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by Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos
Investigation in Spain is inevitably associated with Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos, who, alone or with collaborators, has authored a series of outstanding books which reflect more than twenty years of dedicated work. His 1987 Enciclopedia de los encuentros cercanos con ovnis (with Juan Antonio Fernández Peris) is probably the best-documented collection of close encounter cases in print. Ballester Olmos's attention remains chiefly directed at strongly evidenced UFO sightings, as opposed to abductions, where every local case he has investigated proved to be either a hoax or capable of some alternative explanation.
During recent years his main activity has been co-operating with the Spanish government in the release of official documents. In 1995 he published a book containing his findings to date, Expedientes Insólitos, and here he presents some notable cases from the military archives.
Vicente-Juan
Ballester Olmos can be contacted at Aptdo. de Correos 12140, 46080 Valencia,
Spain (phone: +34 96 179 627, fax: +34 96 179 2600)
In
the history of UFO research in Spain from 1947 to 1997, one event is of
out-standing importance: the release by the Spanish Ministry of Defence
of previously secret Air Force UFO archives, a process which started in
1992. I was privileged to play a part throughout this process which has
made the official files literally an open book which anyone may read.
No Secret Lasts Forever
Friday, 8 November 1996. 13.30 hours.Torrejón Air Force Base, near Madrid. Lieutenant Colonel Enrique Rocamora walks briskly along the corndors of the Aerial Operative Command (MOA) heading for the commander-in-chief's bureau. This is no routine dispatch: he carries with him the proposal for declassification of the last UFO file waiting for release.
It was during 1990-1991 that I started to induce the Air Force to review the classified matter policy applied in 1979 to UFO information (before that it has been considered Confidential). Step by step I watched the process proceed. In May 1991 the Air Safety Section, responsible for matters concerning UFOs and custodian of the UFO files, submitted a memo proposing to declassify the archives. In March 1992 the Joint Chiefs of Staff decided to downgrade the classification level imposed on UFO documents, leaving to the Air Force Chief of Staff the authority to fully declassify them.
The documents transferred to MOA comprised 62 files of UFO reports covering the period 1962 to 1991; procedures and memos shaping official Air Force policy on UFOs, 1968 to 1991; and UFO information requests from civilians addressed to the Air Force over the same period.
MOA's Intelligence Section took on the declassification task. The actual workload was handed to Lieutenant Colonel Angel Bastida. An open-minded individual and the prototype of the 21st century military man, Bastida formulated a new procedure detailing the involvement and investigation of UFO reports by the Air Force, and an analysis of all available historical information with arguments favouring full disclosure of existing and future UFO files. Incidentally~ Bastida also authored the best paper ever written by the military on the Air Force and the UFO problem
In September 1992, the first files were declassified. They were cases from 1962, 1967 and 1968. By the time Bastida moved to another military post he had declassified 22 files. His successor, Lieutenant Colonel Enrique Rocamora - a strong and sharp staff officer - declassified a further 53 files. The process was carried out as speedily as possible, given the fact that declassifying secret UFO files was only one part of these officers' work.
Sightings: Strange and Less Strange
The military UFO reports contain descriptions of several different kinds of seemingly anomalous phenomena. They include examples of lights or uncorrelated radar echoes which seem to defy a rational explanation. My colleagues and I are painstakingly analysing all pieces of information to determine if these cases can be solved, or whether they become true UFOs. The entire files are available to who-ever may contribute his/her know-how to this endeavour.
In the majority of cases, investigation, whether by the Air Force or by independent civilian ufologists, has revealed a misinterpretation of some kind. These cases show us, on the one hand, what kinds of anomalous features may occur; and on the other, how easily people, puzzled by the sighting of unexpected luminous phenomena in the sky, can jump to erroneous conclusions.
24 November 1974: Alarm in a Radar Squadron
Grand Canary is one of the seven Spanish islands in the Atlantic Ocean which form the Canary archipelago. At about 19.30 hours on 24 November 1974, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel E.L. and his daughter were driving by the North Freeway, when they saw a bright white light in the sky leaving a short trail, travelling at great speed and disappearing a few seconds later. His statement described it as a meteorite or bolide flying horizontally in a northwest direction at some 1,000 metres.
