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UFO or not UFO? Area 51 declassifying pours cold water on theory..
The Tech Herald ^ | April 12th, 2009 | Rich Bowden

Posted on 04/13/2009 11:39:11 AM PDT by TaraP

A former engineer at the top secret airfield "Area 51" in Nevada has spoken out about UFO sightings in the region in the 1960s, saying the witnessed flashes of light were part of top secret US aircraft experiments.

In an interview with ABC News, Thornton "T.D." Barnes, 72, a former special-projects engineer at Area 51 said: "No one really knew we existed. Even our wives didn't know where we were going when we left Monday morning and came back Friday evening."

Barnes was an electronics engineer for NASA who also specialised in advance radar and Soviet MiG fighter aircraft and was asked to join a team of CIA experts who would work on secret military projects at the infamous base.

UFO folklore has it that Area 51, about 80 miles north northwest of Las Vegas, is where captured aliens and their spacecraft have been stored by the US military. The conspiracy theory comes in part because of the preponderance of strange, unaccounted for lights that have been seen in the region of the top secret military base.

However Barnes poured cold water on the theory saying the "alien spaceships" were in fact light flashes from top secret spy planes being flown at 2,000 miles per hour at altitudes of 90,000 feet.

The experimental planes produced light flashes that some interpreted as alien spaceships and this was considered helpful by the team in covering their activities.

"We considered it to be a bonus," said Barnes. "They made it easier to conceal what we were doing."

However some ufologists have said the area has only been partly declassified and UFO work at the base may well have carried out though in a region unknown to engineers such as Barnes.

"Those guys who came forward may very well be telling the truth, with the caveat that they wouldn't know if there was something going on," said Stanton T. Friedman, a nuclear physicist, lecturer and top UFO researcher.

Friedman added that evidence coming out of places such as Area 51 proved how much was going on in the country without peoples' knowledge.

"National security has a real place in all of this stuff. There is no way to tell your friends without telling your enemies," he said. "A lot of Americans woke up to the fact that there's a lot going on that they don't get told about."


TOPICS: Conspiracy; UFO's
KEYWORDS: aatip; area51; fringe; mystery; ohsomysteriouso; uap; ufo; ufos; usaf
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To: TaraP

LMAO!

Nope, couldn’t be a man-made light source, so it MUST be an extraterrestrial light source, huh?

LMAO!


21 posted on 04/13/2009 11:52:55 AM PDT by Travis T. OJustice (I can spell just fine, thanks, it's my typing that sucks.)
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To: Travis T. OJustice

Not to worry...I am use to scoffers.....


22 posted on 04/13/2009 11:55:10 AM PDT by TaraP (The RAPTURE: Separation of Church and State)
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To: a fool in paradise
"Survival kit contents check. In them you'll find: one forty-five caliber automatic; two boxes of ammunition; four days' concentrated emergency rations; one drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills; one miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible; one hundred dollars in rubles; one hundred dollars in gold; nine packs of chewing gum; one issue of prophylactics; three lipsticks; three pair of nylon stockings. Shoot, a fella' could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff."

Audio/visual unsynchronized: After Major Kong lists the contents of the emergency ration kits, he says "Shoot, a fella could have a pretty good time in Dallas with all that stuff." After filming, the line was dubbed to "pretty good time in Vegas". The mismatch can clearly be seen. This was done because President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas shortly after filming was completed, and the producers did not want to offend anyone.

23 posted on 04/13/2009 11:56:22 AM PDT by Slings and Arrows (Can't get enough of my snarking? http://twitter.com/slingsandarrows)
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To: TaraP

The space aliens are courteous to place aviation lights on their ships.


24 posted on 04/13/2009 11:56:43 AM PDT by mysterio
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To: Travis T. OJustice

Funny- We were pretty primitive in the technological arena until after 1947.....


25 posted on 04/13/2009 11:56:57 AM PDT by TaraP (The RAPTURE: Separation of Church and State)
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To: Slings and Arrows

Yep, I contemplated substituting back in the original word “Dallas” into that quote but you can have more fun in Vegas and it fits in better then these guys working in the desert and ditching out on their wives every day...


26 posted on 04/13/2009 11:57:52 AM PDT by a fool in paradise ( “Saving the New York Times now ranks with saving Darfur as a high-minded cause.”NYTimes Bill Kell)
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To: Travis T. OJustice
LOL!

“Mad as a wet hen.” is a country aphorism that I often use.

A gal once asked me “Is a wet hen mad?”. “Yes” I replied. “How can you tell?”. “By the way it bawks.”

“Ridden hard and put away wet.” was another one I used, to uproarious chaos once in the USAF. People thought it sounded dirty, and Sgt Michelle said “sounds like a fun evening to ME.”

But yes. Evidence that would tend to detract from the validity of a conspiracy theory is taken as further evidence that the evidence for the conspiracy theory is being suppressed by its charmless and brainless proponents.

27 posted on 04/13/2009 11:58:23 AM PDT by allmendream ("Wealth is EARNED not distributed, so how could it be redistributed?")
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To: TaraP

Yeah, strobes, flash bulbs, etc. Really primitive.


28 posted on 04/13/2009 12:00:35 PM PDT by Travis T. OJustice (I can spell just fine, thanks, it's my typing that sucks.)
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To: mysterio

Space aliens= Angels of the LORD or Demons..Satan’s Angels

The Bible does not Lie about this....


