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Jenny Randles: The Ufo Conspiracy: The First 40 Years >>>>

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Jenny Randles "The Ufo conspiracy: the first forty years"

On 26 June 1959 missionary William Gill and about 25 natives of the village of Boainai, Papua New Guinea, had a protracted encounter with a disc-shaped object that hovered above them. A group of humanoid figures were within it and seemed to respond to hand signals and waves. The event came amidst a UFO flap on the island, where western news travels slowly.

Dr Donald Menzel 'solved' it as an optical illusion of the planet Venus, with the natives merely agreeing with Father Gill (who had 'god-like' status) as a matter of courtesy. Having had the privilege of talking with the Anglican priest I am certain that he was not guilty of a misperception; besides which, he described seeing Venus elsewhere in the sky - precisely where it was that night!

Then, on the warm summer's day of 19 January 1966 a banana-grower at Tully, Queensland, was driving past a reedy swamp when he heard a hissing noise and saw a 'spaceship' take off from Horseshoe Lagoon. It was a grey oval which rotated ''at a terrific rate'' as it climbed upwards. In its wake a circular area of flattened reeds was left.

This turned out to be thirty feet wide and subsequently the plant growth died (probably because it was forced _under_ the water). The witness said it was obvious ''they had been subjected to some terrific rotary force''. Several other 'saucer nests', as they became nicknamed, were later found in the same location. At the time the investigators were stumped.

Summarising some speculation that it might have been a whirlwind, highly objective investigator Bill Chalker said, ''these explanations seem quite unsatisfactory since the weather was fine and sunny at the time and there was no debris scattered about.'' That did seem fair comment, but as evidence for the manner in which UFO researchers never give up and themselves seek answers to puzzling cases, we do appear to have the germ of a solution 20 years later. We have this because of the discovery of identical 'saucer nests' in Britain.

From 1980 onwards flattened circles have been reported in fields of corn or wheat crops at a number of sites in Hampshire, Wiltshire and Sussex. They are now known to have been visible there years before. However, after 1980 a local hype turned them into 'UFO landing traces', although nobody has ever seen a UFO in connection with them.

They always appear during periods of warm weather, usually in July (the equivalent of the conditions at Tully during Australia's summer. Since 1983, when the national media have promoted them (and even some international media) hoaxers have jumped onto the bandwagon to 'enhance' the patterns left behind. Dr Terrence Meaden, a local meteorologist, has been working with UFO investigators on the theory that a new type of whirlwind is responsible.

In the case of single circles (which have always existed in southern England and turned up in Queensland) his case seems to me undeniable. A very short-duration rotating vortex of wind settles in one spot defined by exact geographical conditions. Because it is so brief it is unlikely to be seen an does not move, creating the sharp cut-off to the flattened area that has previously made others deny the whirlwind theory.

After years of frustrating attempts to persuade the media that UFOs are not the cause of the rings, whatever else might be, BUFORA decided to take action in 1986. Paul Fuller, a geographical statistician from Hampshire, got together with myself and compiled all the data on the affair into a booklet, entitled 'Mystery of the Circles'. The publication explains Dr Meaden's theories for the single circle patterns and reviews the other ideas for the more complex situations.

These include mating habits of wildlife, underground force-fields, helicopter rotor downwash and, of course, the ever-faithful 'giant spaceships' possibility. By putting this into context with the social background to the story it is clear that the hoax theory is the most probable, for all but the single ring sets. For example, we know that in the summer of 1983 a hoax _was_ successfully carried out by the 'Daily Mirror'.

Fed up at the publicity the 'Daily Express' had generated, they paid farmers to set up an identical circle pattern and waited (in vain) for the publicity. When it never came the hoax was admitted in virtual silence. If it could be done once, however, it could be done many times. The manner in which the circles appear to develop into more complex systems each year suggests that someone is out to attract attention.

In September 1986, just before harvesting, a hardy soul even went to the trouble of cutting ''We are not alone'' in giant letters astride one of the circles in Hampshire. It is most unlikely this was done by either a whirlwind or an extra-terrestrial stand-up comedian ! The area around Warminster, Wiltshire, where the circles congregate, was very popular during the 1960s as the place to go to see UFOs.

Reports have dwindled and tourism faded. It might well be in someone's interest to manufacture a mystery to bring people back to this favourite UFO hunting ground. However, there does appear to have been a meteorological phenomenon of some interest present in the first place.

The debate continues to rage each summer in the Fleet Street press and on TV chat shows, but the 'mystery of the circles' I think demonstrates one vital aspect of UFO study. The debunkers did _not_ explain this. They waved the whole thing away as a hoax. The serious UFO investigators always knew there would be an answer and went out of their way to help find it. The result was a discovery that was of at least minor interest to science.

The lessons are there for scientists everywhere who find the UFO subject amusing. The last laugh could well be on them ! It was well known in Australia that cases such as the Papua, New Guinea, and Tully, Queensland, 'landings' had been investigated by official sources. The intelligence branch of the RAAF use the term UAS (Unusual Aerial Sightings) for some reason and sumary reports giving brief facts and figures were published regularly between 1960 and 1977.

