "In reality," he told Paris Match, "there is no
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machine made by man, either an airplane or a missile, that is
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capable of such performance. Specifically, flying at the speed of
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sound without making a sonic boom."
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Although the Belgian military authorities have insisted that
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the UFOs in Wallonia are no secret aircraft, the similarities
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between the triangular craft seen in Belgium with the boomerang-
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shaped objects reported throughout the last decade in the Hudson
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Valley in New York and Western Connecticut, as well as other
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triangular UFOs observed in Wytheville, Virginia, Fyffe, Alabama,
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and Puerto Rico, among other places, have led some researchers to
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suggest that the technology behind all these observations is
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terrestrial and not extraterrestrial.
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The similarity between the Belgian and Hudson Valley flaps was
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noted by SOBEPS investigator Patrick Ferryn. Commenting on the
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book Night Siege by the late Dr. Allen Hynek, investigator
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Phillip Imbrogno and reporter Bob Pratt, which documented the
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Hudson Valley cases, Ferryn wrote that "changing only a few
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words, exactly the same could be written to give an account of
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the position of affairs here! [in Belgium] The same goes for many
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entire pages and excerpts elsewhere in the book."
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While nobody doubts that people have been seeing something in
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both upstate New York and Wallonia in Belgium, the big question
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is whether these sightings are caused by true UFOs or by some
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kind of new revolutionary secret military aircraft. Foremost
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among the proponents of the secret weapon theory is Tony
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Gonsalves, a researcher from East Providence, Rhode Island, who
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served as a jet mechanic and plane captain for the U.S. Navy on
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three aircraft carriers between 1959 and 1963.
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In a number of papers written during the last two years,
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Gonsalves has developed his theory of "The American made UFO" -
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that the boomerangs of Westchester and Duchess counties, as well
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as the triangular UFOs of Belgium, Virginia and Puerto Rico, are
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actually a modified covert version of the B-2 Stealth Bomber.
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Gonsalves believes this craft has been fully operational since
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the early 80s, while the official B-2 bomber that was unveiled in
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1988 is a "decoy" to deceive the American public, the media and
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the Congress. Furthermore, Tony Gonsalves and a few other
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ufologists speculate that this secret aircraft may even
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incorporate some alien technology obtained from UFO crashes
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decades ago.
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Gonsalves' theory seemed to gain some credibility when Aviation
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Week & Space Technology magazine reported in its October 1, 1990
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edition that, "large, triangular wing-Shaped aircraft" are indeed
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being tested out of the Nellis Air Force range in Nevada and the
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Tehachapi Mountains near Edwards AFB in California. The well
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known aerospace magazine mentioned several sightings by engineers
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of "triangular-shaped aircraft, " possibly prototypes for the A-
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12, the Navy's new Stealth attack plane, and one or several
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versions for reconnaissance aircraft cloaked under the top secret
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code of Aurora, to replace the old Lockheed SR-71 "Blackbird"
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which was recently mothballed. Aviation Week (sometimes referred
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by the nickname of "Aviation Leak") also quoted Air Force sources
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who "acknowledged that diamond and triangular-shaped vehicles are
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'the trend now,'" as well as unconfirmed reports that some of
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these aircraft "were designed to operate at speeds around Mach 10
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or higher."
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Because he worked for over 30 years as senior editor of
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Aviation Week, where he is still a contributing editor, we sought
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the opinion of well known UFO debunker Phillip Klass as to
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whether there could be any validity to explain the Hudson Valley
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and Belgian flaps with Secret military aircraft, Stealth or
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otherwise. "In my opinion the answer is absolutely not,"
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responded Klass, adding that only those sightings "in the
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vicinity of Nellis Air Force Base" in Nevada could be caused by
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military aircraft tests. "If there were a secret airplane,"
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continued Klass, "for goodness' sake, the last place in the world
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you'd want to fly it is in Duchess County, where people have been
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alerted to look for objects."
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Although they certainly disagree on the final cause of the
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sightings, Klass and Phillip Imbrogno seem to be in full
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agreement in their rejection of Tony Gonsalves' Stealth theory.
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"l can't see the government testing a top secret device in an
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area like this, " said Imbrogno. "Number one, what if they have a
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problem, what if they crash?" Imbrogno said he had considered
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this possibility when he first looked into the boomerang
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sightings, but that "I am convinced right now that the Hudson
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Valley UFO is not an aircraft, Stealth or otherwise. Number two,
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I am not totally convinced that it's from outerspace. Number
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three, I don't know what the hell it is."
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Meanwhile, sightings continue to pile up in Europe. The latest
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case before we go to press was reported in early November, when
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"mystery shapes in the sky, variously described as orange balls,
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triangles and points of light," were reported in France, Belgium,
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Germany, Switzerland and Italy, according to a newswire report
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from the Reuter's news agency. Police phone lines were flooded
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across the continent with calls about unidentified flying
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objects. Experts in Munich speculated the sightings could have
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been triggered by the explosion of a meteorite. However, this
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explanation could hardly satisfy the familiar sightings in
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Belgium, where "dozens of people reported a triangular object
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with three lights flying slowly and soundlessly to the
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southwest," according to the Reuter report.
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The Belgian Air Force was studying once again the case, and so
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was France's Service for the Investigation of Re-entry Phenomena
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(SEPRA), which is attached to the French National Space Agency in
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Toulouse and was formerly known as GEPAN. One Air France pilot
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told a radio interviewer: "We were on a flight to Barcelona
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(Spain) at about 33,000 feet at about 7 pm when we first saw the
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shape. It couldn't have been a satellite because it was there for
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three or four minutes."
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If the sightings in Belgium and elsewhere turn out to be secret
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aircraft, the mystery will become pubic sooner or later, but if
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they are indeed caused by true UFOs, then we may be debating them
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for a long time to come. Perhaps a summary of the whole Belgian
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flap and its meaning was best expressed by SOBEPS Scientist
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August Meessen, Professor of Physics at the Catholic University
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at Louvain. He told the French magazine Paris Match: "There are
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too many independent eyewitness reports to ignore. Too many of
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the reports describe coherent physical effects, and there is an
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agreement among the accounts concerning what was observed. If all
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of these witnesses are lying, then it is a mental disease of such
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novelty and proportions that it must be studied."
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"But of course," continued Prof. Meessen, "there are also
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physical effects. The Air Force report allows us to approach the
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problem in a rational and scientific way. The simplest hypothesis
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is that the reports are caused by extraterrestrial visitors, but
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that hypothesis carries with it other problems. We are not in a
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rush to form a conclusion, but continue to study the mystery."
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The last word about the UFO flap that has brought down "The Wall"
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of UFO Silence has yet to be uttered.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Chilean-American journalist Antonio Huneeus
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was born in New York in 1950, the son of a Chilean diplomat and
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United States official. After studying French at the Sarbonne
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University in Paris in 1970 and journalism at the University of
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Chile, he worked as science editor for a weekly magazine in
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Santiago and was a contributor for a number of newspapers.
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Huneeus' UFO investigation began in 1977 with the bizarre "time
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warp" incident of Chilean Army Corporal Armando Valdes. Since
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then, he has written hundreds of articles on UFOs and related
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subjects for such publications as Omni, UFO Report, and the MUFON
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JOURNAL in the U.S., as well as for magazines throughout South
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America and Europe. Last year he won the UFOlogists of the Year
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Award given by the National UFO Conference. The photographs and
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art that accompany this article are part of Antonio's UFO
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CHRONICLE lecture and slide presentation. Readers may reach the
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author directly at Box 1989, New York, NY 10159.
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END
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**********************************************
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* THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
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********************************************** |