Fifteen minutes later, at 19.45, an Iberia Fokker-27 took off from Tenerife airport en route to Las Palmas (Grand Canary Islands). On a clear night, it was flying over a stratus cloud layer to its flight level of 2,000 metres and turning northwest when the pilots sighted a powerful lightjust in front of them, in a flight corridor typically used by regular air traffic from Las Palmas to Tenerife. Iberia captain Saura called Canary Flight Control to tell them they were passing 'traffic proceeding from Las Palmas'. By now the light had descended to 1,800 metres, the standard flight level for airplanes. Captain Saura was surpnsed to be told there was no reported flight at that position. He insisted that he had it in sight, well silhouetted against the stratus layer, at a range of some 25 km, and he asked for a check from the military radar.
The radar operator on Grand Canary duly reported that he had only the Fokker's echo on screen: he saw no other traffic. At this point, the airliner's crew realised to their amazement that the light had been stationary at 'three o'clock' for more than a minute: any normal aircraft should have sailed past by now. Full of curiosity, the Fokker's pilot started to change course in the direction of the light. As he did so, the light seemed to shift rapidly away from the aircraft, emitting intermittent orange and yellow flashes as it vanished.
By now, the radar station had been placed in 'alert' situation, and their personnel started to scrutinise the skies with special care and attention. At 20.20 hours an echo was detected at 20º (NNE), 56 km distant, approaching directly towards the radar site at 500 knots; they were unable to determine its altitude.
The trace disappeared when it entered the 'blind cone' (vertical) of the antennae, and did not reappear. Out of doors, a light of more than 1st magnitude was sighted, fixed in the firmament (according to one witness), slowly moving around the site (according to another), while a third declared it to be nothing more than a star.
At 20.30 hours, radar detected a trace at radial 356º (north), 58 km away, which correlated with Iberia flight 281 Madrid to Tenerife. At the same time, it recorded an uncorrelated track at 326º (northwest), 74 km away, heading south. After changing direction, it remained stationary unhl passed by IB-281, where-upon it suddenly vanished. No other traffic was scheduled at that time and location.
Taken together, these observations seem to indicate that a mysterious luminous object was hanging above two of the Canary Islands for more than an hour. However, it is also legitimate to divide the complex series of events into several individual occurrences: (1) a meteor-like sighting of brief duration, (2) a light in the clouds which a nearby military radar system did not recognise, but which disappeared as soon as the pilot altered his angle of vision, (3) in an excited environment (radar operators were requested to search for UFOs with extreme care), they detected a first echo which mysteriously disappeared without a trace, another trace in the proximity of a commercial aircraft (not seen opncally by the aircrew), and finally a fixed light in the celestial vault not different from a star. In summary: a case offering radar traces which are not confirmed visually, and visual sightings which are not confirmed by radar.
No final conclusion has been adopted to date by the research team.
23 December 1985: a UFO in the Log Book
The merchant vessel Manuel Soto, owned by Transmediterránea Co., was sailing on December 23, 1985 from Las Palmas (Grand Canary island) to Arrecife (Lanzarote Island). At 03.10 hours, the third officer on duty observed in the horizon by the bow what seemed to be the rising of a heavenly body. He identified it as the star Antares. Checked ten minutes later, however, the light's position did not correspond either with Antares or any other star or planet. The officer took measurements of the altitude and azimuth of the light, which remained stationary until 03.25 when it suddenly began to move quickly. Other members of the crew came to see what was happening.
The light approached the ship, passing directly over the vessel two minutes later. As it did, all the witnesses could perceive the object's profile, which did not resemble that of a typical aeroplane or helicopter. The object had a very intense white light on its central part, a weaker red light near it, and another white light - not as strong - set apart. The separation between the lights made the witnesses think the object was flying low, but they could hear no sound.
The shipping company passed the log book entry to the Spanish Navy. The Navy Staff submitted it to the Air Force, but Canary Islands Air Command reported that their investigations showed no UFO observed on that date. No further investigation was made.
And so this second sighting from the Canary Islands also remains unidentified. Sadly, nothing was reported about how the object was lost out of sight. In prinaple, the behaviour of the object - approaching from the horizon, flying at a constant altitude and speed - is consistent with that of an aircraft. Nevertheless, lack of additional detail - including the actual silhouette of the craft - prevents us from developing any specific hypothesis.
