The G-Men in Black

Many UFO witnesses lucky enough to capture a photograph of their sighting would often have their image confiscated by the United States Government on grounds of national security. The following article illustrates the very real Cold War threat that prompted the Government to display such authoritarian behaviour.

CAUGHT ON CAMERA

While standing at the front door of 4333 North 14th Street in Pheonix Arizona, one of the men Identified himself as FBI Special Agent Brower and the other as a representative of the United States Government. Upon inviting the two men inside his home, William Rhodes began to recount the fantastic event that was the purpose of their visit. While walking to the work shed in his backyard on the 7th of July 1947, William heard the noise of a jet engine. As he looked skyward to find the source of this noise he noticed an unusual looking aircraft the likes of which he had never seen before. The half-stadium shaped object was grey in colour and featured what appeared to be a double tail at the rear and a canopy on the underside. As the object spiralled twice above his position he was able to capture two photographs before it banked and departed into the clouds. Clearly impressed by William’s story, the agents asked to see the photographs he had taken. Upon studying the images for a short period of time they requested to borrow the negatives with the intention of carrying out a more detailed analysis to which William kindly complied. Being only able to find one of the negatives he duly handed it over and both the agents concluded their reports then left. William never saw the negative again.

Government confiscation of UFO photographs taken by witnesses appears to have been a common occurrence throughout much of the Cold War period. Most may already be familiar with the mythical men in black (MIB), supernatural beings that interrogate, harass and threaten UFO witnesses on behalf of the Government or unknown organisations in an effort to dissuade them of talking openly about their sightings. Shaped by certain ufologists, MIB folklore has firmly established itself within the UFO community since around the 1950s. Perhaps serving as the basis of this folklore, many UFO witnesses were indeed visited by agents of the United States Government. They were also known as Government men or G-Men for short.

Photographer for the Louisville Times Alfred Hixenbaugh shot fifty feet of film of an alleged UFO on June 27th 1950 whilst photographing birds. Government documents of the time reveal that the United States Air Force (USAF) was keen to view the footage. Hoping to keep their interest hidden from the public, they sought help from both the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to obtain it. Hixenbaugh reluctantly stated to the press that he was indeed interviewed by intelligence agents but refused to comment further when asked if the Government agents had taken the film reel.

In March of 1960 Joseph Perry received a visit from FBI agents who confiscated his negatives of a UFO he captured on film while taking photographs through his telescope of the moon in Grand Blanc, Michigan. Following excruciating efforts, Joseph’s negatives were finally returned to him after the USAF determined that the UFO was simply damage to the emulsion during the developing process.

While on duty with the Highway Department during 1965, Rex Heflin captured four polaroid photographs of a UFO. Some days later, he was paid a visit by two men claiming to be from the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) who questioned Rex about his sighting and seized the series of photographs. When later asked, NORAD denied any knowledge of the matter; however, the photographs were returned to Rex after being mysteriously left in his mailbox many years later.

The handful of UFO cases above are among a small amount lucky enough to be reported in the national press at the time. It’s highly likely countless other cases that included photographic evidence were successfully suppressed by the United States Government on grounds of national security. Should a UFO, potentially engaged in reconnaissance for a foreign power, happen to be captured on film in sovereign United States airspace by a reliable witness and in turn remain unidentified as any known classified or foreign aircraft after meticulous analysis by security experts, then a highly detailed investigation by the Department of Defence to establish its origin would begin.

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE

Studies in intelligence is a classified academic journal published quarterly by the CIA which contains articles on methodology of intelligence gathering. Within the winter edition of 1962 the article Estimating Aircraft Performance by Isadore Herman revealed the methods used to estimate an unknown aircrafts performance characteristics from photographs. This helped to assess its place and contribution within the Soviet Unions air power. It stated that ‘Such an estimate can be made with good reliability if a few photographs of the plane have been taken from the ground.’

Photographs of unidentified aircraft gathered by intelligence agents would be forwarded to the Foreign Technical Division (FTD) of the USAF Systems Command – a command tasked with research and development for new weapons systems. A photogrammetrist and photo-interpreter would soon produce a three view proportional drawing of the aircraft. By determining the exact range the photograph was taken, they were able to deduce the actual dimensions of the aircraft with the aid of other objects visible in the photograph that had known dimensions. For example trees, buildings and vehicles. Assuming they were still the same size, features that might be recognised from other aircraft within the Soviet Air Forces or any other nation deemed to be hostile were also of great help, such as radar domes or antennae.

