PHOENIX: (Projekt Saucer series)

by W. A. Harbinson

  ‘All very interesting,’ Dwight said, ‘but you’re talking about a pretty crude aircraft.’ ‘All early prototypes were pretty crude,’ Andy retorted. ‘Nevertheless, it’s clear from what I’ve picked up that US military intelligence continued to be anxious about the possibility of man-made flying saucers, particularly right after the war. They were, as you know, even more concerned because most of the saucer sightings in the US tended to cluster around key development stations such as atomic plants, guided missile areas, and your very own Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.’

  Dwight grinned. ‘No argument there.’

  Andy turned another page. ‘It’s also clear from remarks sprinkled liberally throughout these documents of the period that US intelligence findings seemed to exclude extraterrestrial origin of the saucers. This in turn made them increasingly concerned with the possibility that the saucers were man-made.’ He looked up, nodding emphatically. ‘More intriguingly, although on the one hand they were concerned with Soviet advances in this field, they soon began suspecting that the saucers might be of US or Canadian origin.’

  ‘You think that’s possible?’

  ‘Yeah. As the Navy, Army and Air Force are always, and were then, in constant competition with one another, each would have been reluctant to inform the other of any secret projects in the pipeline. So even at the White Sands Proving Ground, used extensively by the Navy for their aeronautical and missile experiments, there are research projects so secret that even the CIA can’t learn about them - and given Navy interest in vertical-ascending aircraft, these could have included saucer-shaped aircraft.’ Dwight finished off his bourbon and called for two more. ‘I can tell you have something else prepared. So go on. Lay it on me.’

  Andy waited until the waiter had brought their drinks and departed.

  ‘As far as I can tell, the first rumblings about Canadian flying saucer projects were made in a classified CIA memorandum dated August 18 last year - a year after the Spitzbergen flying saucer crash report. The CIA memorandum states: “According to recent reports from Toronto, a number of Canadian Air Force engineers are engaged in the construction of a ‘flying saucer’ to be used as a future weapon of war. The work of these engineers is being carried out in great secrecy at the A.V. Roe Company factories.” He looked up from his notes. ‘That report was correct - as were the widespread suspicions that the US Navy was conducting experiments on saucer-shaped, verticalrising aircraft in secret hangars in the White Sands Proving Ground.’

  Dwight gave a low whistle. ‘That could make sense,’ he said. ‘One belief widespread in intelligence circles is that the formation of the lights in the famous Lubbock sightings, and others, weren’t indicative of small glowing saucers, but of the many exhaust jets along the edge of a massive, boomerang-shaped aircraft, or advanced flying wing, that would, when viewed from certain angles, strongly resemble a flying saucer, or saucers.’

  ‘Good,’ Andy said, then went back to his leaked documents. ‘Evidence for United States’s involvement with disc-shaped aircraft projects surfaced with information about the US Navy’s Flying Flapjack, or Flying Pancake. Designed by Charles H. Zimmerman of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and constructed in 1942 by the Chance-Vought Corporation, the Flying Flapjack, or V-173, was an experimental, vertical-rising, disc-shaped aircraft, a combination of helicopter and jet plane, powered by two 80hp engines and driven by twin propellers, with two fins, or stabilisers, on either side of its semi-circular, or pan-cake-shaped, configuration. Reportedly it had a maximum speed of 400 to 500 miles per hour, could rise almost vertically, and could hover at thirty-five miles an hour. A later, more advanced model, the XF-5-U-1, utilised two Pratt and Whitney R-2000-7 engines of 1,600hp each and was reported to be about 105 feet in diameter and have jet nozzles - which strongly resembled the glowing windows seen on so many UFOs - arranged around its outer rim, just below the centre of gravity. It was built in three layers, the central layer being slightly larger than the other two. Since the saucer’s velocity and manoeuvring abilities were controlled by the power and tilt of the variable-direction jet nozzles, there were no ailerons, rudders or other protruding surfaces. The material used was a metal alloy that had a dull, whitish colour.’

  ‘In short,’ Dwight said, ‘a machine remarkably similar in appearance to those reported by so many UFO witnesses.’

