X Descending (13 page)

More recently, in August 2001, Podkletnov and Giovanni Modanese published an article on experiments in which the rotating superconducting disc was subjected to high-voltage electrical energy
¹¹
. Amazingly, the result was a focused beam of energy that was able to pass through objects seemingly with no attenuation, and that created a small repulsive force on movable objects it encountered. In 2002, Modanese and Chris Y. Taylor published a paper outlining the potential use of an “impulse gravity generator” as part of a beamed propulsion concept in which the repulsive force of the beam could potentially be used to drive spacecraft
¹²
. More information on this experimental research and other research involving gravitational effects and antigravity is available on the American Antigravity web site
¹³
. While these experiments and concepts are a far cry from the vehicle in Ray Stanford’s images, it is clear that there are interesting connections to be found in the effects generated by disc-shapes, rotating electromagnetic fields, and projected energy beams.

I have realized from the beginning that simply seeing Ray’s images and being able to recognize characteristics of what was happening on and around the vehicles did not give all the answers. No one was likely to run straight to the laboratory and immediately reproduce a functioning model with an energy beam exactly duplicating what was in the film. Still, back in 1993 the physical spike used in Myrabo’s original hypershock tunnel experiments was an effective proof of concept. In fact, the original small black and white image taken in the hypershock tunnel and that first showed the effectiveness of the energy spike was named “DEASM10Proof.jpg”. A physical spike might have been used for the energy source in this initial experiment, but the successful test was clearly considered proof of the “directed energy air spike” concept.

Even more indicative of how new Myrabo’s concept was at the time is the research that has been done by others since then and that references his work. Much of this later research has focused on the possibility of using similar forms of directed energy for a variety of purposes, from drag reduction to controlling airflow without the need for a physical surface to do it. Studies in 2002-2003
^14,15
have demonstrated that a long “needle-like” heat source could also modify shock waves and result in substantial drag reduction
¹⁶
. But, since his earlier shock tunnel experiments, Myrabo’s designs had only shown the effects being produced by directing a single powerful point of energy somewhere ahead of the vehicle. I had not yet seen any research or developments that appeared to encompass a narrow beam of energy capable of reproducing the visual aspects that I recalled in Ray’s images. Then in 2003, in a very interesting development but without any fanfare, a patent was filed for a new invention.

I was amazed that I had not caught it earlier. Searching the Internet again (using Ixquick.com, a great metasearch engine), in the early months of 2005 I stumbled across a paper titled “Lines of Pulsed Energy for Supersonic/Hypersonic Drag Reduction: Generation and Implementation” (AIAA 2004-0984). Written in 2004 with a sister paper titled “Lines of Pulsed Energy – Shock Mitigation and Drag Reduction” (AIAA 2004-1131) these two papers outlined exactly how a beam of energy pulsing rapidly ahead could create a “bubble” that a moving vehicle could effectively ride inside of. This bubble of low-density air, potentially approaching a vacuum, would be formed by the pressure wave created along a beam of laser energy that suddenly heats the air it passes through. In essence, this sudden addition of energy creates an expanding corridor of low-density air that a vehicle can then move through. In fact, the higher pressure that remains behind the vehicle actually produces added thrust! The above two papers were authored by Kevin Kremeyer (the second paper was co-authored with Kurt Sebastian and Chi-Wang Shu) and describe very closely the perceived effects in Ray’s film.

Being able to project a sufficiently strong energy beam over a considerable distance followed the development in recent years of laser technology referred to as “filament formation”. In simple terms, a filamenting laser can be used to create an ionized path through which larger amounts of energy can be sent almost instantaneously. This results in an expanding cylindrical shock wave. The expanding shock wave leaves a corridor of low-density air ahead that expands to eventually surround the vehicle. The benefits are incredible. Drag could be reduced to almost zero, leading to the possibility of vehicles traveling at much higher speeds and over a greater range. Controlling the direction of the beam could even be used as a means to steer the vehicle. Perhaps most amazing of all is that the energy saved in propulsion is always more (up to
65 times
more according to AIAA 2004-1131) than the energy put into the atmosphere ahead.

Kevin Kremeyer, founder of PM&AM Research, received a patent for this brilliant invention (No. 6527221). Once again, the defense industry took quick interest in this new development. Interim funding for experimentation on this supersonic drag-reduction method came via a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) contract from the Tactical Technology Office (TTO)
¹⁷
. The mission of the TTO is development of “high-risk, high-payoff” advanced military systems
¹⁸
. Subcontract work on the project came from the University of Arizona Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Department, in Tucson, and the University of New Mexico Physics Department, in Albuquerque. Both the patent and the interest by the defense industry indicate the originality and promise of this new idea.

