COMPLIMENTARY ISSUE .UFO CONCERN HILL-NORTON .UFO INITIATIVE A Report on the UFO Initiative of Admiral of the Fleet The Lord Hill-Norton GCB Foreword b PART I-UFO CONCERN PART II - UFO Concerns (UK) PART Ill- UFO Concerns (Abroad) INTRODUCTION The Chairman Graham Knewstub, C.Eng., M.I.E.E., F. B.I.S. (Founder President of the British UFO Research Assuciation) This Report is presented in the hope that it will be read and widely circulated, especially by those who need to become aware of the growing concern by well-informed people, not only so-called ufologists themselves, but by an increasing number of ordinary folk amongst the general public. A careful reading of the Report should indicate not just the nature of the overall concern, but the extent and variety of specific "concerns" involved. Ufology is not a subject, but a baffling complex of many subjects. This surely accentuates its importance for mankind, which could well be under some sort of threat, we know not what. In any case, it is my privilege and pleasure to thank Lord Hill-Norton most warmly for the way in which he went into action so decisively with his Initiative in July last year. I feel certain that I voice the opinion of everyone concerned, especially our excellent Correspondents, in concluding that he has achieved thoroughly worthwhile results. This promises well for the future, not least in regard to government policy. [ --orqyvr Archives for the Unexplained Arkivet for det oforklarade SE-600 11 Norrkoping Foreword b PART I-UFO CONCERN PART II - UFO Concerns (UK) PART Ill- UFO Concerns (Abroad) INTRODUCTION The Chairman Graham Knewstub, C.Eng., M.I.E.E., F. B.I.S. (Founder President of the British UFO Research Assuciation) This Report is presented in the hope that it will be read and widely circulated, especially by those who need to become aware of the growing concern by well-informed people, not only so-called ufologists themselves, but by an increasing number of ordinary folk amongst the general public. A careful reading of the Report should indicate not just the nature of the overall concern, but the extent and variety of specific "concerns" involved. Ufology is not a subject, but a baffling complex of many subjects. This surely accentuates its importance for mankind, which could well be under some sort of threat, we know not what. In any case, it is my privilege and pleasure to thank Lord Hill-Norton most warmly for the way in which he went into action so decisively with his Initiative in July last year. I feel certain that I voice the opinion of everyone concerned, especially our excellent Correspondents, in concluding that he has achieved thoroughly worthwhile results. This promises well for the future, not least in regard to government policy. [ --orqyvr Archives for the Unexplained Arkivet for det oforklarade SE-600 11 Norrkoping Paul Inglesby has accurately described in Part I the rather gradual steps by which he and I came to agree that it was worth having a determined shot at getting something positive done to raise the public perception that the UFO enigma needs urgent, careful and serious study. As ut it in my initial Memorandum, "the first - and perhaps the most difficult-task (such a group) will face is to persuade the public that there really is a problem, and a serious one at that". He goes on to recall what we did to bring this about, by setting up a quite informal Group provisionally called UFO Concern. I am, I must confess, both surprised and disappointed that we did not attract more- much more- and much higher level, support. A couple of hundred people have demonstrated a firm interest, where I had fully expected at least a thousand. Nevertheless a start has been made, and with a bit of luck this little book may well strike a chord. My correspondence over the last fifteen years, which was instrumental in persuading me to approach the public, has convinced me that there is a very large number of eminently sensible people in the United Kingdom who share the views set out in my Memorandum. Many of them have personal experiences of encounters, sightings, even abductions, which they long to have explained. I have said often, publicly and privately, that what I want to know is what these things are, from whence do they come, what is their purpose and who (or what) is directing them? I believe this approach is much more widely shared than the response to UFOC has so far revealed. The time is long past when it can credibly be doubted that physical objects, not man-made, are regularly active in Earth's atmosphere, so my questions are, surely, not unreasonable. I would like to think that what follows in this edition may help to mobilise support to find the answers. 