There have been suspicions for many years about the US military base known as Area 51, in the Nevada desert, otherwise known as Dreamland or Groom lake. It has the longest runway in the world and the largest hanger in the world. But yet it fails to appear on any list of US military installations! Surprisingly Area 51 can be seen on Google Maps, but I can't see anything that looks like a UFO on the ground, maybe they are in the hangers! Area 51 was where the U2 spy plane, Lockheed SR71 and the stealth bombers and fighters were tested. In fact all sorts of experimental aircraft were tested there. And it has to be said that some of these aircraft looked nothing like conventional aircraft, so perhaps it is understandable that some would me mistaken for UFOs. After all the US military even tested a flying disc here!

Area 51

But are there captured alien spacecraft in Area 51 as some people claim? Many people keep watch on Area 51 from the vantage point of Tikaboo Peak, an 8000 foot peak about 25 miles from Area 51, which is regarded as the last proper vantage point for the general public. There is little doubt that 'black projects' are carried out at Area 51, but alien research is another thing. However people at the "Area 51 research center" think otherwise as do most people in the nearby town, Rachel, Nevada, the only town on the Extraterrestrial Highway, and dubbed the 'UFO capital of the world' due to the number of sightings in this area.

And what about the nearby Area S4? Can Bob Lazar be believed? He allegedly worked here on top secret projects. It is a 'flying saucer base' according to him, with at least nine flying saucers seen by him in the hangers. It was here that his employers, the US military, admitted to him that they reverse engineer alien spacecraft.

But not all unusual sightings in this area can be assumed to be alien spacecraft. Why? Well in area 51 you often have 'stealth' technology watchers and UFO enthusiasts side-by-side. And when they are in the same area and observe the same object it turns out that they often have different reports on the same sightings. Someone who is knowledgeable about aircraft may identify the aircraft, or just record that it is an aircraft. Whereas someone with perhaps a preconceived idea, looking for a UFO, will see a UFO. And as we know aircraft are often confused with UFOs throughout the world, but especially in Area 51 and its surroundings. What can we expect when aircraft that don't exist officially, are spotted near an air base that doesn't exist officially. It's almost inevitable a UFO will be sighted.

Project Bluebook

Are we alone? It's an age-old question, but alien life most likely exists somewhere, with a reasonable possibiity some alien life has observed us up close. Project Blue Book was an investigation set up in 1952 by the United States Air Force. Its main aim was to determine whether UFOs were a threat to the national security of the USA. Project Sign and Project Grudge were also set up to analyse this and pre-dated Blue Book. But Blue Book was the most extensive and best known. However somewhere along the way Project Blue Book appeared to lose its way. Its emphasis seemed to change at an early stage to debunking the UFO 'myth' rather than carrying out a proper rational investigation using the highest scientific standards. Part of the problem was that the project had too many (five) leadership changes over its almost 20 year history. And many of these leaders appeared to have their own agenda or perhaps the agenda of their superiors. Only Capt. Ruppelt seemed to have the right approach and an open mind on the subject in a period from 1952-1953. The project was officially closed down in 1970 (note 'officially') after the conclusions drawn in the 'Condon' report. The official stance from this report concluded that UFOs posed no threat to the security of the USA, as UFOs didn't exist! And that UFO sightings were as a result of

"a mild form of mass hysteria, war nerves, hoaxes, publicity seekers, psycho-pathological persons, and mis-identification of various conventional objects".

So who changed the course of the project? Who tampered with the evidence and directed the more interesting looking cases to be studied by other military projects that were not available to the public, such as those carried out by the 4602nd Air Intelligence Service Squadron. And where are the results of these studies? Was Project Blue Book just another cover-up? In the end it seemed like some sort of public relations exercise, perhaps (justifiably) to prevent public panic and fear which would inevitably create disruption to our social and religious systems. There certainly appeared to be a campaign to dismiss claims of sightings or discredit or ridicule the claimant.

Project Bluebook officially investigated 12618 cases, of which 701 defied explanation and were left unsolved. The records were mainly of a textual content, about 84,000 pages accompanied with a few (18) home movies of inferior quality compared to today's standards.

Unsolved cases don't necessarily mean alien spacecraft. But it certainly raises questions if the US military and all its might, resources and expertise can't solve them. Or indeed whether they do know more about those unsolved cases than they acknowledge to the public. We now know the US had a secret department of defense program called Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program (AATIP) that ran from around 2007 to 2012 and included the tracking of UFOs.

And the CIA have their own view on UFOs when they declassified many of their documents, see this link for the CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947-90.

For film buffs, one of the many Blue Book unsolved cases took place in Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico in 1961, where supposedly an alien ship landed in the base, aliens emerged and were greeted by air force personnel! If any one remembers the film 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind', the last scene in that film was supposedly based on this unsolved case.

Here is an interview from Major Hector Quintanilla who led Project Blue Book from 1963 to 1970, another leader whose mandate seemed to be to debunk UFO sightings, according to many observers, including the once skeptic and only consistent scientific consultant, astronomer Dr. J. Allen Hynek. Hynek was critical of the projects investigating procedures and inadequate staff.

For anyone who is puzzled by the UFO question and is interested in reading some of the actuak Blue Book files, here is the link

Majestic 12

The Majestic 12 (MJ 12) documents first came into the public domain in 1984 when a mysterious package appeared (a undeveloped roll of film) from an anonymous source in the mailbox of Jamie Shandera. He was a television documentary producer and a ufologist working closely with William Moore, a Roswell researcher, at the time. The developed film showed top secret documents including a memo from President Truman from 1947 (Truman-Forrestal memo) authorizing 'Operation Majestic 12'. The film also contained the 'Eisenhower briefing document', a briefing for President Eisenhower in 1952 regarding details of the 1947 Roswell incident and the recovery of bodies as well as progress of the reverse engineering of the UFO wreckage. Also included was information regarding the top secret elite committee, the Majestic 12 committee, consisting of twelve high ranking military and national security personnel and scientists whose task was to investigate the UFO phenomenon and oversee the whole operation, and report directly to the President.

Truman-Forrestal Memo

The documents contain significant details on Roswell including the discovery of four small human-like beings about two miles from the crash site that had apparently ejected prior to the crash. Also, comments regarding the craft itself, that it was most likely a short range reconnaissance craft due to its small size and lack of provisions. So mother ship was probably close by at the time!

The twelve members were named and many had previously worked on other UFO projects (including Project Sign and Project Blue Book). There were genuine and serious concerns regarding UFOs at that time in the US military. Their most secret and protected military bases (eg, White Sands Missile Range, the 509th Bomb Group and others in New Mexico and Nevada) were compromised and exposed. Strangely all the MJ 12 committee members had died prior to 1984, the last one, just around the time of the leak to Shandera.