Falconbridge, ON

Note: The following detail has been obtained from various sources on the Internet. These articles are included only because there is mention of the radar station.

In the mid 70`s I had a excellent look (less than a 1/2 mile) at a long cylindrical segmented flying something! It made no noise...it stopped, turned 90 degrees and then carried right on by a NORAD (Pinetree) radar station. That happened in broad daylight. I’ll never forget it.

Location: Near North Bay, Ontario, Canada.

Description: In 1975, this Radar Station experienced a rash of UFO sightings. American jets were scrambled to intercept the UFOs, after the Canadians requested.

bold incursions of unidentified craft over several Strategic Air Command bases during late October and November, 1975, including Loring AFB in Maine, Wurtsmith AFB in Michigan, Malmstrom AFB in Montana; Minot AFB in North Dakota and Falconbridge in Ontario, Canada;

A new book on the Canadian UFO experience has hit the shelves. Below you'll find my preliminary overview. Perhaps you would like to check it out for yourselves.

TITLE: - The UFO Files
BY: - Palmiro Campagna
Hardcover published by the Stoddart Publishing Co.
$26.95 CDN
$21.95 US

The author is described on the dust jacket as:
Palmiro Campagna, P. Eng., works for the Department of National Defence in Ottawa. He has acted as the Canadian representative to NATO in the area of electromagnetics in military aircraft. He is the author of the bestseller "Storms of Controversy: The Secret Avro Arrow Files Revealed."

On a cursory glance, there doesn't seem to be anything new here. The book discusses some well-known early Canadian cases as well as the AVRO car, the Stefan Michalak case, Wilbert Smith, the Nov. 1975 Falconbridge episode, etc. The Michalak case is given quite a bit of space within the book (an entire chapter) and might contain new information for those believing this to be a genuine UFO encounter to change their minds.

With regard to the rest of the book, perhaps on closer reading it will be more revelatory.

Drew Williamson

It would seem that the practice of "killing the messenger" is a time-honored tradition in the ranks of the U.S. government. Over the years, those who have reported UFO sightings and/or alien encounters have been painted more and more as 'lunatic fringe' or 'new-agers'. However, this approach was and is applied only to those outside the ranks of the military, or those not under the auspices of any of the many government agencies that we now know do indeed consider UFOs to be worthy of note and serious investigation.

For example, a Defense Department message, obtained through an FOIA request, bears the classification CONFIDENTIAL. "Subject: Suspicious Unknown Air Activity." Dated November 11, 1975, it reads as follows:

"Since 28 Oct 75 numerous reports of suspicious objects have been received at the NORAD COC [North American Air Defense Combat Operations Center]. Reliable military personnel at Loring AFB [Air Force Base], Maine, Wurtsmith AFB, Michigan, Malmstrom AFB, [Montana], Minot AFB, [North Dakota], and Canadian Forces Station, Falconbridge, Ontario, Canada, have visually sighted suspicious objects."

Despite these reports and many others, the Air Force, a mere 5 years after the above report was written, made the following statement: "Further scientific investigation of UFOs is unwarranted." -- Air Force, 1980.

Although the Air Force did sponsor Project Blue Book to investigate the UFO reports, the project was terminated with no public disclosure of the factual findings of that project. It was quite some time before the findings of Blue Book were made public. Though Blue Book was closed with over 700 cases unresolved, the Air Force still maintained its basic position on the UFO controversy. Despite official documents that reveal hundreds of sighting reports - many confirmed by radar and other tracking devices - that describe unconventional objects exhibiting advanced performance characteristics involving maneuverability, speed, size and shape, the Air Force still made the following statement in 1980: "There has been no evidence submitted to or discovered by the Air Force that sightings categorized as 'unidentified' represent technological developments or principles beyond the range of present-day scientific knowledge."

Despite the overwhelming evidence - "reliable witnesses", by the military's own standards, radar verification of sightings on countless occasions, film footage from military personnel - the federal government still took and continues to take the position that it would be in the public interest to lie to the public, and debunk anyone who attempted to whittle away at the mountain of deception surrounding the facts of the UFO phenomenon. The machinery of propaganda, once started, can run endlessly onward. By focusing on the observers of UFOs the government has created an atmosphere of suspicion and doubt in the minds of the people it is sworn to protect.

Many formerly classified documents have been slowly yanked from the vaults of the government files and archives. Many, many more have not. FOIA requests are denied on a daily basis. Many site that the information contained in them is still classified, often by Presidential Executive Order. This indicates that the Presidents, past and present, have been briefed with enough information on the subject to, in his mind, warrant the withholding of this information from the public by special order. Executive Orders do not require the approval of Congress to be written into the law books.

There must no longer be a need to hide the fact that UFOs exist. If this was still the government's position, the documents and information obtained to date via FOIA requests would never have seen the light of day. The documents released speak of the physical existence of unidentified flying objects. There is undeniable evidence from the best source in the world - the U.S. military and the U.S. government. And the government, for whatever reason, has decided that the public can know this now.

There has not, however, been any information released on exactly who or what the military and the federal government thinks is piloting these UFOs. While there is, unfortunately, no hard evidence to indicate what the military and governmental agencies know concerning the issue of the pilots of these craft, it is a safe assumption that these agencies, along with the Army and the Navy, hold the answer to that question still locked away in their files.

It would seem that the federal government and the military decided early in the history of the UFO phenomenon that their priority should be to make certain that the public did not overreact or become too interested in the concept of UFOs and extraterrestrial life. This statement is backed up by a memo obtained via FOIA: "I have expressed my concern to SAFOI [Air Force Information Office] that we come up soon with a proposed answer to queries from the press to prevent overreaction by the public to reports by the media that might be blown out of proportion. To date efforts by Air Guard helicopters, SAC [Strategic Air Command] helicopters and NORAD F-106s have failed to produce positive ID" of the reported UFO sightings.

Oh, what a tangled web we weave......

Note: The following detail has been obtained from various sources on the Internet. These articles are included only because there is mention of the radar station at Falconbridge.