Part 1: Selected by Extraterrestrials, .My Life in the Top Secret World of UFOs., think-tanks and Nordic secretaries ...Think Tanks... Civilian Saucer Investigation...The Investigation

 Selected by Extraterrestrials 

My life in the top secret world of UFOs.,

 think-tanks and Nordic secretaries 

William Mills Tompkins

I DID NOT KNOW THAT I KNOW THINGS THAT YOU DO NOT KNOW. 

At the outset, it’s important I note that while this book is my autobiography, it does not tell my entire life’s history. It only addresses my personal work in, and my knowledge of, the field of aerospace technology from 1950 to 1969. It was a microscopic period of space-time, but one in which a massive change in man’s understanding of his place in the universe occurred. The subject matter contained in this volume is so important that it cannot be covered in just one book alone. The story of the rest of my fantastic life, and corresponding adventures, will be included in subsequent volumes. 

My dad was good with a camera - he’d taken a lot of photos for his high school yearbook and he became an excellent photographer. While he was developing movie film at Universal Pictures in Hollywood, California, he conceived a major breakthrough for processing film. It was so brilliant that nearly every movie director in Hollywood insisted that he process all of their movies. By 1920, the demand for hundreds of movies to be distributed worldwide became so great that dad built the Standard Film Laboratories, situated on Hollywood Boulevard. This massive production laboratory employed hundreds of technicians, as well as language interpreters to convert English-language versions. These foreign language versions were distributed worldwide to more than 140 countries. Dad remained at the helm of Standard Film Laboratories until his company underwent a financial takeover and he was no longer involved.

With no money coming in to support what had previously been a lavish lifestyle for our family, my father, mother, brother and I moved in with my aunt and uncle. Their large, two-story home was shared with their three daughters. My Uncle, Dr. Harding, was the head surgeon at the Santa Monica Hospital at that time. He and my three cousins made many trips to the pyramids in Egypt. Nearby is a photo of my uncle on one of those trips. Surprisingly, there appears to be a UFO in the background of the photo, which was not noticed by them at the time. Their goal in Egypt was to interpret the hieroglyphics. Uncle Harding arranged with historical organizations there to have hundreds of documents, photographs and artifacts shipped to his home. All five of my uncle’s family members were convinced that deciphering the hieroglyphics would result in identifying the true builders of the pyramids, and that they were related to people from the stars, specifically in the Orion Nebula.

Living in their large home, surrounded by every type of Egyptian antique except mummies, was an adventure and an education. They even had hand-held, three-dimensional wooden photo-viewers that we would use to decipher the symbols. 

My three cousins were fascinated with what the young Egyptian girls wore to entice their older male friends. Sometimes, my cousins made skimpy Egyptian prince’s outfits. They would run around the house, and out into their large backyard, with jeweled necklaces flying. The cousins had copied them from photos of the teenage Egyptian royalty on the walls in the pyramids. They were acting out what must have been a very elegant Egyptian lifestyle in their elaborate temples. 

Uncle Harding’s home was only a few blocks from the high rise hotel and beach club located below the Santa Monica palisades on the beach. Our mothers, and all five of us children, spent most of the summers at the club, where we experienced some of the finest weather on the planet. Instead of wearing their bathing suits, our cousins frequently wore different clothing, similar to that which the young Egyptians were thought to wear around their enormous pools, palaces and gardens. My head, a sponge, I became fascinated. 

Two years later, in our small Hollywood apartment, I decided to build fifty naval ship models, all on a same scale. On weekends, my father would drive me and my brother to the naval docks in Long Beach. Along with other visitors, we were taken out to sea in large powered naval lifeboats. We climbed on board the fleet’s battleships, cruisers, and the occasional aircraft-carrier, anchored in Long Beach Harbor. Cameras were prohibited back then. 

