© Phoenix Lights NetworkOne of several V-wing craft that appeared over Phoenix on March 13, 1997
The truly significant events that night were a variety of Very Large Objects (VLO) that exhibited flight characteristics both too fast and too slow--and too silent--to be the result of any known aerodynamic and propulsion system.
With the assistance of Michael Tanner, one of the principle investigators of the original event, an effort is being made to recreate within Google Earth a complex series of sightings which Tanner and Bill Hamilton correlated into at least a half dozen different VLO flight paths and as many sets of amber orb or other anomalous light sightings at different times in different locations across the Phoenix Valley.
The database includes, in Tanners's words "an interface of the reports provided by Peter Davenport of the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC) in Seattle, Washington and those of then-councilwoman Frances Emma Barwood in the weeks and months following the March incident. This was coupled with Skywatch International and [Phoenix] MUFON field investigation support in addition to our own field work."
Google Earth may be the only medium capable of providing the reader with a complete picture of the phenomenon--as it is only possible to realize the significance of a report when it is taken in context of similar reports closely related in space and time. Or, conversely, closely related by object type and description but separated by distance and time.
While endless debate can be caused to ensue over any given observational report, true comprehension begins with a correlation of reports to derive a larger picture. In that regard, Dr. Kitei invoked references to two other significant cases involving V-shaped craft that provide a historical context to the Phoenix Lights. Consigned to the curiosity bin of history, these two cases bear re-examination in light of what Tanner and Hamilton concluded about the silent V-shaped craft seen over Phoenix by so many witnesses in 1997.
"The observations have been too numerous and too similar to be doubted."Lubbock, Texas, Fall 1951:
- Life Magazine April 1952
A class of large, V-shaped objects first came to public attention in 1951 as documented in Edward J. Ruppelt's "Report on Unidentified Flying Objects". The Lubbock, Texas sightings were of large, V-shaped formation of lights that came to be known as the 'Lubbock Lights'. As head of the USAF whitewash investigation known as Project Blue Book, Ruppelt investigated the case personally. In time he would not accept the confabulating explaination of birds, but his association with the Blue Book project likely precluded public admission of his personal conclusions on the matter. Indeed, the USAF was said to have pressured Ruppelt into revising his report and the second and subsequent editions are noticably different and a final chapter was added to the effect there was nothing to the phenomenon.
© Carl Hart, Jr., via LIFE, Via UFO Casebook
According to Ruppelt, the "first publicized sighting of the lights occurred on August 25, 1951, at around 9 p.m. Three professors from Texas Technological College, located in Lubbock, were sitting in the backyard of one of the professor's homes when they observed the "lights" fly overhead. A total of 20-30 lights, as bright as stars but larger in size, flew over the yard in a matter of seconds."
© LIFETexas Tech Professors who saw Lubbock Lights, Dr. Oberg, Prof. Ducker, and Dr. Robinson, (Left to Right), discuss them with Dr. E. L. George
The 1952 LIFE Magazine article that made "a real case for interplanetary saucers" presented the scope of the sightings: "Professor Ducker observed 12 flights of the luminous objects between August and November of last year. Some of his colleagues observed as many as 10. Hundreds of nonscientific observers in a wide vicinity around Lubbock have seen as many as three flights of the mysterious crescents in one night." According to that article, the Air Force considered at the time the Lubbock Lights to be "the most unexplainable phenomena yet observed."
According to a report filed at the UFO Casebook, "Dr. J.C. Cross, head of Tech's Department of Biology, examined the 35mm photographs, and asserted, "It definitely wasn't caused by birds." In Matador [Texas], reports were made of a "noiseless aircraft flying at a low altitude, without aid of propellers or wings." They said it was different from any aircraft they had ever seen."
The Wikipedia article on the Lubbock event states that "While investigating the Lubbock Lights, Ruppelt also learned that several people in and around Lubbock claimed to have seen a "flying wing" moving over the city (Clark, 347). Among the witnesses was the wife of Dr. Ducker, who reported that in August 1951 she had observed a "huge, soundless flying wing" pass over her house (Clark, 347)."
It was not the last time that massive, V-shaped, silent craft would be seen in the skies over America.
