The case against UFO’s being of extraterrestrial origin continues to gain traction. Why? In the early 1950’s with the public’s fascination on Unidentified Flying Objects and writers such as Donald Keyhoe, a former USAF pilot capitalizing on the intense interest in the subject a classified resolution was decided upon. With intensive testing of X-planes from Muroc AFB, Edwards AFB, and Area-51 the most efficient way for the military to deflect civilian attention to top secret testing would be to allow the extraterrestrial hypothesis to continue rather than take the risk of exposing new technology in a potentially hostile cold war

 or rumor?

Although there are many compelling incidents such as the Cape Girardeau Crash along with the Roswell Incident still there were too many X-plane experiments taking place to ignore! Without realizing it, Donald Keyhoe may well have been unknowingly participating in this disinformation program as he brandished the fact that he had sources within the Pentagon who had been feeding him vital information that the US Air Force was hiding evidence of alien airborne vessels that were infringing upon North American air space and were being intercepted by American war planes.

Early sightings

As early as 1962 over North Texas observers were reporting triangular shaped unknown aircraft. Donald Keyhoe in his book “Aliens in Space” made note of these sightings decades before the reports of these types of UFO’s were becoming increasingly familiar. We know now that at least two current US aircraft either in the experimental stage or operational are the TR-3 Manta aircraft often reportedly seen hovering silently at altitude or even at tree top level and revealed on such programs as “Unsolved Mysteries” since the early 1990’s that have even been spotted and seen by local police. The Manta appears to be an ultra-stealth reconnaissance aircraft that can silently hover and quietly loiter over a given area nearly undetectable. Nothing else is known about its capabilities.

Mysterious triangular craft

Another top secret aircraft that uses a triangular configuration is the Aurora hyper sonic fighter jet that can be anywhere in the world in an hour or less. Its top speed can only be speculated about and its weapons capability remains unknown. Both the TR-3 and Aurora are a black stealth color using a special type of composite paint that neutralizes radar waves as a reliable early warning tool. Yet, as top secret as these aircraft are still there are kids model assembly kits that are amazingly similar to the actual appearance of these X-planes! The TR-3 is suspected of being to capture speeds of at least Mach 4 or 5, but it might be even faster than that.

Retired

One aircraft was unveiled by the US Airforce in 2011 that had been an experimental plane for years and served as a test bed for future stealth capability in fighters and bombers. “Tacit Blue” was the code name for this particular model. It was non-military in of itself but flew in the envelope of military testing. So that the stealthy outer skin and flight characteristics could be explored, Tacit Blue undoubtedly generated UFO reports from civilian observers on the ground as it was flown often from Area-51 to White Sands testing range or over southern California. Due to its unusual shape and outline the US Air Force revealed that it was retiring this X-plane from operational inventory. Tacit Blue preceded such aircraft as the F-117 stealth fighter and the B-2 Stealth bomber by Northrop. The invaluable data from Tactic Blue was used to refine both programs.

Odd ball?

In the 1950’s the US Air Force did fly an aircraft that appeared to be half conventional jet and half elliptical in shape obviously testing the classic disk shape described by UFO witnesses to test the viability of the configuration’s flight capacities but little is known about it. Did the US engage in such testing over at Area 51 S-4 as is alleged by Bob Lazar? We can only guess.

Unintended results

In 1966, August 8th, an unofficial PR flight was filmed with the intent of showcasing advanced US military aircraft that were either operational or newly introduced. The result was a tragedy and loss of the lives of 2 pilots. A side by side flight formation of the F-4 Phantom, the Northrop F-5 Tiger, the XB-70 Valkyrie supersonic high level bomber, the F-104 Starfighter, and a Lear Jet were all rendezvousing over the Mojave Desert for a photo shoot when something terribly went wrong. Former astronaut and veteran of the X-15 program, Joe Walker’s F-104 ventured too close to the gigantic XB-70 and was sucked into its jet wash (Turbulence) and collided with the bomber! Bother planes were damaged and crashed killing XB-70 pilot Major Carl Cross and Walker. It was thought that this officially ended the XB-70 program, but instead it was renamed and redesigned. Now, code named Black Star the new XB-70 type bomber is under operation as a high altitude orbital or sub-orbital bomber platform.

Arisen From the ashes

The later incarnation of the XB-70 now as the Black Star Program can fly into a shallow orbit and deliver a space plane that would separate from the huge bomber and fly independently landing on its own. Is that companion craft a fighter, a drone, or reconnaissance platform, we suspect all three depending on the mission that has been specified.

More than just passenger jets

Boeing has been operating and testing the X-37B orbital space plane and re-entry vehicle for the US Air Force for some time now. Designed to replace the Challenger program this aircraft can launch from an Atlas-5 rocket as the payload and remain in orbit for a year, but further information is not available. Could this be another orbital bomber or simply an orbital cargo platform? We don’t know.

The observers

Still, since the 1990’s we have been seeing cork screw contrails in the skies over the Texas Panhandle, New Mexico, and Nevada. Observers speculate that this could be the latest version of yet another little known hypersonic vehicle using a SCRAM or RAM jet engine or perhaps both in tandem stages. Many hobby astronomers or civilian aerial photographers have spotted these experimental flights for the last 20 years but could only guess who flew them or what these planes were doing, leading many to suspect UFO activity. Some amateurs even tracked what they saw using electronic detection gear and recorded the signatures.

Way ahead of their time!

When we consider that by 1943 Lockheed could have fielded the L-33 supersonic jet fighter had some government funding been diverted to the project, that in 1956 the F-108 Rapier designed as an escort fighter for the XB-70 supersonic high level bomber and was capable of delivering a nuclear bomb within a 1000 mile radius and be back for lunch in less than an hour, or that a Mach 3.1 single engine jet fighter known as the F-8U3 Super Crusader by Lockheed was completed and ready for competition by 1959, we can be assured that many high performance aircraft, were not only being secretly tested but were no doubt being mistaken as UFO’s and were presented as such. We can also be assured that these projects even preceded the YF-12 and Blackbird SR-71 projects.

What we do know but still?

On the German side of the coin, we know that in the late 1920’s scientists for the Third Reich were already experimenting with SCRAM Jet and RAM jet prototypes rail launched, but had no viable fuselage for human flight testing. Thankfully. We also know that the Germans had designs for a space plane with the capabilities of the NASA Challenger only it was intended to be an orbital attack aircraft to harass the United States. Luckily they never succeeded in developing this weapon, called the “Silver Bird” by its designer. UFO’s have been reported beginning by the early 1900’s officially by the US Navy as early as 1904, but who was flying and testing then? A formation of 3 aerial lights landing next to a US war ship 10 years before World War I. Who knows?