So,
I’m making a search of the various cable channels looking for something
interesting and stumble onto another of those UFO mockumentaries. This was one
had a segment about a UFO attack on the Royal Australian Navy destroyer, Hobart, during the Vietnam War. The ship
was hit by three missiles killing two, wounding several and scattering debris
throughout the ship. The cleanup uncovered bits of an American made missile
that was traced to a couple of Air Force units flying F-4 Phantoms that for
some unknown reason were referred to as Phantoms, F-4, in the program.
Investigation
of the incident conducted by various levels of command in Vietnam, the United
States and Australia, concluded that this was an incident of “friendly fire,”
and was a horrible mistake made by the American pilots. I mean, they had
fragments of the missiles with serial numbers and markings that led to the
specific Air Force units that were flying that night. No UFOs were involved and
nothing to suggest any hostile intent by the alien beings riding in those
flying saucers, at least on June 17, 1968.
But
wait, there’s more…
Seems
that in the nights preceding the incident, lights of an unknown origin were
seen in the vicinity of Tiger Island that was at the extreme end of northern
South Vietnam. It was suggested in various intelligence documents that these
lights were helicopters operating near the UMZ (ultra-militarized zone), I mean
the DMZ, attempting to resupply elements of the North Vietnamese Army in the
area.
But
unidentified lights in the skies over Vietnam could have been dozens of things
from high flying bombers whose lights could be seen but whose engines were lost
in the altitude, helicopters of unknown origin flying at nearly treetop level
to avoid enemy ground fire, parachute flares, star-clusters, tracers of red,
white or green (almost nothing looks bigger than a tracer coming, more or less,
at you) misidentifications of various natural phenomena, deception by the
enemy, mistakes by the observers, or just flat out delusions. Or, in other
words, there were a lot of lights bouncing around the night skies in Vietnam,
many of which aren’t normally seen in a more peaceful environment.
UFO
proponents including the late Bill Cooper decided that these lights were alien
spacecraft and they were the cause of the missiles that hit the Hobart. Oh, the UFOs didn’t fire them,
they caused the missiles to bend around or interfered with the targeting of the
missiles that forced them to change course. The US missiles then struck the Hobart, and other ships in the area.
Cooper said that he knew the lights were not enemy helicopters because the
enemy would have never. They didn’t fly helicopters into that area.
Except,
of course, the enemy sometimes did fly helicopters into South Vietnam. One of
our gun teams (meaning one of the gun teams assigned to the company I served
with) chased a French made helicopter into Cambodia that was operating on the
South Vietnamese border near an area known as the Angel Wing. At the time that
invisible line of the ground was stronger than any wall ever built and our guys
broke off the chase. The point is that sometimes you saw some strange stuff
that had nothing to do with UFOs.
There
is documentation available on this event, and the Project 1947 web site has a
pdf file containing some of it that can be found here:
For
an Australian Naval Officer’s take on the incident (as well as some fairly
nasty remarks about Americans which given the circumstances is understandable)
see:
For
a look at this from the other side of the coin, see:
7 comments:
I thought the show claimed that the missiles were launched at a UFO the day before the Hobart was hit and just disappeared with no effect on the UFO. Then the ship was hit on a subsequent day. But, you are saying that the missile launch and the impact on the ship happened at the same time period? If so it wouldn't seem much of a mystery.
I had the impression that the UFO had manipulated the missiles while in flight, which, when you think about it, is sort of the same thing you said. Either way, it is clear that the missiles were American and the case really has nothing to do with UFOs.
I watched the Hangar 1 episode again to see if they made the claim that I though. The shop claims that the "Phantom F-4s" had returned to base well before the Hobart was hit my the missile. While the account in Wikipedia doesn't mention UFOs at all and attributes the incident to an inability to distinguish between low flying helicopter and surface vessels.
If there were any UFOs they could have been the enemy helicopters you mentioned. It seems that Hangar 1 is really giving MUFON a bad reputation. I don't know from where this UFO story came. Why is MUFON doing this?
Unfortunately most of my UFO library is in boxes in thew garage, but I had thought Secretary Brown had been quoted, originally, regarding this case, and it was HE who made the connection between the friendly fire case and the UFOs.
It was in Mr. Greenwood's "Clear Intent" that I first read this UFO tale.
@Bob
> It was in Mr. Greenwood's "Clear Intent" that I first read this UFO tale.
General Brown's statement is on pp 105-6 of the UFO Cover-Up edition of the book. (It's here at Google Books, which is searchable.)
https://books.google.ca/books?id=IUApi6OdtCUC
My print copy doesn't list Brown or Hobart in the index.
My apologies to @Terry.
I can only comment from my computer, and I get home from work late.
I appreciate the link.
/Bob
They was indeed fired the day before. I have done a complete study of this incident. The idiot that wrote this is just another know it all that knows nothing. I hate these debunker assholes. Everything is a weather balloon. I know it was a shooting star. The change the facts to fit there stupid ideas
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