The three view proportional drawing was then passed over to a task force of other units of the FTD that were assembled for the estimating project, such as the Aircraft, Propulsion, Engineering, Electronics, Weapons and Industry Directorates. This collective force would be able to estimate the weight, balance, aerodynamics, lift, drag, structural layout, stress limits, jet engine performance, fuel consumption and range of any unidentified aircraft. Estimating an unknown aircrafts performance can help defend effectively against any aerial threat to the continental United States, while at the same time help learn of any hostile nations advancements in aircraft technology that may benefit the USAF.

Equally, any classified American aircraft captured on film by the general public was certain to have colossal ramifications should it fall into enemy hands, for the exact same reasons described above. From the late 1940s the United States Government found itself in a state of anti-communist fear, largely due to exposed Soviet espionage within American institutions and society. It was through these domestic spy rings that many defence secrets were given to the Soviets, which in part lead to The Second Read Scare. Also known as Mccarthyism, the scare was a Government campaign which promoted widespread fear by suggesting that foreign communists were infiltrating and subverting American society and the Federal Government. This drive Illustrated the extent of the Governments anti-communist fear.

Significant risk existed that a chance photograph of a classified American aircraft could make its way to one of the many flying saucer conventions of that period. Conventions were annual meetings attended by UFO enthusiasts. The events usually featured lectures from contactees – people that claimed to have been contacted by alien beings. The contactee movement, being very popular, could attract many hundreds of people to any one convention, making it an easy place for someone with ulterior motives to hide.

Many of the contactees were under suspicion by the FBI for harbouring communist sympathies and potentially being on the Soviet payroll. Much of their rhetoric promoted communist ideology, stated that American society was doomed for failure and encouraged an end to American atomic weapons. Contactee’s who had meetings with suspected Soviet agents often appeared in FBI reports, such as the contactee George Adamski. An FBI informant claimed to witness Adamski meeting with a group of Russians in Downtown Los Angeles in 1950. Another report focused on contactee Orfeo Angelucci, who purportedly admitted to FBI agents that on several occasions in the early to mid 1950s he was approached by a “subversive element of foreigners” who, while buying him dinner and plying him with alcohol, proposed that he assert to his listeners on his lecture circuit that his alien friends were communists. Both Adamski and Angelucci were regular speakers at the ‘Giant Rock Spacecraft Convention’ near Yucca Valley in California and were close friends with the host George Van Tassell. Van Tassell himself was a contactee under considerable investigation by the FBI. A report by FBI Special Agent John F. Malone on Van Tassell and his conventions from 1954 illustrates the FBI’s concern:

‘The saucer groups appear to be another means of raising funds for the Communist Party. When chosen by the communist screening group, members would be given further indoctrination. it is, in my opinion, teaching and advocating the overthrow of the U.S. Government by publishing literature which subtly aids in communist indoctrination, and could provide a substantial amount of revenue as a fund raising ‘front’ group for the Communist Party. There is a small cubby hole of a lunch room, adjacent to the Giant Rock, with pictures and cards on the wall including various clippings and pictures concerning flying saucers, and a picture of a bright red flying saucer. One of the several danger points of these ‘Flying Saucer’ groups is that each location will have, or may already have in operation a very powerful telescope which can, in the case of the Giant Rock group or any other group conveniently located beside a big military installation, train its glass upon our base and learn many things discernible to trained enemy agents regarding equipment, activity, and personnel or visiting dignitaries. There are Saucer meetings held near Muroc Base, also, but at this date I do not know location, nor whether a telescope has been established there.‘

It’s easy to appreciate FBI Special Agent Malone’s concern when the relationship between the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) and the Soviet Union is considered. CPUSA received significant funding from the Soviet Union from its early beginnings, and the unwavering loyalty of its administration to their communist masters placed it firmly under the Kremlins control to such an extent that the Kremlin was even able to change CPUSAs leadership if they chose to oppose specific Soviet policies. With a membership of nearly 100,000 at its height, CPUSA was an instrument of Soviet foreign policy that utilised a network of front organisations to shape public opinion in America. Many hundreds of its members worked without reward for Soviet intelligence agencies who had set up an extensive covert apparatus for intelligence gathering. Even more alarming is the admission of James W. Moseley, a famous author and commentator on the subject of UFOs, who claimed that in 1955 a retired counter-intelligence operative within the United States Army named Charles Samwick disclosed to him that “The Communist Party has planted an agent in every civilian saucer club in the United States.”

Whether domestic or foreign, Soviet agents that operated within the many flying saucer groups of America during the 1950s and beyond found themselves in front of a mass audience eager to adopt a communist ideology. That same audience was keen to share the latest flying saucers caught on film, making it the ideal hunting ground for intelligence gathering on the cutting edge of classified American aircraft. Any UFO photographs deemed worthy of thievery would more than likely be delivered to a Soviet program similar to that of the CIA’s Estimating Aircraft Performance.

Bye then.