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December 10, 2016

The Real Story Behind the Myth of Area 51

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U-2 testing began in July 1955, and immediately reports came flooding in about unidentified flying object sightings.
If you read the details in a 1992 CIA report that was declassified with redactions in 1998 (and subsequently released nearly in full in 2013), it's easy to see why. Many of these sightings were observed by commercial airline pilots who had never seen an aircraft fly at such high altitudes as the U-2. Whereas today's airliners can soar as high as 45,000 feet, in the mid-1950s airlines flew at altitudes between 10,000 and 20,000 feet. Known military aircraft could get to 40,000 feet, and some believed manned flight couldn't go any higher than that. The U-2, flying at altitudes in excess of 60,000 feet, would've looked completely alien. The Real Story Behind the Myth of Area 51

Posted by gerardvanderleun at December 10, 2016 12:20 PM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.

Your Say

"The U-2, flying at altitudes in excess of 60,000 feet, would've looked completely alien." ...if an airline pilot could have seen it from 10,000-20,000 feet. It was hard enough to spot a small aircraft (which the U2 was) two or three miles away.

Posted by: BillH at December 10, 2016 1:49 PM

If they did see it clearly, it would have looked like an airplane. Again, narrow fuselage, narrow wings, and black against a blue-black sky. "Low observables" was the idea.

Posted by: Sam L. at December 11, 2016 8:51 AM

The U-2 has remarkably long wings and clearly looks like an aircraft.
UFO...unidentified flying object, not an airplane.

Most observations of UFOs include outrageously fast acceleration and 90 degree or greater changes in direction while accelerating.
Again, not characteristics of airplanes of the era, but oft recorded UFO observations.

During the same era, the CIA was conducting their MK-ULTRA program. It would be more believable if the CIA claimed people saw these UFOs while unknowingly under the influence of the CIA's LSD than to claim that people saw U-2s and thought they were UFOs.

But then the CIA would rather the MK-Ultra program be forgotten since then CIA Director Richard Helms ordered the files destroyed rather than submit them to congressional scrutiny and oversight.(gee, that sounds familiar)

little known fact, James Joseph "Whitey" Bulger, Jr., Boston Mob Boss and serial killer was in Atlanta Penitentiary at the time and was one the subjects of the CIA's MK-Ultra program.
Until Whitey Bulger had gone through MK-Ultra, he hadn't killed anyone.

Posted by: Speller at December 12, 2016 1:02 AM

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