Hudson Valley, New York, middle 1980's:
During the 1980's and into the 90's a similar type of V-Shaped wing was repeatedly seen up and down New York State's Hudson River valley. Collectively, they came to be known as the 'Hudson Valley Sightings"
Author Bob Pratt, discussing the event in an overview published at UFO Evidence.org wrote:
"Between 1982 and 1995, more than seven thousand cases were investigated and documented by a team of investigators led by Philip J. Imbrogno, a high school science teacher and astronomer in Greenwich, Connecticut.
[Imbrogno, J. Allen Hynek and Pratt would eventually publish a book on the wave, Night Siege: The Hudson Valley UFO Sightings]
The heaviest period was between the end of 1982 and 1986, when more than five thousand people reported seeing the object.
Sometimes called the "Westchester Boomerang" because some of the earliest reports came from Westchester County in New York State, it was huge and often flew close to the ground, so low that gray superstructure could be seen linking numerous multi-colored lights.
Numerous sightings were also reported in neighboring New York counties as well as in nearby Connecticut.
One awed witness, an IBM program manager, said: "If there is such a thing as a flying city, this was a flying city... It was huge."
It was enormous, awesome and spectacular. It moved slowly and silently and was easily as big as a football field; some witnesses said as big as three football fields. That would make it anywhere from three hundred to nine hundred feet long, far larger than any aircraft manufactured in the world."
The conclusion of Pratt's report is that the big V-shaped craft "definitely was not a secret weapon, nor a hologram, nor a formation of planes, helicopters or blimps, nor, we believe, anything else man-made. There is no conventional explanation for the Hudson Valley UFO."
The case eventually reached such stature that it was the lead story in a season premiere of Unsolved Mysteries, from which the clip [see here] has been taken. Note the use of a map early on to correlate reports in the Hudson Valley area.
Both cases contain similarites to the lesser publicized aspects of the Phoenix Lights event. Massive, silent flying wings, light patterns on the bottom of V-shaped structure, incredible speeds and a sense of wonder and awe in the minds of the observers.
Breaking News: Even as this story was being polished, the National UFO Examiner posted a report on a Feb 27, 2009 sighting over Salt Lake City that included 'a triangular-shaped craft at 7:10 p.m., a huge V-shaped object at 8:30 p.m., a second V-shaped object at 8:45 p.m, and a squadron of 15 to 17 triangular-shaped objects at 11 p.m.' The second object was described as "like a flying wing with about 9 round lights forming a slight V formation. It was fast and silent." It is too early to draw conclusions and the sighting report has not been confirmed, but initial report details echo Phoenix, Lubbock, Hudson Valley, Cape Canaveral and countless other events.
Kitei remains committed to increasing public awareness of the truly astounding story told by the reports of the Phoenix Lights. The data, she is fond of saying, speaks for itself. Unfortunately, without public access to a comprehensive geospatial database, when the data speaks, it's the only one listening. With the advent of Google Earth and a commitment to use it to illustrate the Tanner/Hamilton report database, the data may have found a new voice with which to reach a wider audience, one not filtered by the prejudice of conventional media.
In the meantime the first two beta-release videos of the geospatial documentary have been posted at the Phoenix Lights Network website and permission has been given to include a clip from one of them in this report.
The beta release video shows a partial ground track path of the craft that then-Gov. Fife Symington saw over Squaw peak on the night of March 13, 1997.
As more details of this interactive documentary are available they will be presented as part of a Phoenix UFO Examiner investigation into the Phoenix Lights.
The Phoenix UFO Examiner is in contact with 'AL' a recent new witness to the Air Force reaction to the events of the night. As more information can be developed and verified, it will be added to the database and reported in this column.
Anyone wishing to contribute technology, sightings or other expertise to the Google Earth project can contact the project through the Phoenix UFO Examiner.
Dr. Lynne Kitei will next present to the public at the Arizona Department of Peace Campaign Meeting on Tuesday night, March 3rd, as noted by the Phoenix Progressive Examiner.
Doors open at 6:30 pm, meeting begins at 7 pm
In the Tekakwitha room, in the back of the campus.
The CASA / Franciscan Renewal Center
5802 E. Lincoln Dr. / Scottsdale, AZ 85253
The 12th anniversary of the Phoenix Lights will be marked on Sunday, March 15, by a three screenings of the Phoenix Lights Documentary at Harkins Shea 14, including the latest results of the Google Earth documentation project. The 1 PM screening will also serve as the monthly meeting of Phoenix MUFON, which was profiled in an earlier column. Additional screenings will be at 4 and 7 PM.
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