8 December 1980: Aircraft on Fire?
A brief file reports - just two telephone messages - received in the Cádiz Maritime Captaincy General from merchant vessel Conquistador and fishing ship Besugo. At 20.50 hours on December 8, 1980 the first ship was navigating 35º27'N/ 7º50' W bearing northeast, when it reported a disintegrating object over the vessel at some 20º altitude which was sighted by the captain and the radio operator.
Additionally, at 20.45 hours, personnel from the second ship, sailing in position 33º 52' N/ 8º 55' W, observed a fiery phenomenon in a north direction at sea level. Their impression was that it might be a passenger plane with a fire on its left engine.
In isolation, those two incidents off the Morocco coast might never have received an explanation. However, consulting our files we discovered that a significant flap of 'UFO sightings' originated at that time in southwest Spain. Thousands witnessed a series of incandescent objects flying in a group passing slowly overhead. The general trajectory of the luminous trail was southwest to northeast.
As described, the phenomenon is absolutely compatible with a meteor shower or a space junk re-entry: the second alternative can be discarded as no decay is known to have occurred at that date, so meteors seem the preferred explanation.
25 December 1980 Jet Propulsion UFO
On 25 December 1980, at 22.05 hours, an Air Force captain was driving along the Tudela-Arguedas road when he saw an unknown flying object with a large central body with a 'powerful jet propulsion system'. In addition, he saw a few more tiny luminous objects manoeuvring in formation with the large one. He estimated their altitude at some 1,000 metres, course 20º (north-northeast): the speed was similar to a commercial airplane. He saw it disappear behind the mountains, leaving a smoke trail much wider than that of a plane.
In the absence of any supplementary information, this would have been simply another unidentified. But there was a thick dossier in my archives to put this event into its proper perspective. That night, a giant, fiery phenomenon was sighted over Spain and other European countries a few minutes past 21.00 GMT (one hour later in Spain) skyrocketing on a rough south-to-north course.
North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) reported the re-entry into the atmosphere of the rocket used in the launch of Soviet satellite Cosmos 749. It was travelling from southwest to northeast on an arc that would have taken it over Portugal, Spain, France and southern England. There is little doubt that this is what the officer witnessed.
19 August 1982: a Rotating Flying Saucer
A civilian witness reported an unusual experience on 19 August 1982, at 22.30 hours, seen from an apartment block faang the sea in the summer resort village of Blanes (Gerona). He was with seven other people, who also watched the aerial show in astonishment. The first witness was on the terrace when he heard the sound of an aircraft and just above him he saw a circle of lights blinking regularly. Through binoculars he distinguished the shape of a 'cylindrical disc' which was rotating clockwise: he estimated its size as twice that of a DC-4 airplane. Speed and altitude were constant, then it made a turn so he could see it both from underneath and from the top. It had seven or eight illuminated 'windows'. The sighting lasted around three minutes. Then and there he made some drawings of what he thought he had seen and some days later he sent a letter to Air Force Headquarters with a full description of the events and some impressive sketches.
The official report presents no conclusion at all as no investigation was ever conducted. However, a review of newspapers for August and September 1982 disclosed similar sightings in many towns of eastern and northern Spain. Not only that, the press, confirmed by Barcelona Air Control, reported that advertising aircraft carrying luminous publicity panels were active during that summer in such locations, giving rise to surprise observations and misinterpretations with UFOs. Again, we may be confident that this was what the witness saw at Blanes.
Facts and Figures
The Spanish declassification process imposes no restriction as to date. Over the years, several current incidents, whether reported to the Air Force by civilian witnesses or by military personnel, were declassified immediately after investigation - an example which other countries would do well to follow.
Since 1992, a number of UFO observations have been added to the MOA archives, both old and new, so that the original 62 files have now become 75. They amount to 1,900 pages, which anyone can read (and copy) in the Library of the Air Force Headquarters in Madrid.
