Ultimately, although it was not fully accepted by Ruppelt,
Keyhoe and others due to a lack of solid evidence, the Army
Air Force settled upon the idea that what Captain Mantell
had pursued that afternoon, was a Skyhook research balloon.
These balloons were used by the United States Navy Office of
Naval Research during the late 1940's to conduct very high
altitude experiments, because they were durable, and could
exceed altitudes of 100,000 feet. In fact, during 1948, they
were conducting research involving cosmic rays, among other
things. These balloons, which were launched from the Clinton
County Army Air Field in Ohio, were said to be approximately
seventy-three feet in diameter; and a little more than one
hundred feet in height. This may possibly explain why PFC
Stanley Oliver, who was on duty in the Control Tower that
afternoon, described the object as being like "an ice cream
cone topped with red".

For his part, Dr. J. Allen Hynek, who, as you will recall,
was also associated with Project Blue Book, dismissed the
idea that Captain Mantell had mistaken the planet Venus for
a UFO. However, he did support the suggestion that it may
have been a Skyhook balloon. He stated:

----- Begin Quote -----

"It is possible that Venus was also a cause to this
sighting, and was observed by some of the witnesses on the
ground. However, the prime culprit is believed to have been
the Skyhook balloon released by the Navy. Captain Mantell
was attempting to close in on this balloon which was still
more than 40,000 feet above him."

------ End Quote -----

Another piece of the Mantell puzzle comes from Charles Moore.
A Professor Emeritus of Atmospheric Physics at the New Mexico
Institute of Mining and Technology, back in the 1940's, Moore
was the engineer in charge of the Navy's Project Skyhook. He
claims that he assisted in the preparation, launch and track-
ing of a Skyhook balloon, which lifted off from Camp Ripley
in Minnesota on January 6, 1948. Moore is certain that this
is the object that Captain Mantell pursued the following day.
In discussing the Mantell case, Moore stated:

----- Begin Quote -----

"It was a cosmic-ray balloon that carried a cloud chamber
designed to test high-energy particles that come in from
outside our atmosphere. It was not metallic. It was
polyethylene, like a garment-cleaning bag, about one one-
thousandth of an inch thick. But if you were at the right
angle relative to the sun, it could have appeared metallic.
Otto Winnzen (the project chief) essentially tracked the
balloon by reports of an unidentified object. He was quite
sure that the sighting over Godman field, Ky., was the
balloon."

"The Navy was not at all interested in having the idea put
out at the time that the flight that caused Captain
Mantell's death was a result of one of their experiments,
but we strongly believed it was so. My memory is that I was
cautioned by local Navy officers involved with the project
not to say anything about it. I deeply regret that someone
got killed; and I have a deep feeling against cover-ups. I'd
like to see my history correct."

----- End Quote -----

So is this what Mantell chased on January 7, 1948? Possibly
so, but not everyone is fully convinced, including Mantell's
wife and oldest son, Thomas Mantell III. On one occasion, he
stated:

----- Begin Quote -----

"The cover-up is the big thing. They were very vague with my
mom. She, like me, believed that he was too good a pilot to
have gone too high and blacked out from lack of oxygen. He'd
flown too many missions without oxygen, and he knew his
capabilities. I would really like to know the real cause of
the crash. That's what befuddles me more than anything."

----- End Quote -----

Personally, given the size of the mysterious object, which,
according to multiple witnesses, must have been two to three
times the size of a Skyhook balloon, plus the actual speed
of the object, as clearly stated in Mantell's transmissions,
and the fact that the object appeared to stop and start, and
make abrupt speed changes, I still have doubts regarding the
Skyhook balloon story. However, not being educated in these
matters, I will willingly admit that I could be wrong. In
the end, I guess we will never know with one hundred per
cent certainty what happened that day in January of 1948.

Over the decades it seems that a considerable number of UFO's
have appeared on, above, or near American military bases. In
light of this fact, we must ask ourselves: Is this because
the occupants of these unusual crafts possess a keen interest
in monitoring the progress of technology within the various
branches of the U.S. military? Or, is this close association
between military bases and UFO's clear proof that at least
some UFO's are not alien crafts at all, but rather secret
Black Projects being developed and tested on those very same
bases?

Please go to part fourteen for the continuation of this
series.


Written by the WordWeaver

webmaster{at}endtimeprophecy.net
http://www.endtimeprophecy.net

End Of File


NATURE OF THE ALIEN : ET's, DEMONS OR GOV'T PLOT? : PT 14

Last Updated : June 22, 2007


Capt. Robert L. Salas And Malmstrom AFB UFO Incident, Layout
Of LCC's And LF's, US President Has Power To Push The Button,
Missile Silos Shut Down By UFO's, Lt. Colonel Dwynne Arneson,
Echo-Flight LLC UFO Incident, Other UFO Sightings In Montana,
Electromagnetic Pulse Is Cause For Grave Concern, Are Aliens
Trying To Protect Us From Our Own Nuclear Destruction?, Other
Malmstrom AFB UFO Possibilities, Coverup Of Malmstrom AFB UFO



One interesting account comes from Captain Robert L. Salas. A
retired U.S. Air Force officer, (1964-1971), Salas served as
a SAC, or Strategic Air Command, Launch Controller. In other
words, Salas was stationed at one of the many nuclear missile
launch sites which dot the country, and was thus responsible
for the launch of Minuteman nuclear-tipped ICBM missiles at a
time when the Cold War was still in progress. In his video-
taped testimony to The Disclosure Project, Salas describes a
UFO-related event that occurred on March 16, 1967, in central
Montana, at the Oscar-Flight Launch Control Center, or LCC.
Salas was the DMCCC, or Deputy Missile Combat Crew Commander
of the underground complex, or capsule, as they are called.
In his own words, Captain Salas states:

----- Begin Quote -----

"My security guard says, 'Sir, there's a glowing red object
hovering right outside the front gate; I'm looking at it
right now. I've got all the men out here with their weapons
drawn' . . . The nuclear-tipped warheads went into a "no-go"
condition, meaning they could not be launched. That morning,
we lost anywhere from between sixteen to eighteen ICBMs at
the same time UFO's were in the area and were observed by
airmen. Bob Kominski headed up the organization to look at
all aspects of these shutdowns. He was told by his boss that
the Air Force said, 'Stop the investigation. Do no more on
this, and do not write a final report.' This is very unusual;
especially in light of the fact that headquarters was stating
that this was of extreme importance."

----- End Quote -----

Captain Salas also stated, (although I am not certain that it
was a part of this same interview), that "many of the guards
that reported this incident were sent off to Viet Nam". This
line of action, if it is true, would be consistent with what
we discussed earlier regarding how some UFO observers would
be threatened into silence; and in extreme cases, they would
even be eliminated entirely. The disastrous war in Viet Nam
would undoubtedly be the perfect cover-up for the government
to rid itself of these men; and the evidence of a UFO event,
as witnessed by these men, would be buried forever. Did the
U.S. Government actually resort to these tactics? I really
don't know. Captain Salas seems to hint that it was so.



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