29 posted on 04/13/2009 12:00:59 PM PDT by TaraP (The RAPTURE: Separation of Church and State)
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To: TaraP
Not to worry...I am use to scoffers.....

Nothing like a good deBUNKing to really irritate those who believe in silliness.

30 posted on 04/13/2009 12:01:27 PM PDT by Travis T. OJustice (I can spell just fine, thanks, it's my typing that sucks.)
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To: Travis T. OJustice

Yes, only took about 6000 years....


31 posted on 04/13/2009 12:02:21 PM PDT by TaraP (The RAPTURE: Separation of Church and State)
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To: allmendream

Mil chicks, pretty much all the same. Gotta love it.


32 posted on 04/13/2009 12:07:14 PM PDT by Travis T. OJustice (I can spell just fine, thanks, it's my typing that sucks.)
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To: allmendream

Maintain your death grip on such cluelessness.

It should make the paradigm shift looming all the more interesting for those nearby.


33 posted on 04/13/2009 12:11:10 PM PDT by Quix (POL Ldrs quotes fm1900 2 presnt: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2130557/posts?page=81#81)
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To: Travis T. OJustice

What woman doesn’t occasionally want to be “ridden hard and put away wet”?

No slam on military women necessary. But they do learn to ‘roll with the punches’ when it comes to dealing with a working environment that is 90% men.


34 posted on 04/13/2009 12:18:21 PM PDT by allmendream ("Wealth is EARNED not distributed, so how could it be redistributed?")
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To: Travis T. OJustice; allmendream; Star Traveler; Quix

Try more research

Bell System mural on Nevada Bell building in Ely, Nevada.
Bell Labs - the greatest scientific laboratory that ever existed. Today’s modern society owes a lot of gratitude for the numerous discoveries and inventions that came out of this great “think tank”. It is hoped that this web page will educate and enlighten the public about how different their lives would be today if Bell Labs never existed. Lucent Technologies research today is still a leader in technology advances in pure research.
http://www.porticus.org/bell/belllabs.html

JULY 7, 1947 and one person’s story about an alleged transfer of Alien Technology to Bell Laboratories.

According to one Scientific/Academic Sources, prior to 1947 there were no Transistors in use, only raw germanium and selenium diodes composed of naturally occurring elements — mined from Bauxite and other mines.

After September of 1947 and the alleged alien technology transfer to Bell Labs by the US Department of Defense, the entirely ARTIFICIALLY comprised Silicon ‘Transistor’ suddenly emerged at Bell Labs, arsenic doped in trace quantities into specially prepared Silicon produced remarkable changes in the ‘conductive properties’ of Silicon, when Boron and other gases and liquids were used to deposit it in the Silicon base. This produced the “Transistor” effects that had not been discovered by researchers working with rectifiers in over a hundred years. Some claim that these transistors were made of Germanium, as well, however, the effect that caused the transistor to work, hadn’t been observed by any researcher, prior to September of 1947.

WHEN DID COMMUNICATION REALLY TAKE-OFF
After 1947....

I am not saying this is fact, I am just saying if this was true the govvie would never let anyone know...


35 posted on 04/13/2009 12:24:08 PM PDT by TaraP (The RAPTURE: Separation of Church and State)
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To: TaraP
Yes, as a matter of fact it can.

If the time of day is right, the surface of the earth could be in darkness and an object at higher altitude can still be in sunlight. We did it all the time with Minuteman launches from Vandenberg and answered hundreds if not thousands of UFO calls about the "twilight phenomenon".

36 posted on 04/13/2009 12:25:32 PM PDT by pfflier
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To: GunRunner

“So, let me get this straight. The guys who work there don’t know the whole story, but you do Mr. Friedman?”

At what point did Friedman say he knew the whole story? And what specifically was wrong about the quote?

Security compartmentalizations can be very effective, and are used all the time on sensitive projects. These guys may NOT know every project in their area, so what Friedman said is quite accurate.

Compartmental security was used to hide the Manhatten Project for years until Japan was bombed, and we have grown very good at that kind of security over the years. If (and I mean IF) UFO’s were under research at Area 51, not everyone would know, that’s just how that sort of thing is managed.


37 posted on 04/13/2009 12:26:07 PM PDT by Frank_Discussion (May the wings of Liberty never lose a feather!)
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To: TaraP

Hell, it could have been afterburners. Plenty of plausible explanations without resorting to absurdity, and then ragging on others because you are wrapped up in that absurdity.

Try some more research.


38 posted on 04/13/2009 12:27:20 PM PDT by Travis T. OJustice (I can spell just fine, thanks, it's my typing that sucks.)
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To: TaraP

Looks like a hole in a granite counter-top. With a stain on the opposite side... :-P


39 posted on 04/13/2009 12:28:02 PM PDT by HeadOn (I hope I live to see the return of the Republic. The world's last best hope.)
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To: TaraP
Research doesn't consist of listening to the lunatic ravings of tin foil hat wearers.

Amazing how nobody saw UFO’s until people were aware of the size of the universe and the possibility of extraterrestrial life.

Before humanity knew of this all such “visions” were of flaming chariots, bright lights with people in it, etc. All mythological visions that comported with what people thought a being from “elsewhere” would look like what they would use to travel.

Now that our conception of what some being from “elsewhere” would look like and what they would use to travel has changed, so too have the sightings!

Amazing coincidence don't you think?

40 posted on 04/13/2009 12:28:59 PM PDT by allmendream ("Wealth is EARNED not distributed, so how could it be redistributed?")
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