Black Triangles
After disc-
or saucer-shaped UFOs, the most reported shape for these elusive
objects is that of a black triangle or deltoid. Sometimes they are
described as V-shaped or similar to a boomerang, but the triangular
structure is the most commonly reported of this type. More often
than not, they have bright lights at each corner and a larger one at
the centre, although some are described as having rows of lights
along the edges.
It is often
said that Black Triangle (BT) sightings began in the 1940s and
peaked in the late 1980s and 1990s, but they have been reported
throughout history. Cave paintings, frescoes and woodcuts have all
depicted triangular objects, as well as the more common discs,
cigars and circles/spheres. Two triangles were observed manoeuvring
close to the Moon in July, 1882.
It
was the post-war years, though, that saw an explosion in BT
sightings. Not all triangles are described as ‘black’, with some
appearing metallic or luminous. It has been suggested, with merit,
that the BTs sighted after the end of World War II may actually be
top-secret aircraft flown by our governments. This theory is
supported by the various delta-winged aircraft that were developed,
as well as the numerous ‘flying wing’ planes like the Northrop YB-35
and YB-49.
Kenneth
Arnold’s famous sighting of 1947 could be counted as a triangle
sighting, although the objects he saw were described as
‘crescent-shaped’. His description (see photo above right)
was very reminiscent of the Horton Ho-229 fighter, although these
Nazi-designed aircraft were unable to achieve the 1200-1700 mph
calculated by Arnold for the craft he observed.
Although
described as a ‘flying disc’ in the official press release, the
downed Roswell craft has been depicted by various witnesses as a
triangular, winged vehicle. Based upon these descriptions, forensic
artist, William Louis McDonald published his technical diagrams of
the craft. They created such a stir that model kit firm, Testors,
added it to their range of successful scale models.
It is
curious that both of the UFO incidents that kick-started the modern
age of ufology have craft that are decidedly aircraft-shaped. Over
the following decades, more triangle sightings occurred.
In March,
1965, near the village of Skeeby, North Yorkshire, nine triangular
objects, each about 100-feet long and flying in a V-formation, were
witnessed by a man driving his 1951 Ford. His engine sputtered and
died and he climbed out to investigate the fault. It was then that
he saw a large object moving about 100-feet above the moor. As he
watched, it shot skywards and joined eight other, identical,
objects.
In
1969, the British Petroleum (BP) oil tanker, British Grenadier,
was sailing through the Gulf of Mexico. Suddenly, a triangular UFO
appeared over the ship, described at the time as being like an
‘arrowhead’. It remained above the tanker for the next three days,
appearing dark blue during daylight hours and silver at night.
According
to the ship’s log, on the first day, at one minute past midnight,
the engines shut down and only emergency lighting and steering were
operational. Launched in 1962, the tanker was only seven years old
and pretty much state-of-the-art for the time. The engines were
restarted, but only after a full manual shutdown and restart of the
pumps.
On the
second day, the food refrigerators failed. No reason was found for
this.
The third
day of the sighting was the most dramatic. A crewman noticed that
the lights in the air-conditioning room were off. He noticed a door
open that led to one of the crews’ sleeping quarters and passed
through it. A few minutes later, at one minute after midnight again,
the engines shut down. It was discovered that the starter motor for
the engines had been dismantled and the parts laid out as though for
examination. Twelve hours later, the craft vanished.
The crewman
who had noticed the air-c0nditioning room lights being out and
passed through the open door into the nearby crew quarters was
shocked to discover that the same door had been welded shut before
the tanker had left port because of a fault. How could it have been
open at the time of the second engine shutdown?
[UFOData
Magazine has contacted BP Shipping for more information about this
case and, hopefully, will be able to share what we discover later]
In the
1970s, there was a spate of BT sightings over France. In June, 1976,
an aircraft mechanic in Pierre-de-Bresse saw a triangular craft with
flickering orange and white lights and the forward point and bright,
white lights to the rear. The witness observed it moving slowly and
silently for five minutes before it disappeared to the north.
A few
months later, military personnel saw a similar object over Marseille
and just days after that another was spotted over Saint-Nazaire-d'Aude,
this time with a red light at the centre.
In
December, 1977, a triangle with yellow lights at the tips and a red
light at the centre was seen near Brettnach in north-eastern France.
The craft moved slowly and silently before angling to 45-50 degrees
and vanishing ‘as though into fog’.
On the last
day of December, 1981, a retired police officer from Kent, New York,
saw several lights to the south. At first he thought that a plane
was in trouble, but as it drew closer, he realized that this was no
conventional aircraft. It became apparent that the lights were
attached to a triangular structure and he was amazed that it was
travelling so slowly and almost silently, save for a low hum.
More
sightings came in and in March, 1983, a telephone hotline was
opened, receiving three hundred reports on its first night! That
same night, the police switchboard in Yorktown, New York, was also
swamped and a road became blocked as motorists pulled over to watch
a triangle flying overhead. Between 1982 and 1986 over 5,000 reports
came from the Hudson Valley area.
The Hudson
Valley wave led into what is probably the most famous flap of BT
sightings – the Belgian UFO Wave.
On November
29th, 1989, two police officers driving between Eupen and
Kettenis in eastern Belgium saw a ‘dark solid mass in the form of an
isosceles triangle’ over a field beside the road. The object had
bright, white lights at each corner and a red light at the centre.