In looking for information on past drag reduction research, I also came across a paper published in 2004 by Dennis M. Bushnell of NASA’s Langley Research Center. His article, “Shock Wave Drag Reduction” is an excellent review of the various ideas that have been studied for several decades, including Myrabo’s DEAS concept. In his review, Bushnell discusses these different approaches and points out those that are well understood, those under active study, and those that are still in the very early stages of research. Bushnell’s article clearly places Myrabo’s concept among those under active study and showing considerable promise. Coincidentally, Bushnell also cites Kevin Kremeyer’s approach among others in a new class of wave drag reduction approaches. Furthermore, in the same paragraph he mentions that at sufficient ionization or gas conductivity levels shock waves can be weakened by “flow turning by magnetic body forces”. To top it all off, more recent research seems to have validated that energy projected in pulses is more efficient than a continuous beam.
¹⁹
If Dennis Bushnell’s name sounds familiar it is worth noting that he was quoted nine years earlier in the original AW&ST article on the DEAS concept, published in May of 1995. At that time, Bushnell described the air spike concept as showing imagination, but felt it was restricted in application and would require a “technology stretch in all areas”. As of 2004, while the concept is under active study and shows promise, it appears that the technology has still not stretched far enough to reproduce the vehicles seen and filmed by Ray Stanford in 1985.

Though our own science may build on these concepts, when the post-1993 designs by Myrabo are considered alongside Kremeyer’s recent pulsed energy beam patent, a profound question emerges. If a vehicle was filmed in 1985 utilizing knowledge and technology our scientific community was not capable of yet, perhaps not even aware of yet…then who built it? The fact that Ray actually saw a procession of these vehicles cross the sky brings up even more questions, serious questions in need of answers. Whatever term you apply to what people call this phenomenon, it comes down to sightings of highly advanced vehicles whose presence may hold serious implications. The old claim that our science has not advanced from studying unidentified flying objects may have been clever sidestepping years ago, but no longer. Ray’s own statement to me, “Don’t let anyone ever tell you that UFO research doesn’t pay off.”...will forever be true.

My experience in trying to get this information revealed by both Leik Myrabo and Ray Stanford has caused me no end of frustration. I have great admiration for Myrabo’s vision and out-of-the-box thinking, and I will always be an advocate of the evidence Ray Stanford has been able to gather. I cannot explain his ability to see and recognize “patterns in chaos” as he calls it, but his observational abilities are truly incredible. His more recent work in Paleontology and his astonishing dinosaur track discoveries are more proof of his unique capabilities. I have always believed that the influence Ray’s film has had on recent scientific advances was not only worth the telling, but is something that unquestionably
has
to be told. The possibilities it presents for even more incredible advances cannot simply be left up to those who want to know and use it for their own ends but do not want the public to know. Now, to borrow a phrase, the truth is out there.

Who should benefit from advances that come from this phenomenon? Who generally benefits when the public is kept in the dark?

There is another aspect to this story that began to develop as I followed the work and those sponsoring it. I want to emphasize that it is separate from the evidence presented in previous chapters. That evidence is easily visible. The following section will delve into connections that appeared around the evidence; sometimes shadowy connections that became both suspicious and suggestive. The potential significance was enough that I felt compelled to include it here. It relates to concerns I have had for some time about the use, and misuse, of military and government secrecy to suppress information about this phenomenon while perhaps co-opting it for military use.

“There are no coincidences…only the illusion of coincidence.”

—V For Vendetta

Endless rumors have circulated that the NSA, the CIA, the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), and countless other groups are involved in some way with the UFO phenomenon. From the beginning however, the Air Force has been in the middle of things. Despite public claims that they no longer have any interest in the phenomenon, the Air Force has definitely been a major presence in the two or three cases on which I have spent the most time. One Air Force organization in particular has been strongly associated with much of the research I have followed in the past years. It has sponsored and supported much of Myrabo’s work, and can be linked through one of its directorates back to the meeting with Paul Bennewitz at Kirtland Air Force Base. It goes by the innocuous title of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).

As explained in Chapter 7, I had written to Leik Myrabo (circa mid-1996) to ask if he thought there might be any possibility that what Paul Bennewitz had filmed could have been built somewhere in this country. Because he already knew I was aware of his visit to Ray Stanford, I had hoped that my asking this question would be an interesting exercise, but at least not a problem. He certainly seemed open to hearing my questions, but when I asked about the vehicles Bennewitz filmed near Albuquerque I got no response at all. I never knew what there was about the subject that made it untouchable, if that was the case. But it was only a few months later that I came across information that struck me as very interesting and perhaps suspiciously coincidental. Myrabo had taken an extended sabbatical from RPI, and with Air Force sponsorship he had gone to White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) to conduct experiments on his Lightcraft designs.

Although this development came as a surprise, I was well aware that the military has an interest in many areas of research. In this case, the Air Force happened to have lasers powerful enough to launch the tiny Lightcraft models Myrabo was working with, lasers that were vestiges of the Strategic Defense Initiative. Still, the thought that his ties to the Air Force would almost certainly outweigh any sense of responsibility or obligation to Ray, not to mention others in the public and the scientific community, bothered me greatly. If the Air Force had decided to offer its facilities and support to help him with his experiments, then it had to be considered a fairly influential partner now. His experiments at White Sands came under Phillips Laboratory’s Propulsion Directorate, which within a year would become part of the new Air Force Research Laboratory. Soon other connections began to appear.