I looked at the new radars installed on all the capital ships and could see that they contained a lot of secret equipment. At that time, Navy censors ensured that data concerning classified, on-board systems never reached the media. I mentally recorded images of all the new, classified equipment. On the drive home, I drew rough perspective sketches, and when we got home I turned them into surprisingly accurate illustrations. I made detailed drawings from the sketches of the ships and their weapons, including all the classified radar arrays and anti-aircraft guns. I even located the aircraft carrier’s arrestor gear on the aft flight deck. I then built all the classified equipment to scale and installed it on my models, which were subsequently put on display, by my father in the windows of local department stores. Seeing them, the Los Angeles Times interviewed me, saying I had a photographic memory. They took photos and published the first of hundreds of articles published worldwide over the next fifty years. My collection of model ships was appraised by the Los Angeles County Museum as “one of the finest collections in the country.” In 1942, Naval Intelligence became aware of the ships on display in the windows of the Broadway Department Store – located on Hollywood Boulevard - and investigated my father as if he were a spy. They came to our small apartment and found all my sketches and drawings piled nearly to the ceiling of the bedroom that I shared with my older brother. Instead of being upset, they initiated a program (or, more correctly, a campaign) to enlist me in the Navy. Over the years, the collection would become 309 ships, collectively valued at possibly two million dollars. 

Years earlier, while I was visiting the Mount Wilson 100-inch telescope near Los Angeles, a realization hit me. Astronomers had established that the Milky Way galaxy contains millions of other stars, beyond our own Sun. I felt that they probably had solar-systems with planets like our own, which was contrary to what astronomers believed at the time. I was convinced that there must be billions of other stars and galaxies forming even as we watched, most supporting life that was far more advanced than ours. I was convinced that some type of alien intelligence was not only observing our planet, but also influencing it. For some reason, I’ve never accepted that these aliens were simply watching us. It seemed to me that, for thousands of years, they have been hostile, interfering, a threat to our way of life. Ever since I was that little boy, making secret sketches, I have had a preoccupation with our galactic environment. 

On February 25, 1942, three months after the attacks on Pearl Harbor, a very strange thing happened. By this time, my family had moved to Long Beach. We were now living in a high, second-floor apartment that was converted from a large home. It was only four blocks from the ocean. At about 8:00 p.m. on the night in question, my father called my brother and me to our deck, which faced the bay. There was a strange, intense light just above the horizon: a narrow beam pointing towards the ocean. The little beam turned horizontally, right into our eyes, and hit the back wall of our apartment and the surrounding trees. It was blinding. Suddenly, and bafflingly, the light went out. Whatever it was, had gone. There was nothing we could do but stand there amazed. Finally, we retired to our beds. 

Just after midnight, the air-raid sirens and anti-aircraft guns of the coastal artillery woke everyone up. We ran out onto the street and saw a large round craft, about seven thousand-feet up, floating in the air above us. It slowed to a stop right overhead and remained stationary. It was lit up by eight searchlights, while anti-aircraft shells burst all around and against it. Most of the shells exploded on the bottom of the craft - we just couldn’t believe the thing hadn’t exploded or been shot down! Three, then five, other ships appeared near it; some of the searchlights, as well as the anti-aircraft teams, focused on each one as they passed the first object. Eventually, the first craft slowly departed as well. 

Later on, about twelve other craft passed by at higher altitudes and were, in turn, fired upon. It was like a spell: why weren’t the hundreds of us watching this event concerned or frightened? I was not scared; there was no panic. No-one was screaming, there were no heart attacks, and no-one was going crazy. Other vehicles continued to pass over us for nearly five hours. Our coastal, artillery anti-aircraft crews attempted to shoot down these strange flying machines. By 3:30 a.m. the main show was over. Unconcerned, we went back to bed, although several neighbors told us the air-raid continued and the alarm lasted until 5:00 am. The next morning, the newspapers reported that foreign aircraft had been spotted in the airspace between Santa Monica and Long Beach. They failed to mention that half of Southern California watched the event nearly all night. 

This so-called Los Angeles air-raid became the first major incident in a long string of events connected to the UFO phenomenon in recent history. And, it was the start of many encounters affecting my entire fifty-seven years of aerospace engineering. 

For whatever reason, the public may not have accepted the reality of what we had just witnessed. Another world had penetrated into our lives. I realized that there had to be a massive interplanetary mother-ship, or mother-ships, orbiting our planet, and from somewhere out in the galaxy. The mother-ship had dispatched hundreds of landing-type platform vehicles to the Earth. The nature of their mission was totally unknown. World War II was raging. We had our hands full with the Nazis, and now this? 

Furthermore, there were several people in the Navy Department, Army Air Corps and an aircraft company whose entire lives were impacted. They were: Admiral Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter, Secretary of the Navy James V. Forrestal, Army Air Corps General Nathan F. Twining and General Curtis Le May, Edward Bowles of M.I.T., Dr. Vannevar Bush, and Donald Douglas Sr., to name a few. As I tell this story, these other stories will be told as well. 

