Orfeo Angelucci
Lockheed Star 1953
THEN CAME LOCKHEED
At last an authentic photograph. There can be no denying this one.
There are too many pictures in saucer history to reproduce in even
a large book. Many of them are doubtful from the very start. Others do not
measure up to complete authenticity for many reasons. Often they were
taken by one person, and the nature of the pictures usually could be either
reproduced by others or shown up with features that could mean hoaxing. Of
the hundreds of photos very few could pass the test of close scrutiny. The
major sightings, strong in themselves, produced no photos for unknown reasons.
The picture appearing in this booklet passes every test of authenticity.
There were a half dozen planes chasing the object, and the Air Defense
Command had it on its radar scope, It stayed directly over Victorville,
California, for three hours, But let us hear it word for word from the
"Lockheed Star," official publication of the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation:
MYSTERY OBJECT SIGHTED BY PILOTS OVER LOCKHEED
"Lockheed planes recently fought a no-decision bout with
one of the mystery objects’ in the skies over Southern California.
"Pilots involved in the fracas requested that they remain
anonymous, even though they backed up their story with photographs
- but therin lies the tale:
ROUND ONE
"It started with a T-33 pilot who was making a run out of
Paimdale at 40, 000 feet. He observed a white shining object
far above him in the sky north of Paimdaic and set out after it.
He pursued it as far as Victorville without gaining on it, when
it suddenly halted,
"The pilot radioed B-9 a description of what he'd found
and ships in the air at the time headed that way to heip investigate.
"Another pilot on the ground quickly telephoned a friend
who owned a movie camera with a telescopic lens and told him to
hustle out to the airport with it.
ROUND TWO
"Here's where the comedy of errors began" said the pilot. "My friend,
being in a big fuzzy rush to shoot pictures of this thing, snatched up
a long lens shade, thinking it was his telescopic lens, and came
rushing out to the field."
"Armed with the camera, the two jumped in a T-33 and whistled out
over Victorville to have a look at the strange intruder.
"It hung up like a signboard in the sky - you couldn't miss it from
20 miles away,"said the pilot," so we began to climb to have a look
at it. The other boys were out there trying to climb up to it also."
ROUND THREE
"Nobody could reach the mysterious white object's
altitude. At the T-33’s ceiling, the man with the movie
camera started shooting. Not knowing that he wasn’t equipped
with a telescopic lens, lie didn't get rnuch.
"The Air Defense Command had the object on its radar, so there
must have been some metal in it," said the pilot, "but it was 65, 000
feet. We couldn’t get to it."
"The pilot who'd first sighted the object returned to
Paimdale, obtained an F-94C Starfire and made an afterburner
climb trying to reach the intruder."
Even the Starfire couldn’t get up to it.
END OF BOUT
"Finally the half-dozen planes involved gave up and went home,
leaving the white object still shimmering in the sky.
"We think it might have been a weather balloon,"
said one pilot. "Except for a couple of little oddities, we'd be certain."
"One fact that didn’t jibe with the weather balloon idea
was the size of the object. "To be as conspicuous as it was,
the thing would have had to be about the size of an airplane
hangar, as high as it was above us, said the pilot."
"Another thing that was peculiar was the way it zipped
along and then stopped," he said, "And it stayed stopped,
directly over Victorville, for three hours, It didn’t move.
"We could clearly distinguish its shape. It was roughly
oval, rounded on top. It just sparkled in the sunlight - maybe
next time we see one, it will be lower. Then we’ll find out."
About 50, 000 copies of the Lockheed Star were put out twice a month
at the time, Almost all employees pick up a copy.
Here was a real. test to see how the public at large would react to
flying saucers when almost proven beyond a doubt. By publicizing an account
of the incident, the Staff of the Lockheed Star presumably verified the authenticity
of the sighting, and certainly the integrity of Lockheed at large is above reproach.
The reaction materialized rapidly.
Within rninutes the grounds of the sprawling plant were strewn with
intact copies of the "Star." Litter cans were filled. The story was answered with
a deep silence by most of the ernployees. There was a deep resentment of
some peculiar nature. I felt that if Space Visitors should land among us then
they would be met with hostility. No one ridiculed this authentic story.
But only a few received it favorably.
I could have cited this to my fellow employees at the time, and truly
wanted to, However, the morose faces, the resentment - so thick you could
have leaned against it - and the general mood were such that silence was
prudent at the time.
That photo never made the newspapers. It was too real, It was one
of the concrete evidences.
The very same people smugly kept asking why the Air Force and
government officials did not release evidence. What better evidence could
be released than that which they threw away in disdain?
No Air Force in the world, no official on earth, no leader of any kind
could produce evidence superior to that story in the Lockheed Star. True,
in the palling darkness of widespread prejudice there pierced rays of light
and hope here and there. There were many who took the publication home
and treasured the report. Lockheed merits high commendation for its spirit
of public service, and its lack of bias and prejudice.
AIR FORCE AND SILENCE
Too many are badgering the Air Force for the release of data on file
in the flying saucer archives. So-called investigators do nothing but persist
in annoying the Air Force in this respect. Just what caliber of investigators
the se are is difficult to say.
The evidence has been abundant for those who have broad concepts.
The little mind sees with little eyes. A religious leader cannot evaluate
something that goes into astrophysics and something that may take him into
subjects somewhat divergent to his creed.
Neither can an Air Force official fully evaluate something that goes
beyond his aero-dynamics, and onward into the higher estates.
THE LETTER
To repeat, Lockheed Aircraft Corporation deserves commendation
for its educational efforts. Its courage is unusual - and most welcorne -
in this day of stifling suppression.
Some time after the Lockheed Star appeared with the photo and the
story, I gave a copy to Harold Sherman, author, who was in Los Angeles
lecturing at the time. He asked me to get the negative of that particular
frame from the motion picture film. On that suggestion, I called the publication
office and was assured that I would get it by mail.
Fully two weeks went by and nothing came. I called Mr. Sherman,
telling him it was not my fault but that I would call the "Star" again. I did
so the very same day. This time the reply on the other end of the line
not so obliging. The man merely said he would look into it and see
what he could do in the way of sending the negative.
Sherman, who is a very well known writer, had sold material to
Warner Brothers and others, and at this particular time was collaborating
with R.K.0. on one of his own stones, in addition to lecturing. Again I
waited hopefully for the photo, for I felt he might think me unreliable,
Within three days after my call to the "Star" I received my reply.
It was not a photo, but a letter, The entire film had now become the property
of the Air Force.
For the first time I learned that the Government does take pictures,
refuses to release them to the public. This is one rare film never publicly reported.
The letter is probably the only one of its kind in the posses sign of a
ari, and there is every reason why we must reproduce it here.
Certainly, nothing today compares with the Flying Saucer episodes.
From the book Concrete Evidence by Orfeo Angelucci - 1959
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