The files cover a total of 97 separate events between the years 1962 to 1995, which averages about three cases per year. But we find that certain years - 1968 (23),1969 (7), 1975 (7),1977 (6), 1978 (8), 1979 (9) and 1980 (7) - seem to deviate markedly from the mean. However, examination often reveals simple down-to-earth explanations. The 1968-69 wave was clearly due to a press release by the Ministry of Air asking the public to report UFO sightings, combined with the highly visible night-time appearance of the planet Venus, plus giant meteorological balloons carried by wind from France. 1975 is conspicuous only because one file includes several cases originating with a single and unreliable informant. A 1977 file, likewise, describes a succession of contactee-type stories allegedly expenenced during a three-month period. The 1978 peak is due to a photographic fraud which involved several dates. 1979 contains some good cases, but we notice that half of them occurred in November: for this we can look to the media impact of the incident of 11 November when the crew of a Supercaravelle reported strange lights. Finally, 1980 shows a chance accumulation of varied events, totally unrelated to one another. In short, none of the fluctuations constitutes a real 'wave' of true UFOs.
The reports reveal 20 radar detections, 15 scrambles or launches of jet interceptors, 10 close encounters, 13 instances where photographic material exists, and 28 civilian pilot witnesses (figures not mutually exclusive). Apart from the Air Force, other official bodies making reports included the Navy (9 reports), the Civil Guard (7), the Army (5) and the Police (3).
If
we look at time of day data, the following table appears:
| 12-18 Hrs | 18-24 Hrs | 00-06 Hrs | 6-12 Hrs | Not Known | |
| IFOs | 11% | 57% | 17% | 12% | 3% |
| UFOs | 6% | 50% | 31% | 13% |
It is somewhat dismaying to find that, contrary to what we might expect, UFOs follow the same time-of-day distribution as IFOs.
As soon as files were declassified, a multidisciplinary team of experts, coordinated by myself, rushed to analyse the information. The research is not finished, as some reports present complex problems which make analysis difficult. The absence of inquiry at the time, the absence of corroboration, and insufficient information add to the complications. Nonetheless, our investigative efforts proved fruitful and we have been able to draw an array of general conclusions.
IFOs comprise 85% of the total. They break down to:
Nevertheless, 15% of the reports released by the Air Force remain to be resolved. One case (January 1,1975, Burgos) defies every explanation and anses as a true anomaly. Nine others present outstanding abnormal features and they are tunder further study. Finally, five cases have insufficient data to be evaluated.
Chronology
My role in this process has had two well-defined stages. During 1990 and 1991 my task was to meet with the Air Force's Public Relations commanding officer and with the Colonel in charge of the Air Safety Section, seeking to convince them that UFO information poses no threat to National Security; that keeping UFO reports secret gives a false image that the State is concealing 'special knowledge'; that restriction of access to UFO files from students is hardly compatible with a truly democratic nation. I pointed out parallels such as the US precedent in freeing the Blue Book files, the initiative of the Australian Air Force, and GEPAN/SEPRA in France.
One of my objectives was to get all official UFO reports to a centralised location before declassification began, and in 1991 I persuaded Colonel Álvaro Fernández Rodas - an intelligent, well prepared officer - to ask all Air Regions to submit any UFO information they had on file. By this means the archives grew from 55 to 62 files.
That was a useful start: but what was the next step? One day in June 1992 I was approached by Lieutenant Colonel Bastida. It happened by chance while I was visiting a General in the Air Force Headquarters, and that evening I had my first meeting with the man from MOA.
I found that he was aware of my UFO work and I could feel he respected it. In fact, he had used my books as a guideline for designing case summaries, procedures and methodology involving statistics and a computer catalogue of UFO cases. This meeting was the first in a long series: mutual communication between civilian and military 'ufology' became a reality.
This
relationship continued with Rocamora, Bastida's successor. Frequent visits
and other contacts permitted me to:
For
myself, as a civilian investigator, the achieving of these goals has been
a dream come true. It would not have been possible, however, without a
progressive attitude within the Air Force, and the determination of a group
of military men to achieve one of the major targets of the ufological community
in any country: to have the 'secret' stamps removed from the Air Force's
UFO reports.
Acknowledgements: The author wishes to recognise the able assistance
and cooperation of Mr. Joan Plana, Vice-president CEI (Barcelona) and expert
in deffence issues, and the author's co-worker since 1988. Thanks also
to Sra. Carmen Romero Asensio, for a professional word-processing of a
difficult hand-written text.