Oops! About TX UFO's ... AF "Sorry - we forgot!"
"Mystery May Be Solved for Texas Town Abuzz Over UFO Sightings"
LOL ... this is hilarious. The Air Force 'forgot' they had dozens of jet aircraft training that night - two weeks later. It'll be interesting to see how many pages of this Freedom In Information document will be cut/blacked out ... for National Security reasons, of course.
[:D][:D][:D]
FORT WORTH, Texas - Fighter jets were training nearby the night dozens of Stephenville - area residents reported seeing a UFO this month, Air Force Reserve officials said Wednesday, backtracking on earlier statements.
The announcement did little to satisfy residents of Texas dairy country who swear that what they saw in the sky Jan. 8 was no airplane. Some said it even bolstered their claims, because several people reported seeing at least two fighter jets chasing an object.
"This supports our story that there was UFO activity in that area," said Kenneth Cherry, the Texas director of the Mutual UFO Network, which took more than 50 reports from locals at a meeting last weekend. "I find it curious that it took them two weeks to 'fess up. I think they're feeling the heat from the publicity."
Officials at the Joint Reserve Base Naval Air Station in Fort Worth initially said none of their planes had been in the area, but on Wednesday they said 10 F-16s were there that day.
The officials said they were mistaken and wanted to set the record straight "in the interest of public awareness."
Maj. Karl Lewis, a spokesman for the 301st Fighter Wing at the base, declined to comment on the nature of the military training or say whether it took place on other days.
Lewis had said earlier this month that residents might have seen an illusion caused by two commercial airplanes and reflections from the setting sun. On Wednesday, he said he should not have speculated about the reported sightings.
From well-respected business owners to a county constable, several dozen people say they saw a flying object that was larger, quieter, faster and lower to the ground than an airplane. They also said its lights changed configuration, unlike those of a plane.
"I guarantee that what we saw was not a civilian aircraft," Steve Allen, a pilot and freight company owner, said Wednesday.
The planes' training area in the Brownwood Military Operating Area includes Stephenville's Erath County, but Allen said it does not include the airspace where he saw the object.
Also, Jan. 8 was not the only day sightings were reported.
Anne Frazor, who owns a fabric store in Stephenville, about 70 miles southwest of Fort Worth, said many in town have seen military aircraft zoom overhead from time to time as part of training operations. But she said that wasn't what she saw Jan. 8.
"I couldn't begin to say what it was, but to me it wasn't planes," Frazor said.
Since the reported sightings two weeks ago, the 17,000-resident city is having fun with the international publicity. Some high-schoolers made T-shirts depicting a flying saucer beaming up a cow with the messages: "Stephenville: the new Roswell" and "They're here for the milk!" Several stores put new messages on their marquees, including "Aliens welcome."
This week Tarleton State University is even hosting a lecture by a UFO researcher on the U.S. government's secret response to UFOs, based on previously classified documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
The U.S. Air Force says it has not investigated UFO sightings since 1969 when it ended Project Blue Book, which examined more than 12,600 reported UFO sightings - including 700 that were never explained. That program started a few months after the 1947 crash near Roswell, N.M., of an aircraft the government said was a top-secret weather balloon but others have claimed was an alien spacecraft.
"What we want is the government to admit there are UFOs and what they know about them," Cherry said.
LOL ... this is hilarious. The Air Force 'forgot' they had dozens of jet aircraft training that night - two weeks later. It'll be interesting to see how many pages of this Freedom In Information document will be cut/blacked out ... for National Security reasons, of course.
[:D][:D][:D]
FORT WORTH, Texas - Fighter jets were training nearby the night dozens of Stephenville - area residents reported seeing a UFO this month, Air Force Reserve officials said Wednesday, backtracking on earlier statements.
The announcement did little to satisfy residents of Texas dairy country who swear that what they saw in the sky Jan. 8 was no airplane. Some said it even bolstered their claims, because several people reported seeing at least two fighter jets chasing an object.
"This supports our story that there was UFO activity in that area," said Kenneth Cherry, the Texas director of the Mutual UFO Network, which took more than 50 reports from locals at a meeting last weekend. "I find it curious that it took them two weeks to 'fess up. I think they're feeling the heat from the publicity."
