I'll lead off with a book review.
Derek Sheffield, UFO: a deadly concealment, ISBN 0-7137-2620-2
Published by Blandford, UK, 275pp
I purchased the book as part of my continuing interest in the 1989 UFO sightings over Belgium.
p 10-50 and 72-80 provide details of the sightings, including a chronology, a summary of the radar data, and some aircraft control conversations during the sightings. The remainder of the book is dedicated to Sheffield's attempt to have this issue raised as a question in the European Parliament.
The sighting chronologies describe a series of sightings at Eupen and Wavre, beginning 11/29/89 through 3/31/90. During these sightings, objects were observed visually and by radar. Interceptors were vectored and did appear to encounter unusual phenomena which displayed exceptional performance, however, the sightings by the pilots were radar and small lights, and did not confirm the reported shape from ground observers. Performance as detected by radar was exceptional for aircraft, indicating 900 mps (meter per second) descent rates, and acceleration from 280kmh to 1800kmh in a few seconds.
The aircraft commentaries are the typical terse pilot communications. One can see the search beginning, and the fighter is having a hard time finding the object, focusing first on a ground light, then on a distant civilian aircraft. However, the fighter and the ground radar finally match up at a little after 22:26
Control: Possible contact, bearing 020 12 miles (the object is 12 miles away, at an angle of 20 degrees to the aircraft) Pilot: 12 miles looking out. Control: High speed roll out 040. (asking the pilot to roll his aircraft to a course of 40 degrees) Pilot: 040 (confirming) Control: Heading is 115 starboard 060 (plane is heading 115 degrees, object is at 60 degrees to the right) Pilot: One contact on nose at 10 miles. Control: That's the target... Pilot: Contact... at 5000 feet, 740 knots. Good contact again. Investigating. One contact on nose 7 miles. ... Control: Passing overhead BE for the moment (what is "BE"?) Pilot: Lost contact now, he's moving very fast. Control: That's affirm. High speed for the moment. (Control and pilot agree)
Unfortunately, the lack of annotations makes it hard for anyone but an aviation enthusiast to follow (I added the notes in parentheses). But the crux of the physical evidence in this case is the agreement of the two radars, so a better annotated transcript would make it clearer if the observation of the two radars did correlate.
However, Sheffield does provide a summary of the intercept activities in the next chapter, with extensive hard data on the UFO performance, including altitude changes or speed. Unfortunately, no graphs were provided. Vallee has previously published some UFO/radar performance graphs which showed astonishing combinations of altitude and speed changes. It would be interesting to compare the shapes of those graphs with this data.
Maps and photos of the radar HUD from the interceptors are provided in the "Parliamentary Question" chapter.
The rest of the book chronicles Sheffield's attempts to get his concerns about air defense issues raised as a question in the European Parliament. Reams of rather redundant letters from public officials ignoring or dismissing his concerns follow. Mr. Sheffield meets a number of UFO researchers and appears somewhat nonplussed by their odd behaviour and intrigues. If nothing else, the book is worthwhile for this interesting "outsider's view" of UFO researchers.
For those who have noted the recent book by Nick Pope, you will find his exchange of letters with the skeptical Pope interesting.
Sheffield draws parallels with some English sightings (Kent). For the next hundred pages or so, he continues his profitless exchange of letters with various officials, and chronicles some strange things which happened to his mail on the subject.
Is this book worth $13 (US)? Sure. But as a documentation of the Belgian sightings it is not as strong as I had hoped, and, in its stated aim of proving a government cover-up, it is somewhat less successful that it seems to desire. Government incompetence and unwillingness to listen? Sure. Conspiracy... not from this book.
Rating: two stars From: SGBConsult@aol.com, on 12/17/96 5:28 PM:
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