Flying saucers are real

This book about unidentified flying objects was written by Naval aviator and famous UFO researcher Donald E. Keyhoe.

Before books about ufology, Keyho was repeatedly published in glossy magazines. Four of his short stories ("The Grim Passenger" (1925), "The Mystery Under the Sea" (1926), "Through the Vortex" (1926) and "The Master of Fate" (1927)) were published in the relatively prestigious magazine "Weird Tales". He also wrote several short stories in the genre of superheroics about Captain Philip Strange.

When the interest in flying saucers flared up in the world and journalists began to ask the opinions of officials, Keiho wrote some rather interesting and well-known articles in the magazine "True", after which he began to read books on this topic. He became one of the first authors to talk about real UFO sightings and the attitude of the government towards them. His earliest work on this topic was the book "Flying Saucers Are Real", written in 1950. In December 1949, before the book was published, Keiho published an article with the same title and similar content in the magazine "True".

Since we could not find the book in Russian, we will briefly tell the contents for those who have not read it. For all fans of the topic of aliens and UFOs, we recommend reading the original text, since this is one of the first books devoted to this topic.

The book consists of twenty chapters. It tells about numerous UFO sightings by pilots of the US Air Force. Despite its journalistic orientation, the book is written in a dramatic, narrative style reminiscent of spy thrillers. Obviously, the author has retained the style from previous works. Probably, it was this kind of presentation that became the basis for conspiracy theories and concealment. On the pages of the book, the author states that aliens visited Earth for two centuries, and the frequency of these visits increased dramatically after the first use of nuclear weapons in 1945. He also suggested that the Air Force has alien technologies at its disposal and is introducing them into its latest developments.

It is believed that this book was the first work in which unidentified flying objects were associated with aliens from outer space.

The book contains valuable information for anyone interested in flying saucers, since it is at the origins of this topic and forms modern ideas about UFOs and everything related to it. In comparison with Keiho's later work, the book "Flying Saucers from Outer Space" (Flying Saucers from Outer Space), published three years later, here the author has not yet come to full confidence that UFOs are alien ships from outer space, and is seriously considering the version about secret military developments of Earthlings. In addition, this book is closer to a work of fiction in the style of presenting information. In general, according to the idea that the author wanted to convey, these two books are very similar. When reading it, it seems that this book could form the basis of the plot of the mythology of the series "The X-Files".

Chapter 1 begins with the author's statement that he himself did not believe in UFOs until reports of meetings with them began to come from pilots. He assumes that UFOs are either alien ships from distant planets, or terrestrial developments (the latter, in his opinion, is unlikely). The author cites several observations from different parts of the world (Peru, Cuba, Mexico, Turkey, USA) of shiny metal discs. The pilots assume that these are secret planes. Officially, the BBC denies these meetings.

Chapter 2. At the beginning of the chapter, the author tells about the mysterious death of Captain Thomas Mantell: he was chasing a shimmering metal disk, but suddenly his plane exploded (disintegrated into many pieces). Next, the author describes his conversation with Jack Daly, one of the veterans from Washington, about these plates and the investigation of the Mantell incident. The veteran tells about the observation of an object from which a reddish-orange exhaust burst out, which was visible for many kilometers. They discuss the official version, according to which Mantella mistook Venus for a UFO. The author suggests that this version is designed to protect people from panic. A new stage of the investigation begins with the involvement of astronomers, technical analysts and other specialists.

Chapter 3 begins with a description of the achievements of the United States in military technology: work is underway to create long-range guided missiles, supersonic aircraft have broken the speed record - about two thousand miles per hour (3,218,688 km / h), two-stage missiles have flown more than two hundred miles (321,869 km). With these data, the author leads to the version that an atomic engine could already have been developed, which would explain the speed and range of UFO flights if they are secret developments of earthlings. However, this theory contradicts the fact that military pilots were ordered to chase the saucers. Further, the author describes several more cases of observation of metal disks, and also cites a message from a researcher from Portland named Fred Johnson, who noticed that during his observation of a UFO, the compass needle behaved strangely. Then the author cites the versions of various scientists about the nature of flying saucers.

Chapter 4. The author begins this chapter with a description of his visit to the Pentagon, during which the topic of flying disks was discussed. The author did not receive any new data there, but when he was driving home, an informant contacted him. He advised the author to pay attention to reports about "some fighters" ("foo fighters"), which were also seen around the world. The author started searching for information about them.