Another person who saw the massive vehicles over Long Beach in 1942 was a Navy intelligence officer, Lieutenant J.G. Perry Wood. Lieutenant Wood, understanding the talents that went into creating my ship models, put together a mission-package for me and got me in the Navy, as shown here. He arranged for me to get a job with Vultee Aircraft, while I was still awaiting my security clearance. After being sworn in and having completed boot-camp in San Diego, I was assigned to a position in Naval Intelligence. I was working on advanced technology projects, having replaced a naval commander at the North Island Naval Air Station, San Diego, California. My mission tasks and objectives were to act as a “Disseminator of Aircraft Research and Information.” While only a third class seaman, I was destined to be upgraded rapidly. 

My mission was under the direction of the Chief Engineer (a captain, to whom I was to report) and Admiral Rick Obatta, who was in Naval Intelligence. I was to compile and maintain a continuous survey of (a) experimental research laboratory activities, (b) other governmental agencies, and (c) educational scientific institutions, manufacturers, and research engineers. Upon my own initiative, or at the request of any bureau or office of the naval air forces.

I undertook studies of specific instrumentalities and techniques for the purpose of outlining research projects. I was also assigned to the naval management program, enrolled in flight school, and carried out existing and future flight missions, for which I received flight pay. I flew in almost every new aircraft in the Navy inventory, sometimes as the pilot. Among other assignments, I flew admirals out to such places as Douglas Aircraft (Santa Monica), Long Beach, and China Lake, situated in the Mojave Desert. For four years (from 1942 to 1947) I had access to highly classified programs, and was involved in some of the most unprecedented advanced scientific programs on the planet.

The war ended, but it was not until 1946 that I was honorably discharged. My dad had insisted I resign so that I could go to work for him, selling real silk hosiery door-to-door. I hated it. After that, I sold roofing materials for him. I hated that, too. Ultimately, I went to work at Northrop. My work with scale-models had demonstrated that I would be good at making models to be tested in the wind-tunnel. I was convinced this was where my future lay. I got on board in the wind tunnel department. I was also given a job designing airplanes without wings, a job that required a security clearance. I then quit Northrop and went to work at the cybernetics lab at North American, which was at the old Vultee plant. (While there, it turns out I saw circuit board prototypes stated to be made from some ET materials.)

In 1949, my brother and I got a job at Lockheed Aircraft Company in Burbank. When I was working at Lockheed, I became aware of a technical advancement into aerospace activities which was going on at the massive Douglas Aircraft Company, in Santa Monica. Again, my models opened doors for me. They had gotten me into the wind-tunnel model shop at Northrop. And, now, at Douglas, the Senior Vice-President was aware of my ship collections. In fact, he paid me to build for him a model of Donald Douglas’s sailboat, the Endymion, as a birthday gift. As no specifications or drawings were available, I had to document the large boat with sketches before building it. The VP had acquired a copy of my résumé and checked my naval background. Even before the model was completed, he was impressed, and, as a result, in 1951 he transferred me into engineering as a draftsman. Because of my former security clearance with the Navy, the Electronics Section Chief, my boss, transferred me into the highly classified Advanced Design Section, a move that changed my life.

The events date back to 1945, and a top secret report to the Secretary of War. Commanding General of the Army Air Forces, H. H. “Hap” Arnold, wrote: “During these years of war, our military has made unprecedented use of scientific and industrial resources. We must continue to have teamwork amongst the military, industry, and the universities. Scientific planning must be years in advance of the actual research and development.” In this report, Arnold did not, however, reveal his greatest concern - that some type of alien beings were here and that, technically-speaking, might be millions of years ahead of us.

Under the direction of James Forrestal, who was the Secretary of the Navy, on October 1, 1945, several high-ranking big shots were brought on-board, including: General Hap Arnold, Edward Bowles (of M.I.T., and a consultant to the Secretary of War), Donald Douglas (the President of Douglas Aircraft Company), Arthur Raymond (the Chief Engineer at Douglas), and Frank Collbohm (who was Arthur Raymond’s assistant). They met in secret at the Army Air Corps Headquarters, Hamilton Field, California, to set up Project RAND, a way-above-top-secret scientific think-tank. It was created in December 1945, as a special contract to Douglas Aircraft Company, at the Santa Monica Municipal Airport. Inside a highly classified, walled-off area in the Douglas Engineering Department, Project RAND studied the implications of threatening alien agendas. Meanwhile, Frank Collbohm - under the direction of Arthur Raymond and Donald Douglas – had been secretly investigating the strange flight of vehicles over Santa Monica and Los Angeles since 1942. Collbohm would become one of the principal figures leading RAND.