Then they ceased, without explanation. However, many of these UAS 'solutions' mentioned in the summaries seemed doubtful when the case was one that chanced to be known. Many other cases were quite unknown and so could not be judged. What was needed was access to the secret files themselves.

On 6 August 1980 the Director of Public Relations at the Department of Defence wrote to industrial chemist and UFO investigator Bill Chalker.

As co-ordinator of field investigations Chalker had inquired about the cessation of the summary and reports and the possibility of direct access. He was told that RAAF policy was now to assess UFOs only as a ''service to the general public'' and that this policy change in 1978 precluded summaries, presumably for cost reasons. However, files were ''still retained for record purposes and are available to whoever seeks access ...'' Chalker soon discovered that this did not mean you could go along and see them.

It meant that you should ask for a specific case and if the officer processing your request had enough time to try and find it then you might get sent a copy. So within a year Chalker had persuaded the Public Relations office to consider giving him permission to study all the files, on the understanding that this was to be a unique move and that he alone would represent Australian ufology.

They quite understandably did not wish to be swamped with requests from enthusiasts and journalists when they had no resources to handle such an onslaught. So, between 11 and 15 January 1982, Bill Chalker visited Canberra, was given use of a desk, free access to a photocopier and (unbelievably) handed all but one of the RAAF UFO 'files' to do with as he wished.

That missing 'file' was one filled with policy decisions, and its restriction was justified. He was quite fairly asked to sign a waiver protecting the confidence of witnesses in cases where they had requested this. He was also told that some files could not be located, in particular all those before 1975. This was rather disappointing, preventing any information being obtained about both the cases just discussed, for example.

However, Chalker does say that these officials were very fair and honest with him and seemed to do all they could to assist in file location. What did he find in the files ? There were two types. One contained letter exchanges on famous cases. The other was related to actual UFO sightings. The sighting reports comprise RAAF standard forms, investigation unit comments, evaluating officers' conclusions, associated memos, telexes and communications with government bureaux during the course of investigations, and all the other trappings of a moderately competent examination of the case; at least up to the calibre of the Project Blue Book files compiled by the US Air Force.

All told, Chalker was given seven inquiry folders and eleven sighting dossiers filled with cases. Squadron Leader Ian Frame, the RAAF liaison officer assigned to data compilation, told the UFO researcher that he must understand ''The RAAF examines UASs primarily for their defence context.

If occurrences have no obvious import we have very few resources available for checks other than initial cursory examination.It ultimately transpired that the eighteen files he had been shown were only about one third of the sum total potentially available.

Frame could not find the others. The rest presumably relate to the period 1955 to 1975, the first year being when UFO study officially began in the RAAF. It will certainly be fascinating to know if the Maralinga case, for instance, is somewhere in there. It was possible to compile a set of data for the 21 years between 1960 and 1980.

A total of 1258 cases were logged with 102 (about 8 per cent) rated unexplained. Six years (1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1967 and 1968) had not a single unknown in them ! At the opposite extreme one-quarter of the 1978 and one-third of the 1979 cases were listed 'unidentified'. Perhaps there was good reason why no summary for 1978 was released!

After 1964 (a major wave year when most of the world was in Vallee's 'dark ages') only 25 cases were recorded in 1977 (the biggest-ever yearly total in Northern Europe). This clearly shows how the UFO phenomenon migrates around the world and is never totally inactive everywhere. Of the once secret cases that could be followed up, Bill Chalker found some with rather doubtful explanations attached.

On 4 November 1976, for example, ground observers and two air crew saw a strange set of green and red lights behave in spectacular fashion. Ground radar at Brisbane and a weather radar at Eagle Farm both tracked what seems to have been the target. Despite the radar operators and air crew all disputing the evaluation, it was 'guessed' that the radar picked up a mirage of a boat and the witnesses saw Venus.

Chalker was quick to point out that he saw no evidence of a cover-up by the RAAF. Their role was clearly minimal and what they had to do they did adequately well. However, high-calibre puzzling cases were entering the archives and still are. So they seem to require better methodology, which the investigator is proposing. We do not know if these better cases also found their way to another agency doing more in-depth scientific research.

That occurred in the USA and there is little reason to think the Australian government would ignore the potential of some cases. However, let us not quibble over that. The RAAF at least showed courage and integrity in sharing their data with a responsible researcher, without hiding the best cases (at least so far as one can judge).

That they well knew the dangers of keeping UFO files secret is shown by one of their own internal minutes which says, ''We only foster the incorrect (but nevertheless widely held) belief that we have much vital information to hide.'' It depends on what you call 'vital'. Certainly there is no evidence that the RAAF have crashed UFOs locked away or know absolutely what these objects are. Such things may or may not exist elsewhere.

They certainly have provocative cases which do no good gathering dust in their filing cabinets. In a free society it can only be wise to make these available for study by those who can and will do something with them. There are many other countries that could take heed of this suggestion.

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