  ‘Exactly,’ Andy said. ‘Now do you remember the April 1950 edition of the US News and World Report?’

  ‘Christ, now that I think of it, I do,’ Dwight replied, feeling more excited every minute. ‘Information about the Flying Flapjack was released to the public in that edition of the magazine!’

  ‘Correct again, Dwight, and it touched off some interesting speculations. The first of these arose from the retrospective knowledge that the Navy had always expressed more interest in a vertical-rising airplane than the Air Force and had, up to 1950, spent twice as much money as the Air Force on secret guided missile research. Also, their top-secret missile-research bases were located in the White Sands Proving Ground, where the majority of military UFO sightings had occurred. Also, because they weren’t involved officially in UFO investigations, they could conduct their own research in a secrecy unruffled by the attentions of the media and the public.’

  ‘Right,’ Dwight said, now genuinely excited. ‘And according to the Project Grudge report for 1947, the UFOs viewed over Muroc AFB on July seven and eight of that year were oscillating objects that flew at remarkably low speed and had tactics unlike an ordinary airplane. Some witnesses, all trained Air Force personnel, observed two discs at an altitude of about 8,000 feet, both manoeuvring in tight circles with varying speeds - and oscillating. Also, just like the XF-5-U-1, both discs had two fins on the upper surface.’

  ‘Go on,’ Andy said, grinning with pleasure at what he had started.

  ‘Well, another interesting point is that the measurements taken by Navy commander R.B. McLaughlin and his team of Navy scientists of the UFO they’d tracked over the White Sands Proving Ground in 1949, two years after the Muroc sightings, corresponded closely, except for the speed, with the details of the original XF-5-U-1. It’s also worth noting that initial reports of the extraordinarily high speeds recorded by McLaughlin turned out to be inaccurate and that later analysis of the data brought the speed much closer to that of an advanced jet-plane... or to the original expectations for the Flapjack.’

  Nodding affirmatively, Andy, now as excited as Dwight, said, ‘And the US News and World Report also pointed out that the Air Force had called off official inquiry into the UFO phenomenon the previous December, even in the face of overwhelming evidence that the saucers were real. This was seen by many as a clear indication that top Air Force officials actually knew what the saucers were and where they come from. Therefore, while still denying that the Air Force was involved, they were no longer concerned about the saucers. The article concludes: “Surface indications, then, point to research centres of the US Navy's vast guided-missile project as the scene of present flyingsaucer development.”’

  ‘In other words, the White Sands Proving Ground and other secret locations right here in New Mexico.’

  ‘Ding, dong! First prize!’

  ‘So what happened to the Flying Flapjack?’

  Andy glanced at his leaked documents. ‘The production prototype of the Flapjack was due for a test-flight at Muroc AFB in 1947 - when the first flying-saucer sightings over that same base and at Rogers Dry Lake, adjacent to Muroc, were recorded. Whether such test flights were actually carried out has never been confirmed or denied by the US Navy. The only official statements given were to the effect that work on the Flying Flapjack ceased the following year... - but US involvement with saucer-shaped aircraft didn’t end with that prototype.’

  Andy had a sip of bourbon and lit a cigarette. After blowing a couple of smoke rings and watching them disappearing, he said, ‘At this point it’s worth reminding you of certain facts taken from your own Project Blue Boo
k reports.’

  ‘Always reliable!’ Dwight quipped.

  ‘Of course,’ Andy responded, then turned serious again as he lowered his eyes to his notes. ‘In the reports that started the modern UFO scare - the Harold Dahl and Kenneth Arnold sightings of June 1947 - both men observed the UFOs in the vicinity of Mount Rainier, the Cascades, in the state of Washington - which divides Oregon and Canada - and both stated independently that the UFOs flew away in the direction of the Canadian border.’

  ‘That’s right - towards Canada.’