In that same month of 1945, the new office of the Deputy Chief of Air Staff for Research and Development - to which Project Rand reported - was officially established, with Major General Curtis Le May as its first appointee. Then, on March 2, 1946, a letter of contract was executed, which put Project RAND under the direction of Douglas’s Assistant Chief Engineer, Frank Collbohm. The Douglas Think Tank was born. 

RAND had two missions: 

(a) to research the potential design, performance, and possible use of manmade satellites; and 

(b) to function as a highly classified, scientific research program. 

The latter included literally thousands of problems in various fields, many related to addressing the technological threats posed by the aliens, considered to be thousands of years more advanced than our own technologies. 

By early 1948, Project RAND had grown to approximately two hundred staff members, with expertise in a wide range of fields. The arrangement with Douglas Manufacturing management, however, proved to be a major problem. A conflict of interest was boiling and a separation was imminent. It wasn’t long before the Chief of Staff of the newly created United States Air Force wrote a letter to Donald Douglas. It was a letter that approved the evolution of RAND into a nonprofit RAND Corporation, independent of Douglas, and that’s what it became. 

The divorce was problematic. Many PhDs wanted to stay with Advanced Design at Douglas. Elements of the big picture were literally thrown back and forth. Others wanted to walk both sides of the line and not be involved in the big picture. Others wanted to proceed only in their fields. But the think tank was split in two. RAND leased a building in downtown Santa Monica and called it the RAND Building.

Following the divorce, on June 24, 1947, I was still testing electrostatic field propulsion techniques in the science laboratory at Northrop Aircraft in Hawthorne, and still trying to make vehicles fly with almost no wings. It was also on that date that Kenneth Arnold, a private pilot, encountered a tight formation of nine disc-shaped aircraft. They were cutting across his flight path, at high speed, over the Cascade Mountains in the Washington State area. Although this was not the first known sighting of such objects, it was certainly one of the first to gain widespread attention. Hundreds of reports of similar objects quickly followed. Many of these came from highly credible military and civilian sources. The military tried to ascertain the nature and purpose of these objects, primarily in the interest of national defense. They were, however, unsuccessful in their attempts to utilize naval aircraft to pursue reported discs in flight. At times, public reaction bordered on near hysteria.

According to the so-called Majestic 12, Eisenhower Briefing-Document (EBD), mailed anonymously to UFO researcher Jaime Shandera in December 1984: “Little was learned about these objects until a local rancher reported that one had crashed in a remote region of New Mexico on July 5, 1947.”

The site, seventy-five miles northwest of the Roswell Army Air Field, became the staging ground for a secret operation meant to ensure recovery of the wreckage. “During the course of this operation, aerial reconnaissance discovered that four small humanoid beings had apparently ejected from the craft at some point before it exploded, fallen to earth roughly two miles east of the wreckage site,” reported the author of the EBD. All four were reportedly dead. A determination was made that the vehicle was a short range reconnaissance craft, which implied it came from a larger, mother-ship.

“Numerous examples of what appeared to be a form of writing were found in the wreckage. Efforts to decipher these had remained largely unsuccessful,” stated the EBD. Indeed, they were as unsuccessful as the efforts of my uncle, my cousins, and me to decipher those hieroglyphics in Egypt, back in the 1930s. Equally unsuccessful, noted the author(s) of the Majestic 12 documents, were the efforts to determine the method of propulsion and the nature, or method, of transmission of the power source involved. This is not surprising, when one takes into consideration the complete absence of identifiable wings, propellers, jets, and total lack of metallic wiring. Nor were there any vacuum tubes or recognizable electronic components present whatsoever. 

Although these creatures were humanoid, noted Majestic 12, the apparent biological processes responsible for their evolution were entirely different from our own, so the term “Extraterrestrial Biological Entities” or “EBEs” was adopted. It is virtually certain that these craft do not originate in any country on Earth. Dr. Menzel (allegedly of MJ-12) summed this up nicely, stating, “We are dealing with beings from another solar system entirely.”

