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Dr. Hermann Oberth, father of modern rocketry

Oberth headed a German Commission to study the UFO phenomena. The Oberth Commission found that "UFOs are conceived and directed by intelligent beings of a very high order, and they are propelled by distorting the gravitational field, converting gravity into useable energy. There is no doubt in my mind that these objects are interplanetary craft of some sort. I and my colleagues are confident that they do not originate in our solar system, but we feel that they may use Mars or some other body as sort of a way station. They probably do not originate in our solar system, perhaps not even in our galaxy." (25) In the American Weekly of 24^th October of that year Oberth was quoted as stating "It is my thesis that flying saucers are real and that they are space ships from another solar system." (26)

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Senator Barry Goldwater

The former Air Force Reserve Brigadier General and Senator has stated; "I certainly believe in aliens in space. They may not look like us, but I have very strong feelings that they have advanced beyond our mental capabilities." He stated that he was refused permission to check the Air Force files on UFOs and added, "I think some highly secret government UFO investigations are going on that we don't know about - and probably never will unless the Air Force discloses them." He stated that he put his faith in the reports of the Air Force, Navy and commercial pilots who reported instances where a UFO would fly near them - right off their plane's wing - and then just zoom away at incredible speeds. I remember the case in Georgia in the 1950s of a National Guard plane going over a UFO and never returning. And I recall the case in Franklin, Kentucky, when four military planes investigated a UFO. One of them exploded in mid-air and no one knows why."

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Lee Katchen, Atmospheric Physicist, NASA

On 7^th June 1968, Lee Katchen stated that on the basis of the 7000 reports he had examined, he believed UFOs to be extraterrestrial probes. "UFO sightings are now so common, the military doesn't have time to worry about them - so they screen them out. The major defence systems have UFO filters built into them, and when a UFO appears, they simply ignore it." Katchen made reference to the radar network employed by SAGE (semi-automatic ground environmental system), the North American tactical air defence system, which tracks all aircraft flights. "The filters cut out all unconventional objects or targets and makes no record of UFOs". He claimed that unconventional targets were ignored because, at that time, the US was only interested in Russian targets. An object that "hovers in the air, then shoots off at 5000mph, doesn't interest us because it can't be the enemy."

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Dr Walter Riedel

Dr Riedel was a colleague of Hermann Oberth and former chief designer and research director at Peenemunde. After the war he entered the US as part of Operation Paperclip and gave an interview to LIFE magazine that appeared on 7^th April 1952. He told LIFE "I am completely convinced that they have an out-of-world basis." He based this on four key points. "First, the skin temperatures off structures operating under the observed conditions would make it impossible for any terrestrial structure to survive. The skin friction of the missile at those speeds at those altitudes would melt any metals or non-metals available.

"Second, consider the high acceleration at which they fly and manoeuvre ... In some descriptions the beast spirals straight up. If you think of the fact that the centrifugal force in a few minutes of such a manoeuvre would press the crew against the outside, and do likewise to the blood, you see what I mean. Third, there are many occurrences where they have done things that only a pilot could perform but that no pilot could stand. Fourth, in most of the reports there is a lack of visible jet. Most observers report units without visible flame ... and no trail. If it would be any known type of jet, rocket, piston engine, or chain-reaction motor, there would be a very clear trail at high altitude. It is from no power we know of." (27)

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George Filer, Air Force Intelligence Officer 1958-1978

"It isn't a question of whether of no flying saucers exist. The question is, what are they and who do they belong to?" (28)

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Rear Admiral Delmar S. Fahrney, Former US Naval Missile Chief

Formerly head of the Navy's guided missile programme, on 16^th January 1957 at a press conference in Washington D.C. he stated that "Reliable reports indicate there are objects coming into our atmosphere at very high speeds. No agency in this country or Russia is able to duplicate at this time the speeds and accelerations which radars and observers indicate these flying objects are able to achieve." He added "an intelligence [directs such objects] because of the way they fly. They are not entirely actuated by automatic equipment. The way they change position I formations and override each other would indicate that their motion is directed." (29)

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Robert Oechsler, NASA Mission Specialist 1974-1977

"I am convinced, based on my research and the individuals whom I have had contact in the US Intelligence community, that the US Government does indeed have craft that meet the description of many of the UFO reports." (30)

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