  Andy nodded. ‘Shortly after, during the first week in July, there were numerous reports of unidentified, luminous bodies in the skies over the Province of Quebec, Oregon, and New England. The next major UFO flap was the so-called invasion of Washington DC in 1952; and while the official flap started on July 19, there was a record, dated June 17, of several hundred unidentified, red spheres that flew at supersonic speeds over the Canadian Air Base of North Bay in Ontario and then crossed over some of the southeastern states. Finally, nearly all of the subsequent Washington DC UFOs were reported as flying away in a northerly direction; and when they returned, en masse, on July 26, their disappearance in a general northerly direction - towards the Canadian border - also applied.’ He looked up from his notes. ‘Given this, it’s a matter of particular interest that on February 11 last year the Toronto Star reported that a new flying saucer was being developed at the AVRO-Canada plant in Malton, Ontario.’ Dwight gave another low whistle, then said, ‘Christ, how did I miss that?’

  ‘Because your research teams were only looking for UFO reports - not reports about official, saucer-shaped, experimental aircraft.’ Andy puffed another cloud of smoke and looked back at his Air Force folder. ‘Of course the US and Canadian governments both denied involvement in any such projects, but on February 16, after freelance photographer Jack Judges had taken an aerial photograph of a flying saucer resting outdoors in the Avro-Canada plant in Malton, the Minister for Defence Production, C. D. Howe, admitted to the Canadian House of Commons that AVRO-Canada was working on a mock-up model of a flying saucer, capable of ascending vertically and flying at 1500 miles per hour. By February 27, Crawford Gordon Jr., the president of AVRO-Canada, was writing in the company’s house journal, Avro News, that the prototype being built was so revolutionary it would make all other forms of supersonic aircraft obsolete. That aircraft was called the “Avrocar”.’

  ‘Shit,’ Dwight muttered. ‘Now I remember it!’

  ‘I bet you do.’ Andy was amused, but instantly went back to his leaked documents. ‘Soon the Toronto Star was claiming that Britain’s Field Marshal Montgomery had become one of the few people to view Avro’s mock-up of the flying saucer. A few days later, Air Vice Marshal D. M. Smith was reported to have said that what Field Marshal Montgomery had seen were the preliminary construction plans for a gyroscopic fighter whose gas turbine would revolve around the pilot, positioned at the centre of the disc. Confirmation that the craft actually existed came via last year’s April issue of the Royal Air Force Flying Review, which contained a two-page report on the Avrocar - also dubbed the “Omega” - including some speculative sectional diagrams. According to this report, the building of a prototype hadn’t yet commenced, but a wooden mock-up had been constructed behind a closely guarded experimental hangar in the company’s Malton plant, near Ontario. The aircraft described had a near-circular shape, measuring approximately forty feet across, and was being designed to attain speeds of the order of 1,500 mph - more than twice that of the latest swept-wing fighters. It would be capable of effecting 180-degree turns in flight without changing altitude.’

  ‘Just like a real flying saucer.’

  ‘Exactly,’ Andy said. ‘And last November, Canadian newspapers were reporting that a mock-up of the Avrocar, or Omega, had been shown on October 31 to a group of twenty-five American military officers and scientists. To date, nothing else has been reported by the press, but according to these leaked intelligence documents, the US Air Force, concerned at Soviet progress in aeronautics, has allocated an unspecified sum of money to the Canadian government for the building of a prototype of their flying saucer. The machine’s been designed by the English aeronautical engineer, John Frost, who once worked for AVRO-Canada in Malton, Ontario, and it’ll be capable of either hovering virtually motionless in mid-air or flying at a speed of nearly 2,000 miles an hour.’

  Dwight gave another low whistle.

  ‘Last but not least,’ Andy continued, ‘according to these documents, the government’s hoping to form entire squadrons of AVRO-Canada’s flying saucers for the defence of Alaska and the far regions of the North - because they require no runways, are capable of rising vertically, and are ideal for subarctic and polar regions.’

  Realising that he had been conned all along by his superiors, who wished to protect their own flying-saucer projects, Dwight filled up with rage. With that came the urge for revenge against those who had wronged him.

  ‘All we need is solid proof,’ he said.

  ‘I’ve got that as well,’ Andy responded, grinning like a kid as he withdrew a brown envelope from his Air Force folder. ‘When that thing landed last night, I took a photo of it. Naturally, I’m going to keep the negative, but the photo’s for you. With my compliments, Dwight.’