Operation MAJESTIC-12 was created on September 24, 1947, upon the recommendation of Secretary of Defense James S. Forrestal (formerly Secretary of the Navy), Dr. Vannevar Bush, and Admiral Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter, who headed up the group. It is a Top secret, MAJESTIC-Eyes-Only Research and Development-Intelligence operation responsible directly (and only to) the President of the United States. In turn, both the Deputy Chief of Air Staff for Research and Development and the Project Rand Group reported only to Majestic-12 at the time. 

As I said before, early in 1950, I came on board at Douglas, Santa Monica. Because of my Navy Intelligence background, they dropped me into this tank, which was still steaming from the divorce, with a group of their peers. Those of us that were newly hired were totally unaware of the separation or the tension that still haunted the PhDs. Nobody told us anything.

At times, some of my associates in the tank felt that I approached the advanced space programs as if I were from a different sector of the galaxy. I agreed, because, to me, this planet doesn’t have a good reputation. It’s an extremely barbaric place to live. Granted, some of the black-hat aliens (aliens with what we would perceive as an evil agenda) are certainly responsible for instigating the hatred between our early tribes, before 1200 B.C. and in the years that followed. I have always been convinced that there must be civilizations out there that are not only far more advanced than ours, but also more civilized. 

So, now, I am driven to get my ideas out to everyone reading this book. My intention is to present compelling evidence of multiple alien cultures influencing our aerospace development. Do you, reader, have any concept of the tremendous thrust of the secret work we were involved in? Life on this little planet will never be the same. So, read on, see what really happened, and get involved

It’s difficult to understand how complicated the idea of going to the Moon was to us way back in 1950. I’m not preaching and I don’t want to teach a class. This book is structured as a discussion of our first penetration into the universe. For the first time in the history of this little blue marble, man will actually realize his greatest dream. That of leaving his home and traveling to the stars. We are privileged to be living during this time in history, because it’s happening right now. The Apollo Moon missions were just the foundation for the Deep Space Exploratory Interstellar missions planned by the Douglas think-tank and the Navy. 

So, how did we accomplish this enormous task of going to the Moon, designing the Apollo Vehicle and Launch Center, and manufacturing all of the equipment in the thousands of aerospace facilities located throughout the United States? It was conceived not by NASA, but at the old Douglas Missile and Space Systems Division in Santa Monica, California. Not only that, it was conceived four years before NASA even existed, by advanced design analysts in a think-tank who didn’t just do what they were assigned to do, but who visualized in their minds every step necessary for missions to the Moon, the planets in our solar system, and twelve of our closest stars.

I was one of those conceptual thinkers. As Engineering Section Chief, I conceived dozens of missions and spaceships designed for exploratory operations to the planets that orbit our nearest stars. I designed a station to be built on Mars, massive NOVA vehicles and equatorial launching facilities. I also designed multiple 2,000-man military bases for our Moon, and a 600-man naval station for all of the habitable planets and their moons. I devised the checkout and launch-test systems for the Apollo Moon Saturn V, SIV-B and reassembly with the command control Moon vehicle. a near complete redesign of the major facilities operations for the entire Launch Control Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida. I documented what I did, made sketches, and presented them to my staff, who were the most competent designers on the entire Moon program. The results were astounding. I presented them, in turn, to the NASA directors, who then completely changed their unsuccessful method of development, resulting in six successful missions to our closest planetary neighbor.

Visualize a hidden, technical world where a block-long, five-story building, full of six-foot-high cabinets of electronic computers, power supplies, old-fashioned printed circuit boards, and wire-patch panels could just barely accomplish the mission your cell phone has probably just completed. Most of you were never exposed to the massive size of the computers we designed, built, and operated just to get the four-stage, 365-foot Apollo Saturn V Vehicle checked out and launched to the Moon. 

Today, we are amidst a technical explosion. Man has evolved on this planet for a span of approximately 30,000 years, according to carbon-dated skeletons. In terms of development, nothing of a technical nature occurred until relatively recently. The first airplane, flown by the Wright Brothers, was built in the early 1900s. It was only 60 years later that man designed a massive rocket, powered it to the Moon, landed there, gathered rocks, and returned safely to earth, while every thinking person on our planet watched it happen on television. That is only a 60 year time frame. That’s less than a lifetime.

In 1954, during our studies of pre-NOVA and pre-Apollo/Saturn deep space star ships, we in the Advanced Design think-tank collectively established prerequisites for all of our naval spaceship studies. The three hundred years of naval experience and the operating missions at sea (sometimes without replenishment) became a prerequisite for all military star missions. Naval vessels are at sea for a long time, which gives them a great deal of expertise when it comes to undertaking long missions. On the other hand, Air Force bomber crews have breakfast with their families in the morning, take off for their missions halfway around the planet, drop their bombs, turn around, fly back home, and have a glass of wine with their wives in the evening.