Chapter 5. The author again recalls the story of Mantell's death. It turned out that, chasing the object, it rose to an altitude of 25 thousand feet, despite the lack of oxygen. According to Air Force investigators, Mantell lost consciousness (and may have died of oxygen starvation before the plane crashed). After that, his plane rose to an altitude of 30,000 feet (9,144 m), and then began to disintegrate – obviously due to high speed. Further, the author reports on several cases known to him that occurred during the Second World War, when bomber crews and anti-aircraft gunners fired several shells at Venus when she was at the peak of brightness. According to the author, something else clearly happened to Mantell. An Air Force officer from the Pentagon suggested that the object of Mantell's pursuit was a weather balloon reflecting sunlight, which exploded after reaching a maximum height. Further, the author discusses other possible causes of this incident. Then he invites his informant to lunch and finds out that he is a writer. They talk about incidents and their possible explanations. The informant insists that they were caused by Soviet missiles.

Chapter 6 is devoted to conversations with pilots about their UFO sightings. Some of them are inclined to the version about the alien origin of objects, because it can explain all UFO sightings throughout history.

Chapter 7. The author boards a plane to Washington and describes the beauty of cities from a height, and also gives his arguments about the alien version of the origin of UFOs and the possible goals of aliens on Earth. He cites UFO sightings that occurred before 1947:

• John Martin, a farmer who lived near Denison (Texas), in an interview with the Denison Daily News on January 25, 1878, describes an orange UFO he saw and compares it to a plate or balloon;
• a certain incident that occurred on August 9, 1762, which describes a strange spindle-shaped body moving at high speed towards the Sun;
• On September 26, 1870, a description of a strange elliptical object with some kind of tail appeared in the London Times;
• On March 22, 1880, several brilliant luminous objects were reported in Kattenau, Germany (the information was published in the British Nature Magazine, volume 22, page 64.);
• On March 19, 1887, two strange objects fell into the sea off the Dutch barquentine, while the glowing object fell with a loud roaring sound, etc.

The author notes that no UFO sightings were recorded in the period from 1762 to 1870.

Chapter 8. The author describes a case of observation of a cigar-shaped wingless object by two experienced pilots:

At 8:30 p.m. on July 23, 1948, an Eastern Airlines DC-3 took off from Houston, Texas, flying to Atlanta and Boston. The captain of the airliner was Clarence S. Chiles. During the war, he served in the Air Transport Department with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He had 8,500 flight hours. His first assistant was John B. White, also a former military pilot. Both were known as neat pilots.

It was a bright moonlit night with scattered clouds overhead. The DC-3 was 20 miles west of Montgomery, at 2:45 a.m., when a shiny shell flew past it.

Chiles saw it first and mistook it for a jet plane. But the next moment, both pilots saw that this was not clearly wrong.

"He was heading southwest," Chiles said later– "directly opposite our course. Anyway, he flew past us at an amazing speed. We turned left. I saw that he had no wings."

"It was about a hundred feet long, cigar–shaped and wingless," Whitt described.

During the observation, the object itself seemed to shine blue, and its exhaust was red-orange, like a flame. The only passenger who saw this object described it as a fast-flying orange stripe. Further, the author discusses whether it was a guided missile, or an alien ship.

Chapter 9. In this chapter, the author discusses whether the official investigation of incidents is real, or is it just a way of hiding information. Officials have been trying for a long time to convince the author that all cases have a normal explanation. The author is talking to a friend from the airline, who also tells several cases of UFO sightings. The author talks with several witnesses who refuse to speak, although the author does not notice any obvious pressure from the side. Further, he cites the results of the official investigation: all UFOs are divided into cigar-shaped objects that can be explained by observations of military equipment, and spherical objects that could not be explained. The author is convinced that the purpose of the official investigation was to conceal information from the general public.

Chapter 10. In this chapter, the author describes the opinions of engineers (including from NASA) about the possible principles of operation of the plates and ways of their production using terrestrial technologies. Then he tells about the "mysterious light of Gorman": on October 1, 1948, Gorman, now a lieutenant in the National Guard of Aviation, flew an F-51 fighter jet. The other pilots of this patrol have already landed. He saw a bright light, presumably from another plane flying by. The same was thought on the ground, but only the light was visible, without the contours of the aircraft. Further, the author provides discussions and reports on the results of the investigation of this case. He is sure that everyone around is hiding something, including Gorman himself.

Chapter 11. The author believes that Germany has advanced the most in rocket science, and suggests that the USSR could have taken their scientists and developments after the victory in World War II. Then he talks about the possibility of space flights.

Chapter 12. The author recalls the Gorman case again. In the process of discussing with one engineer, they come up with a version that the light of the object can be a disguise, and also talk about the device of flying disks. They were supposed to be powered by atomic engines, but when checking Gorman, the Geiger counter showed nothing.

