Declassified US Military Incident

sourboy · Oct 20, 2008

LONDON (Reuters) Two U.S. fighter planes were scrambled and ordered to shoot down an unidentified flying object (UFO) over the English countryside during the Cold War, according to secret files made public on Monday.

One pilot said he was seconds away from firing 24 rockets at the object, which moved erratically and gave a radar reading like "a flying aircraft carrier." "I had a lock-on that had the proportions of a flying aircraft carrier," he added. "The larger the airplane, the easier the lock-on. This blip almost locked itself." At the last moment, the object disappeared from the radar screen and the high-speed chase was called off. "On that night I was ordered to open fire even before I had taken off. That had never happened before."

The documents contain no official explanation for the incident, which came at a time of heightened tension between the West and the Soviet Union. UFO expert David Clarke said the sighting may have been part of a secret U.S. project to create phantom aircraft on radar screens to test Soviet air defences. "Perhaps what this pilot had seen was some kind of experiment in electronic warfare or maybe it was a UFO," he said. "Something very unusual happened."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081020/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_britain_ufo

Ecofarm · Oct 20, 2008

What plane carries 24 air-to-air rockets?

sourboy · Oct 20, 2008

Ecofarm said:
What plane carries 24 air-to-air rockets?

Cross referencing the article with Wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-86_Sabre#Specifications_.28F-86F-40-NA.29

* Guns: 6× 0.50 in (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns (1,602 rounds in total)
* Rockets: variety of rocket launchers; e.g: 2× Matra rocket pods with 18× SNEB 68 mm rockets each
* Missiles: 2× AIM-9 Sidewinders
* Bombs: 5,300 lb (2,400 kg) of payload on four external hardpoints, bombs are usually mounted on outer two pylons as the inner pairs are wet-plumbed pylons for 2× 200 gallons drop tanks to give the Sabre a useful range. A wide variety of bombs can be carried (max standard loadout being 2 x 1,000 lb bombs plus 2 drop tanks), napalm bomb canisters and can include a tactical nuclear weapon.

Dachs · Oct 20, 2008

Ecofarm said:
What plane carries 24 air-to-air rockets?

The F-89 Scorpion could carry 120 rockets, for one. This is too early for stuff like the Sparrow or Sidewinder to have been in effective variants, so they used unguided rockets.

Cheezy the Wiz · Oct 20, 2008

Ecofarm said:
What plane carries 24 air-to-air rockets?

Further, you can't lock rockets on to something, that's what makes them rockets and not missiles.

EDIT: Crosspost with Dachs. That makes sense then.

Ecofarm · Oct 20, 2008

The SNEB rocket (French: Societe Nouvelle des Etablissements Edgar Brandt) is an unguided air-to-ground 68 mm rocket projectile (RP) manufactured by the French company TDA Armements, designed for launch by combat aircraft and helicopters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNEB

It would be rather pointless to fire that at an enemy aircraft, unless it's a blimp and you are above it.

Bigfoot3814 · Oct 20, 2008

I thought nobody cared about this stuff but me.

I don't think it's a UFO or a secret weapon test.

sourboy · Oct 20, 2008

Ecofarm said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNEB

It would be rather pointless to fire that at an enemy aircraft, unless it's a blimp and you are above it.

Very true, but if we wait 50 years for declassified documents of an incident, maybe the actual armament he had at that point is inaccurate per Wiki. Who knows?

Bigfoot3814 said:
I thought nobody cared about this stuff but me.

I don't think it's a UFO or a secret weapon test.

Naw, the best things to discuss are the one's that you can never really answer.

Ecofarm · Oct 20, 2008

maybe the actual armament he had at that point is inaccurate per Wiki. Who knows?

One cannot fit 24 air-to-air rockets on a fighter plane. Not even today. Haven't you ever played a fighter jet game?

Show me a plane with 24 air-to-air rockets, then "who knows".

Unless you want me to believe that a fighter pilot was about to fire an air-to-ground missile-pod at a radar locked target. Why would he even have anti-ground weapons on the plane, given the "fire at target when engaged" mission? Did his mission anticipate a ground target?

sourboy · Oct 20, 2008

I'm not defending him and his story, but at 77 years old -- I won't assume his grammar fits that of today's standards.

Bigfoot3814 · Oct 20, 2008

It was probably atmospheric or some . .. .. .. ..

Dachs · Oct 20, 2008

Ecofarm said:
One cannot fit 24 air-to-air rockets on a fighter plane. Not even today.

Haven't you ever played a fighter jet game?

Show me a plane with 24 air-to-air rockets, then "who knows".

On one wing, 19. That's the Mighty Mouse.

AngryZealot · Oct 20, 2008

Of course it was a UFO. It was a flying object and they didn't know what it was. That's the very definition of a UFO.

Cheezy the Wiz · Oct 20, 2008

Rockets, yes, missiles, no. Air-to-air rockets are small, the size of shovel or so.

This is the Folding-Fin Aerial Rocket, the primary anti-air weapon of the early 1950s.

Spoiler :

EDIT: Holy hell, what a crosspost!

Ecofarm · Oct 20, 2008

AngryZealot said:
Of course it was a UFO. It was a flying object and they didn't know what it was. That's the very definition of a UFO.

What flying object?

On one wing, 19. That's the Mighty Mouse.

Is that a plane or helicopter?

Perfection · Oct 20, 2008

Maybe it was Superman!

AngryZealot · Oct 20, 2008

Ecofarm said:
What flying object?

LONDON (Reuters) Two U.S. fighter planes were scrambled and ordered to shoot down an unidentified flying object (UFO) over the English countryside during the Cold War, according to secret files made public on Monday.

That one ?

Ecofarm · Oct 20, 2008

AngryZealot said:
That one ?

What evidence is there that the object existed?

It's gonna have to be better than "faith" or a computer screen, for me. In fact, one person's visual account would not cut it and we haven't even that.

Prove to me that an object existed.

sourboy · Oct 20, 2008

If nothing was in the sky, why were the pilots scrambled, much less having a "locked target" on something.... AND why was it hidden for 50 years?

History_Buff · Oct 20, 2008

Meh, this could easily be some sort of radar test, and they just wanted to see how radar systems would react. Hell, maybe they were just testing ground personnel to see how they'd react.

It's no Dyatlov Pass Incident.

Declassified US Military Incident

What do you think it was?

It was a top secret aircraft being tested.

It was a top secret radar manipulating device being tested.

It was a real UFO.

Unknown/other.

Awakening...

Deity

Awakening...

Hero of the Soviet Union

Socialist In A Hurry

Deity

Deity

Awakening...

Deity

Awakening...

Deity

Hero of the Soviet Union

King

Socialist In A Hurry

Deity

The Great Head.

King

Deity

Awakening...

Deity

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