President John F. Kennedy was given permission to leave our planet. I say “given permission,” but by whom? Who gave Kennedy this wild, stupid idea to go up to the Moon? Certainly, Congress didn’t - they had pork barrel projects back in their home states, all of which needed those hundreds of millions of dollars. And why would Soviet generals and Navy admirals give up all their new toys, just to go off halfcocked on some ridiculous Moon thing, regardless of social needs in early the 1960s? Someone gave them permission, and it resulted in the most complicated technical task ever attempted in the history of man: the Moon race was on.

So why was NASA created in 1958? Publicly, it was created to provide a non-military government agency to organize and build a rocket ship that would take man to the Moon. Oh, yes, the Evil Empire was still trying to get there first, but we in the USA were going there on a peaceful exploratory venture. Well…that’s not exactly the whole truth, either. 

Back in 1952, some unbelievable space studies came out of the Douglas Think Tank. They revealed that not only were certain U.S. governmental heads aware of the alien involvement in human affairs, but that the old Soviet Union was aware of the situation, too. With possible alien “assistance,” the Soviets were bent on getting to the Moon first, in order to establish missile bases there and control the entire planet. Oh, yes, that was a copy of Hitler’s plan. 

What we know is dwarfed by all we have to learn. 

Never in the history of man’s time on this planet has there ever been a project conceived, designed, and successfully completed like the United States Apollo Moon Program. It remains by far the most complicated technical effort ever attempted by man, and our first major penetration into the universe. Man has made some progress in exploring our local space. Still, we have worlds that await us in our own galaxy, Andromeda (our closest galactic neighbor), and the rest of the universe. Our challenge is to extend our presence across the vastness of deep space, seek answers from other solar systems with potentially intelligent life, and establish commerce with them. 

So why, all of a sudden in a microsecond of galactic time, did we leave the planet? Who wanted us out there? 

End of Prologue 2013

Chapter 1

A THINK TANK

Breathing a sigh of relief, I stepped onto the sidewalk on an early 1951 spring morning in sunny Santa Monica, California. I was renting a room at a nice lady’s home only six blocks from the beach, eleven blocks from the Douglas Aircraft Company, and eleven miles from Hollywood High School, where I received my education. I had flash images of the beach, filled with bikini-clad dreamers of movie stardom, lounging in the sun. 

As I headed out on my walk to work, my curiosity resurfaced. I couldn’t help but wonder what a kid like me was doing in a Think Tank. They called it Advanced Design but I somehow sensed it was a Think Tank. I didn’t even know what a “Think Tank” was before I was given the job. I’d never done anything like it before and I certainly wasn’t qualified for the job. Unlike so many other, more suitable candidates, I was just a draftsman - well, maybe like a junior grad, but certainly some sort of military pawn. 

I thought, nobody tells me anything around here. They just have me figuring things out, like the requirements for maneuvering vehicles in a vacuum, accomplishing stage separation, and establishing a Moon base. There were many compartments; it was like a maze. In a way, the Tank was kind of spooky. I wondered, what exactly did all those gray-haired PhD’s do down the hall? 

The PhD’s had a really strange way of operating. They would say, “Look into this,” or “See if there’s some way we could do that.” They never gave me any supporting documents to go on, nothing that I could refer to. Sometimes I didn’t know what the hell they were talking about. But it didn’t matter; they wanted me to put together something that would protect “our systems and spacecraft carriers” from “them.” 

What system? I would think: “Spacecraft? Them?” Ideas rolled around between my ears. In the back of my mind, I started to wonder if our government was having problems with some really bad aliens. 

Still, despite the lack of information, I felt privileged. It was all so incredible for me. I was positive that what was going on inside the Tank was extremely important. I could feel it. It bothered me when I considered, again, the possibility that life existed elsewhere in the universe. I thought that, maybe, I was being guided towards opportunities that were somehow related to that concept. 

At nearly the same time in 1951 on the other side of the planet, in the South China Sea, Admiral Steve (Mac) McDonley, a strikingly handsome six footer, relaxed in his battle command chair on the bridge ten levels above the flight deck. 