Chapter 13. The author cites excerpts from the official investigation report (the Saucer project), which talks about the possible habitability of other planets. The informant also informs the author that the plates may be a British development and that officials from the UK have already agreed with officials from the United States. The author believes that this information was given to him to confuse and distract from the idea of spaceships.

Chapter 14. At the beginning of the chapter, the author tries to describe the history and geography of UFO sightings. Then he begins to make assumptions about what the aliens have seen for several hundred observations of earthlings, and also leads the arguments of various scientists about how the inhabitants of other planets should look like and what their goals may be with respect to the Earth. The author draws a parallel between the observation ships of aliens and the strategy of space exploration by humans. At the end of the chapter, the author claims that the invention of the atomic bomb could attract the attention of aliens, since its use could affect life on their planet.

Chapter 15. A conversation about what the aliens learned about Earthlings by listening to radio broadcasts led the author to the idea that the aliens' way of thinking may differ from ours. Next, the author talks about how they saw us and what they can decide based on this, as well as how contact with them will affect people.

Chapter 16. The author is thinking about how to submit material in a magazine article, for which, in fact, there was a collection of material about UFOs, as well as how exactly this material will affect people's moods. In this regard, the author recalls the story of the "little people from Venus– - a meeting of earthlings with UFO pilots on the southwestern border of the United States. Next, the author briefly describes the content of the journal publication, its general idea (UFOs are space alien ships) and the reaction of readers.

Chapter 17. Even after the publication of the article, Air Force officials remained confident in their explanations of what was happening (Venus, meteors, weather balloons, etc.), what they talked about in interviews and what they tried to convince the author of the book.

Chapter 18. The author recalls Mantell's death again and refuses to believe that he mistook Venus for a UFO. Unofficially, it was reported that it was an experimental weather balloon, although the weather service indicated in the report a very strong wind from the southwest, which made it impossible for the probe to move from the south. The BBC is of the opinion that there is an explanation for every case, even if these cases look almost the same. For the author, there is only one explanation – a spaceship, and he does not consider Mantell's death accidental. The author considers the versions about the meteor and the plane, but they also do not pass verification by the facts given in the official report. The author once again looks through all the reports and finds out that all cases of UFO sightings have remained unexplained, because experts have not confirmed the initial hypotheses. It turns out that the story with the "little people" was a hoax. The author tells the story of a UFO landing in Kansas City:

In flight, the ring rotated at high speed, and the cabin remained stationary, like the center of a gyroscope. Each of the two ships that Koehler saw had a crew of two. In the badly damaged ship, these bodies were charred beyond recognition. The dead bodies of the crew of the other ship were in excellent condition. Medical reports, according to Koehler, showed that these people were almost identical to people from Earth, except for a few minor differences: they had the same height of three feet, were white, did not wear underwear, although the bodies were dressed in something, had no beards, and their teeth were completely monolithic.

The key figure in this story turned out to be a certain George Koehler.

Chapter 19.The author writes that there was no stopping the wave of observations, although the media, citing authoritative experts, published various explanations - from Venus to spaceships. After a while, the author heard a rumor that the Navy and the Air Force were arguing over whose new missiles were better. Thus, the version about the latest weapons has not outlived itself, although representatives of both instances have officially declared its insolvency. The British services also denied the possibility of testing their guided missiles over the territory of the United States.

Chapter 20 contains the author's conclusions about the nature of flying saucers, which boil down to the statement that UFOs are alien ships from outer space, although some of the observations probably relate to terrestrial rockets. The author is sure that soon the aliens will come into contact with earthlings, and the inhabitants of America are obliged to find out and accept the truth.

Most often, the author describes the UFO as "shiny metal disk", "disk drive with a rotating ring inside," "drive, blinking a strange blue-white light", "ultra-fast flat disk, the sun reflecting like a mirror", "cigar-shaped wingless object with a fiery exhaust, shining blue", "in flight, the ring revolved at high speed, while the cabin remained stationary like the center of the gyro".

In the journal "True" reviewed the descriptions and made the overall portrait of a UFO:

"It is round or oval (possibly elliptical) objects that are very bright or shiny silver. They can move with extremely high velocity, quickly pick up speed and overtake conventional aircraft."

Given in the book version that explains the phenomenon: the secret development of military, meteors, the Sun's reflection on the low clouds, the ice melting from the mountains, mass hysteria and hallucinations, and weather balloons reflecting sunlight, and birds.

The author mentions that most of the messages about seeing UFOs came from the South-Western States, where he conducted experiments on rocket weapons.

Translated by «Yandex.Translator»