Strategic Reconnaissance

Alien Base – The Evidence for Extraterrestrial Colonization of Earth

It was the morning of 5 April 1943. US Army Air Forces flying instructor Gerry Casey, together with a student, had taken off in a Vultee Valiant BT-13 trainer from the USAAF Ferry Command Base at Long Beach, California. After climbing through the cloud deck they cruised back and forth at 5,000 feet for 40 minutes on the southeast-northwest legs of the Long Beach low-frequency radio range. Above the clouds, visibility was unlimited. At 09.50, looking east towards Santiago Mountain, Casey thought he saw a flash of light. ‘Peering intently, I saw an aircraft in a moderate dive aimed at our BT-13 with a perfect interception angle [and] I prepared to take evasive action if needed.’

The craft coming at us appeared to be painted an international orange and was now about to pass on our left side. Unable to determine the craft’s make or model, I knew it was unlike any airplane I’d ever seen. As I studied it, I was shocked to see it make a decidedly wobbly turn that quickly aligned it off our left wing in instant and perfect formation.
Ordering his student to come out from under the hood used for practising ‘blind’ flying (preventing the student from seeing anything except his instruments), Casey exclaimed that he thought Lockheed’s new secret plane, rumoured to be propellerless (the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star jet, which first flew in January the following year), was flying in formation with them.

Instinctively, Casey reached for his camera, but realizing he could get into serious trouble if he photographed a secret plane, he put it away. The unknown aircraft defied rational explanation: I’d noticed that its turn appeared totally independent of air-reaction but that when it was off our wing, the adjustment to our altitude and course was perfect and instantaneous. Its position with us was held as if an iron bar had been welded between the two . . . its color was a radiant orange, which appeared to shimmer in the bright sunlight. As we watched, its aft end made a slight adjustment and it shot away from our position, disappearing in a climbing turn toward the ocean. Later, both of us agreed that it was gone from sight in two seconds