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UFOs? No, Just Aircraft That Looks Like Spacecraft.

by Warren Riddle on June 5, 2009 at 03:26 PM


When NASA footage from the 1990s was recently uploaded to YouTube, it sparked a renewal of the debate over whether or not the government conceals knowledge of alien activity. Fittingly, FOX News has created a list of military planes and contraptions that may confuse amateur sky watchers and inspire visions of extraterrestrial visitors.

According to the story, the CIA attributes half of all UFO sightings from the '50s and '60s to the U-2 and SR-71 Blackbird spy planes. The military and other government organizations may have also promoted UFO hysteria in order to maintain the secrecy of the covert planes. If you've served in the military, been to an air show, or just seen stealth planes in action, you know that they can appear to morph shapes and change directions instantly, which could easily lead even more recent spectators to believe they've witnessed something extraordinary.

FOX provides six such formerly secret crafts including Northrop Grummon's B-2 Spirit. The U-2, the SR-71 (which some believe has a super-secret offspring currently being tested), the RQ-3 Darkstar, the P-791 (which looks like something out of a steampunk graphic novel), and the F-117A Nighthawk were all developed by Lockheed Martin. The list then should at least prove, once and for all, who exactly reverse-engineered the alien technology found at the Roswell crash site. [From: FOX News]

The 6 Most Famous UFO Sightings

    Anything's possible in this age of Photoshop and CGI, but before all that came some pretty crazy pictures. Whether you believe or not, these possibly extraterrestrial newspaper sensations, seen by many and photographed by few, mark some of the world's greatest mysteries.

    The Lubbock Lights
    An unusual formation of lights flew over Lubbock, Texas in 1951. Spotted by three professors from Texas Technical College and later photographed by a student, the 'UFO' featured 20 and 30 lights that flew overhead in a "V" formation. The sighting was so popular and highly publicized that the photos and story appeared in Life Magazine in 1952.

    The Washington D.C. Incident
    First spotted on an air traffic controller's radar, seven objects moved in unusual flight patterns that witnesses called bright orange lights. The most publicized sightings occurred in consecutive weekends with the objects moving over the White House. The incident was so publicized it prompted President Truman to demand an explanation.

    Ghost Rockets
    Sweden, 1946: Over 2,000 "Ghost Rockets" were sighted over from August 9th to August 11th by hundreds of witnesses. The rockets were assumed to be meteors, but UFO talk arose because many sightings occurred during broad daylight while the rockets were described as moving slowly and horizontally, and, sometimes, were followed by strange noises.

    The Belgian UFO Wave
    This series of sightings lasted from November 1989 to April 1990, with 143 witnessed accounts on the first night. The unknown objects were tracked on radar by the Belgian Air Force and described as black triangles with bright lights that would change color. The Belgian Air Force still offers no explanation for the objects.

    Roswell, New Mexico
    The most famous UFO incident and suspected Government cover-up occurred in 1947. Recovered debris from an alien aircraft (or experimental high-altitude surveillance balloon as is claimed) was found in the desert of New Mexico, beginning one of the biggest controversies and mysteries in U.S. history.

    The Battle of Los Angeles
    Los Angeles, 1942: Just three months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, this incident occurred between February 24th and 25th, when an unidentified flying object was spotted over Los Angeles. Assumed to be another air strike from Japan, the UFO sparked a massive anti-aircraft military attack. The the true identity of the object is still unknown today.

Tags: military, spy plane, SpyPlane, stealth bomber, StealthBomber, top, ufo

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