The Captain and Executive officer were below deck. Mac was on this fantastic bridge with the most experienced personnel, and the most advanced weapon systems ever assembled on a naval warship. It was 2130 on a crystal-clear night. Mac couldn’t remember, at any other time in his military career, observing a more peaceful calm sea. 

He was Commander of a Battle Group cruising non-combat at 14 knots, consisting of the largest aircraft carrier on the planet, the U.S.S. Coral Sea CVB-41, with 97 of the most formidable nuclear combat aircraft ever assembled (Douglas A-3 Sky warriors). In addition, under his command he had two cruisers, four destroyers and an attack submarine. 

Mac, a former fighter pilot, was considered one of the top combat officers in the Navy. This was his first deployment as Flag Commander of an entire Battle Group. 

Lt. Commander Bob Corson, officer of the watch, commented: “It is a very nice evening but strangely dark, Admiral.” 

“Yes it certainly is,” Mac replied. 

At that moment, the entire flight deck was engulfed in a brilliant light, encompassing the ocean and all seven ships. 

“Sir, should we sound General Quarters?” Corson asked. It came over the intercom from below deck in the Combat Information Control (CIC). “Sir, my search radar screen is whited out, entire upper screen,” the operator reported in a low scream. 

“The sun came out,” the helmsman shouted. 

“No it didn’t; it’s daytime.” 

“No it isn’t, that dirigible is falling on us. “ 

“That’s no fucking dirigible, sir,” was broadcast over the automatic ship-to-ship CIC radio commentary, to the carrier from all accompanying ships. 

“An extremely large cylindrical vehicle is located 400 feet above our carrier.” 

Indeed, triangulation established that the object was over 8,000 feet long and 500 feet in diameter. It emitted a brilliant light source that encompassed its entirety. On deck it felt like a warm summer day. 

“Sir, should we sound General Quarters?” The Captain and Executive Officer, now on deck, took their answer from Admiral Mac, who looked up and shook his head, 

“Negative; and don’t launch the fighters.” 

For eight minutes, over 5,000 crew members of the Battle Group came up on deck and witnessed this encounter, knowing that they would probably never be able to reveal what they had just witnessed. 

With tears in his eyes, feeling that he and his entire Battle group were now on patrol out in Our Galaxy, he felt had somehow allowed a far superior Galactic force to possibly step on them and squash us. 

Telepathically seeing a smile on the face of that starships Boss, “Were they friendly?” Admiral Mac got up from his Command chair to salute the admiral commanding the massive intruder; he couldn’t; saying to himself, “You Sir may even be from a different Galaxy . . .” 

1 First day in above top secret compartments 

A Think Tank, buried inside an engineering department of one of the world’s largest aircraft manufacturing plants? That’s ridiculous. Maybe inside the California Institute of Technology (CALTEC), over in Pasadena. But, certainly not in the Douglas Aircraft Company, at the Santa Monica Airport, right? Wrong. Something really weird was going on in one particular part of Douglas engineering and I had been selected to participate in it. 

To gain access, I had to enter a highly classified walled-off area inside the Engineering department through a locked door. On my first day I was given a temporary badge. I was not, however, given a key to the area. Someone had to buzz me in. A grumpy, middle-aged man in a business suit ushered me down one of the halls into a room. 

My first assignment in advanced design was in this small room with no windows. It seemed to me to have been an office. I could tell there had been pictures on the now empty walls. The only furniture was the standard drafting board and a stool. I was alone in that room for two days. Nobody even came in to tell me when it was quitting time. 

On the third morning, three gray-haired men were waiting for me when I came in. Without introductions each instructed me to determine: 

1) A method to transport heavy equipment from cavern 316 to caverns 329 and 330, saying they need a prototype by Sunday. 

2) A method that would enable them to stabilize a rocket stage that has malfunctioned during descent. 

3) The risk factors in misinterpreting the intent of acquired computations involving recording data. 

Ok, which one’s my boss? Which task do I accomplish first? How big are the caverns and how big is the equipment? 

What are we doing underground? 

I thought we built airplanes here? 

What’s a stage? (Stage coach?) 

Descent of what? 

And whose recorded data? 

They kept me in that little room for three weeks, moving me then farther down one of the halls to a larger area with empty walls and five drafting boards. I got the feeling I had been there before. But everything was different. Before, it was like a conference room, much larger and with strange inhabitants. My thoughts were interrupted and faded away as a nice, young, good-looking guy with wavy hair and a big smile stood up. He was holding out his hand for me to shake: “I am Jim; Jim Jenkins,” he said. “Welcome aboard the mysterious, tantalizing upheaval of science research” 

“I am Bill; Bill Tompkins and I have three bosses: how many do you have?" 