Officials at the Joint Reserve Base Naval Air Station in Fort Worth initially said none of their planes had been in the area, but on Wednesday they said 10 F-16s were there that day.
The officials said they were mistaken and wanted to set the record straight "in the interest of public awareness."
Maj. Karl Lewis, a spokesman for the 301st Fighter Wing at the base, declined to comment on the nature of the military training or say whether it took place on other days.
Lewis had said earlier this month that residents might have seen an illusion caused by two commercial airplanes and reflections from the setting sun. On Wednesday, he said he should not have speculated about the reported sightings.
From well-respected business owners to a county constable, several dozen people say they saw a flying object that was larger, quieter, faster and lower to the ground than an airplane. They also said its lights changed configuration, unlike those of a plane.
"I guarantee that what we saw was not a civilian aircraft," Steve Allen, a pilot and freight company owner, said Wednesday.
The planes' training area in the Brownwood Military Operating Area includes Stephenville's Erath County, but Allen said it does not include the airspace where he saw the object.
Also, Jan. 8 was not the only day sightings were reported.
Anne Frazor, who owns a fabric store in Stephenville, about 70 miles southwest of Fort Worth, said many in town have seen military aircraft zoom overhead from time to time as part of training operations. But she said that wasn't what she saw Jan. 8.
"I couldn't begin to say what it was, but to me it wasn't planes," Frazor said.
Since the reported sightings two weeks ago, the 17,000-resident city is having fun with the international publicity. Some high-schoolers made T-shirts depicting a flying saucer beaming up a cow with the messages: "Stephenville: the new Roswell" and "They're here for the milk!" Several stores put new messages on their marquees, including "Aliens welcome."
This week Tarleton State University is even hosting a lecture by a UFO researcher on the U.S. government's secret response to UFOs, based on previously classified documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
The U.S. Air Force says it has not investigated UFO sightings since 1969 when it ended Project Blue Book, which examined more than 12,600 reported UFO sightings - including 700 that were never explained. That program started a few months after the 1947 crash near Roswell, N.M., of an aircraft the government said was a top-secret weather balloon but others have claimed was an alien spacecraft.
"What we want is the government to admit there are UFOs and what they know about them," Cherry said.
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Just the Marfa lights. 0 -
musta been luftwaffe 0 -
It flew over Texas and not 1 person shot at it.
Come on, who'd believe that?
Bring it down or quit yelling "wolf".0 -
Everybody knows they hang out at Chalk Mountain... 0 -
The government has been lying to us about UFOs for 60 years, you would think they would be better at it.
I saw interviews with 5 people who saw these lights, no way they saw F16s. They said the lights were about a mile away, and were motionless for 2 to 3 minutes.
Maybe it was Harrier jump jets in the "hover" mode.
Oops, can't tell that lie, either, the witnesses said they UFO made no noise.0 -
Well there ya go. See, simple explanation.[;)] 0 -
I trust the Government of this one. Why not, they have never lied to us before. 0 -
On a tv interview back in 1988 Dr Harold Brown, former Sec. of the Air Force, said the UFO's are ours. And tht he believed that the Soviets had to have them also. 0 -
TRUST THE GOVERMENT....YA RIGHT 0 -
just some more of our tax $$$$$ at work on another top secret project.[:)] 0 -
Saying the AF forgot they had aircraft in the area is twisting things a bit.
Notice the initial statement wasn't issued by an Air Force Command? It was only from the public info officer with a nearby reserve squadron. Read closely and you'll see this guy's story really hasn't changed at all.
When this first kicked off the local media called up the local fighter unit PIO and asked if they had any aircraft in the area. They were told no, which I'd guess was probably true because I used to work across the ramp from the 301st Fighter Sqdn. on that base and can tell you they do the bulk of their flying on the weekends this time of year.
They aren't the only unit that uses the Brownwood area for training and they don't control it. Military aircraft often travel quite a ways to training areas and this 301st PIO very possibly didn't become aware until later that another outfit's aircraft were using this area on that particular night. He obviously had no idea how much significance would be attached to this unprepared statement and failed to clarify his answer by pointing out he only had knowledge of his own squadron's activities at the time.
I'm not saying what those people saw was or wasn't F-16's, just that it's a mistake to assume a Reserve Major from a single fighter squadron always knows what the rest of the AF is doing.0
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