They reported what they had seen and discovered from the Belgian
military that no aircraft were in the area. A little over an hour
later, they saw it again hovering over a watch tower on the nearby
Lake Gileppe. They watched it for over two hours before it ascended
in a spiral flight path and disappeared.
Over 150
reports came in that night from police officers and members of the
public.
On March 30th,
1990, a BT was seen over the city of Glons by a police captain. He
reported it to the military and two F-16 fighters were scrambled to
intercept. They encountered the UFO and managed to attain a radar
lock. The footage of this encounter is now world famous. The jets
played cat and mouse with the object for over an hour. Each time
they got a lock, the craft would quickly move away. The pilots
reported that the UFO executed manoeuvres that were impossible for
them to replicate. At one point, the craft descended from 10,000
feet to 500 feet in only five seconds.
An
investigation of the incident by the Belgian Air Force came to the
following conclusions:
The Belgian
Air Force was unable to identify neither the nature nor the origin
of the phenomena. However, it had sufficient elements to exclude
following assumptions:
a.
Balloons. Impossible due to the highly variable speeds (confirmed
visually and by radar).
b. ULM.
Same as for balloons.
c. RPV.
Impossible due to the hovering characteristics.
d. Aircraft
(including Stealth). Same as for RPV. No noise.
e. Laser
projections or Mirages. Unlikely due to lack of projection surface
(no clouds). Light spots have been observed from different
locations. Light spots moved over distance of more than 15 NM. Form
of inlighted part of spots has been observed with spectacles. Laser
projections or mirages cannot be detected by radar.
The man who
signed the official report, Colonel Wilfred de Brouwer (now Major
General), agreed to write a postface at the end of the Belgian
Society for the Study of Space Phenomena’s (SOBEP’s) report into the
sightings. His conclusions were:
The day
will undoubtedly come where the phenomenon will be observed with
technological means of detection and recording which will not leave
any doubt as of its origin. This should raise part of the veil which
covers the mystery for a long time. A mystery which thus remains
whole. But it exists, it is real, and this is already an important
conclusion.
More
sightings were reported over the following months. One photograph
has become synonymous with the triangle phenomenon. It depicts the
underside of a triangular object with a bright light on each corner
and another at the centre. In all over a thousand reports have come
from Belgium and triangle sightings continue to this day.
Three years
to the day after the Belgian F-16 encounter, the UK had its own
triangle mystery. Known as the Cosford Incident, it was investigated
in an official capacity by Nick Pope for the Ministry of Defence
(MoD) and, for him, remains as one of the best cases in the
government’s files.
Nick
has written extensively about the case in UFOData Magazine,
so we’ll just cover it quickly. On March 30th, 1993,
reports came in of triangular craft from locations as far apart as
Somerset and Staffordshire. At RAF Cosford in Shropshire, an RAF
police officer reported a craft fly over the base at an altitude of
about a thousand feet with no engine noise. A meteorological officer
from nearby RAF Shawbury saw a large craft shining beams of light
down to the ground before moving quickly away to the horizon.
Nick made
out a report that concluded that what was seen was of ‘considerable
defence significance’. His superior officer agreed and stated in a
memo to the Assistant Chief of Air Staff that ‘there would seem to
be some evidence on this occasion that an unidentified object (or
objects) of unknown origin was operating over the UK’.
Black
Triangles continue to be sighted to this day. One of the most recent
was submitted to Brian Vike’s hbccufo.org website on June 12th,
2007:
I was
outside, walking our dog, about 10:30 p.m. and heard a strange
vibration overhead and behind me. I turned around and saw a similar
object such as that witnessed by the gentleman in Alabama [a BT
case from 2002 that was also submitted to Mr Vike - SJ]. It was
approximately 500 feet above our house and moved from west to east,
following the river upstream. I could make out the triangular shape
of it and also noted that the three lights were there, but they did
not illuminate myself or anything else as it passed right over. I
did notice some red lights that were constantly on in the rear of
the object as it passed over. That has given me the idea that the
object was some military plane. But what propulsion it used is
beyond me. It only made the strange vibrating sound and there was no
sound usually associated with a plane or helicopter, which
frequently fly over our house. I asked my wife if she heard the
vibrations when I returned to the house and she said she had and was
going to ask me what caused it when I came back in. Perhaps it is
some advanced military vehicle stationed at nearby McChord airbase.
I'd be interested to know if anyone else in the area has seen
anything similar.
No doubt BT
sightings will continue into the future, alongside all the other
shapes and sizes of the UFO phenomenon. Are they extra-terrestrial?
Are they Top Secret aircraft? As they have been sighted since before
the advent of powered flight, this would suggest that they are not
the latter. We all know that there are some very weird and exotic
aircraft being developed by our governments, but can they be testing
craft that can perform ‘impossible’ aerobatic manoeuvres? Why would
they be testing them in areas where they can be detected on radar,
witnessed by hundreds of people and entering busy commercial air
corridors?
As Major
General de Brouwer said it is “a mystery which thus remains whole.
But it exists, it is real, and this is already an important
conclusion.”
© Steve
Johnson - 2007
(Article
originally appeared in the July/August 2007 issue of UFO Data
Magazine) |