  Dwight took the photograph and examined it. His heart started racing when he saw the slightly unfocused photo of a flying saucer hovering just above the fence of Cannon AFB, gleaming in the light from the arc lamps forming a circle around it. His hand started shaking as he took in what he was seeing, but eventually, with his heart still racing too quickly, he slipped the photo back into the envelope and put it into his briefcase.

  ‘Thanks a million,’ he said. ‘I don’t know how to thank – ’

  ‘My pleasure,’ Andy interjected. ‘Now I’ve got to get home. Back to Cannon AFB, where you’re no longer welcome. I’ll keep my eyes and ears peeled.’

  ‘Please do that,’ Dwight said.

  They left the bar together, shook hands on the sidewalk, then walked off in opposite directions. Andy clambered into his car while Dwight caught a cab.

  He checked into a motel located near the airport, went straight to his room with a halfpint of bourbon, drank some of it while endlessly studying that photo of the man-made flying saucer, then lay down and fell into a dream-haunted sleep.

  Dwight was dreaming of flying saucers that glowed magically in the night and, though serenely beautiful, filled him with fear. That fear deepened as a dazzling silvery-white light filled his vision, gradually surrounded him, and then, in an inexplicable manner, pressed in upon him.

  The light seemed almost physical.

  At first he thought the light was part of his dream, filling up an alien sky, but then he opened his eyes and realised it was real enough: a brilliant, flickering light that was beaming in through the window of the motel room to dazzle him and, in its oddly physical way, tighten his skull and fill it with pain.

  Even as he was rubbing the sleep from his eyes, trying to adjust to the unusual, blinding light and the increasing pain in his head, he heard a bass humming sound, almost an infrasound, and felt the bed vibrating beneath him.

  Fully aware that this wasn’t normal and deeply frightened by it, he was trying to gather his senses together when the room door burst open and two men, both dressed in black coveralls, entered and rapidly approached the bed.

  Dwight attempted to sit upright, but before he could do so, one of the men pressed something hard and metallic against the side of his neck. He felt an electric charge course through him, like being struck with a hammer, then he went numb from neck to toe.

  Terrified, unable to move a muscle, he could only look on as one of the men picked the manila envelope off the bedside cabinet, tugged the UFO photo out, examined it briefly, then nodded at the second man. The latter leaned over the bed to stare at Dwight with cold, almost inhuman eyes.

  ‘Stop pursuing us,’ he said. ‘It will only brin
g you grief. Not only for you, but for your family. You’ve been warned. Auf Weidersehen.’

  The two men left the room, closing the door behind them, leaving Dwight propped up on the bed, completely paralysed and terrified.

  That strange light still filled the room, pulsating, flickering, and at times he thought it might be a line of lights forming the whole. Accompanying the lights was the infrasound

  - something felt, rather than heard - and Dwight felt it pressing around him, relentlessly tightening his skull, almost making him black out with pain.

  He remained conscious, however, tormented by what was happening. The sweat poured down his face, the visible results of his racing heart, and he felt the panic welling up inside him as he frantically tried to move.

  Now his terror was absolute, engendered by the paralysis, and he had visions of the horror of Beth and Nichola should they find him like this. The panic ballooned into mindlessness, stripping his senses bare. He was just about to tip into madness when the pressure of the infrasound decreased and feeling returned to him.

  First a tingling in his toes, then warmth in his fingers. He bent an elbow, then a knee, as the brilliant, flickering light outside the window appeared to rise slightly, deliberately, swaying slightly from side to side.

  The pressure of the infrasound decreased and finally went away altogether.

  Dwight bent and stretched his legs. He flexed his fingers and raised his arms. The dazzling light outside ascended to the top of the window-frame, hovered there for a moment, flared up briefly and then suddenly blinked out.

  Dwight knew then that it was actually a line of smaller lights blinking out one after the other, but at very great speed, giving the appearance of one great light popping out.

  Darkness rushed back into the room and the sky reappeared outside.

  Dwight took a deep breath. He was trembling like a leaf. Sweating profusely, with his heart still racing dangerously, he glanced at the bedside cabinet to confirm that the men in black had actually been here.