6th October 1997 UFOs, or whatever we choose to call them, are impossible. The UFO phenomenon is impossibly difficult to handle as a subject. It always has been, always will be. Firstly, UFOs are impossible because Science says so. Orthodox science cannot handle it, although a few individual scientists now Anyhow, humanity is up against something impossibly difficult to understand, originating from Elsewhere. UFOs are unearthly, unworldly, literally so. But they exist nonetheless. Experience over the centuries, but especially these last fifty years, has shown that they are certainly cause for concern - whatever we call these things, from wherever they come, whatever they do and why. A worldly Press and Media, fuelled by financial necessity and greed, has funked the challenge and failed , the public. It has consistently fallen back upon that last refuge of the ignorant - ridicule. A worldly Church, alas, is no better. It has simply chosen to ignore, through inexplicable ignorance, this peculiar and disreputable subject. Respectability is the last refuge of the spiritually feeble, a curse in fact, as a splendid Anglican Bishop once used to maintain. Governments in particular are in an impossible fix. They simply don't know what to do. So they plead National Security. What else? Altogether an impossible situation. Editorial Note This edition has a very restricted circulation, its sale and distribution being limited to those actually associated with the Initiative and to a few others whom we adjudge to have some real "Need to Know". As everyone involved in this subject knows, there exists a multitude of contradictions and paradoxes which defy a logical and, indeed, a strictly scientific approach and analysis. However, we have marshalled our results in the way shown and this fairly accurately reflects the extent of the many and varied concerns. Some Correspondents included in their replies several specific concerns. These have been recorded separately in the Part II grouping. There is considerable and unavoidable overlapping between different concerns which can only be roughly categorised. In order to preserve anonymity where considered necessary, initials have been given, sometimes fictitiously. ? fJ...-L.. 21st October 1997 :fi.,._ja.Lo.c. Paul Inglesby has accurately described in Part I the rather gradual steps by which he and I came to agree that it was worth having a determined shot at getting something positive done to raise the public perception that the UFO enigma needs urgent, careful and serious study. As ut it in my initial Memorandum, "the first - and perhaps the most difficult-task (such a group) will face is to persuade the public that there really is a problem, and a serious one at that". He goes on to recall what we did to bring this about, by setting up a quite informal Group provisionally called UFO Concern. I am, I must confess, both surprised and disappointed that we did not attract more- much more- and much higher level, support. A couple of hundred people have demonstrated a firm interest, where I had fully expected at least a thousand. Nevertheless a start has been made, and with a bit of luck this little book may well strike a chord. My correspondence over the last fifteen years, which was instrumental in persuading me to approach the public, has convinced me that there is a very large number of eminently sensible people in the United Kingdom who share the views set out in my Memorandum. Many of them have personal experiences of encounters, sightings, even abductions, which they long to have explained. I have said often, publicly and privately, that what I want to know is what these things are, from whence do they come, what is their purpose and who (or what) is directing them? I believe this approach is much more widely shared than the response to UFOC has so far revealed. The time is long past when it can credibly be doubted that physical objects, not man-made, are regularly active in Earth's atmosphere, so my questions are, surely, not unreasonable. I would like to think that what follows in this edition may help to mobilise support to find the answers. 6th October 1997 UFOs, or whatever we choose to call them, are impossible. The UFO phenomenon is impossibly difficult to handle as a subject. It always has been, always will be. Firstly, UFOs are impossible because Science says so. Orthodox science cannot handle it, although a few individual scientists now Anyhow, humanity is up against something impossibly difficult to understand, originating from Elsewhere. UFOs are unearthly, unworldly, literally so. But they exist nonetheless. Experience over the centuries, but especially these last fifty years, has shown that they are certainly cause for concern - whatever we call these things, from wherever they come, whatever they do and why. A worldly Press and Media, fuelled by financial necessity and greed, has funked the challenge and failed , the public. It has consistently fallen back upon that last refuge of the ignorant - ridicule. A worldly Church, alas, is no better. It has simply chosen to ignore, through inexplicable ignorance, this peculiar and disreputable subject. Respectability is the last refuge of the spiritually feeble, a curse in fact, as a splendid Anglican Bishop once used to maintain. Governments in particular are in an impossible fix. They simply don't know what to do. So they plead National Security. What else? Altogether an impossible situation. Editorial Note This edition has a very restricted circulation, its sale and distribution being limited to those actually associated with the Initiative and to a few others whom we adjudge to have some real "Need to Know". As everyone involved in this subject knows, there exists a multitude of contradictions and paradoxes which defy a logical and, indeed, a strictly scientific approach and analysis. However, we have marshalled our results in the way shown and this fairly accurately reflects the extent of the man