“Don’t know; quit counting last month.” I somehow knew that I had seen him before. I really liked this guy and knew that we were going to be real good friends for a long, long time. 

2 One year later: face of deception 1952 

The time was 5:10 a.m. I pushed my hair from my forehead. I had gotten up early, just at daybreak. I slipped into my dark blue pants and white dress-shirt, and went in search of a cup of coffee. At 6:00 a.m., I turned into the Douglas Plant parking-lot at the Santa Monica airport.

“Good morning,” the guard smiled. 

Without delay, I entered Engineering, showing my red-lined badge to the nice lady behind the signin counter. 

“Tight security,” I said. 

She nodded. “No party crashers allowed.” 

Not much airplane manufacturing here, I thought, but there were a lot of advanced aircraft and weapon- systems-based projects underway. I passed five hundred empty drafting boards on the main floor. Approaching the narrow entry, I slid my coded card into the slot and pushed open the first door, and then the second. I stepped through, into an altogether different world. The offices and cubicles - even the laboratories - weren’t so much the focus, but the scientific, deep-space research definitely was. Formulas, space-time diagrams, and astronomical charts lined the walls. The academic atmosphere and attitude was of analyzing and solving critical problems at any cost - it had to be accomplished. 

The lobby of the Engineering Tank was at the end of a long hallway. It was cheerful, brightly lit and well-furnished. I rested my hands on the top of her desk. “Doobie, doobie, do,” I said. 

This sparkling-eyed, adorable little thing, Alessandra, gave me a big smile and replied, “Doobie, doobie, do to you, Billy boy.” 

“Isn’t Strangers in the Night appropriate today?” I asked. 

“You’re a little late, Bill,” Alessandra responded. “Some of your buddies are already down the hall.” Up she popped from her chair, revealing her short red-orange dress. She gestured towards me: “Are you going to Wheaton’s party? Or are you going to duck into your design area and call in sick at the last minute? You know that bastard, Edelson, will be here?” 

There was no mistaking the flirtatious overtones in her voice. My eyes flashed over her form. 

“Do I have a choice here?” 

“Go into your area,” Alessandra said. “I’ll be over at break.” 

Instead, I went down the hall towards the conference room, even though I was frustrated. Stopping, I sensed that something was wrong. I felt safer in the walled-off Advanced Design Think Tank area than out in Engineering. The fewer ears the better. We were never told, but the team suspected, that the projects were based around extraterrestrial intervention. 

I was worried. Something was making a terrible noise in my head. My body began to shake. What were we really doing in here, I wondered? We must be part of something astronomical, something unbelievable. Whatever it was, it was descending on us with overwhelming intensity. 

Before the day’s program review, I tried to rationalize “the contract” again. It seemed to control everything. I thought it must be a naval contract,” but why Douglas? Nobody in here actually called it a Think Tank, but that’s what Advanced Design really was – an intelligence contract. Maybe they had a control group, chaired by some top guy in Defense, and he (or they) had had selected Douglas to study problems related to an extraterrestrial presence. We must be supporting a document called the “RAND.” We were studying, defining and conceiving all sorts of weird things, and they descended on us in this so called “research” with an intensity that made me desperate to know the truth. 

I joined the circle of people gathered by the conference room, located down the main hall. These were my friends and colleagues. Elmer Wheaton (the VP in charge, who got his doctorate at CalTech but never discussed it) was a really big guy. His secretary, Sheila Potts, was always brushing her brown hair. Dr. Klemperer, in his white smock, was our number two boss over the other PhDs. The others were Jim Jenkins, my buddy; Dr. Nick Sorenson, a geo-astrophysicist; Dr. Hurtling, one of our propulsion analysts; Dr. Weston Jensen, an elderly man from another part of the Tank; and Carl Nelson, our optoelectronics guy, who was always slapping his thighs when circumstances got too overwhelming or when one of us broke the ice with a funny. Approaching the group, I said:

“So, are we convening in the hallway today, or has someone called for a rain dance?” 

I got a few chuckles from Jim Jenkins. We saw things the same way. He was another junior grad- type. The girls were crazy about him.

Elmer Wheaton raised a brow. He rubbed his knuckles across his thick mat of gray hair. “Everybody inside,” he said. “We’re about to start the meeting as soon as Edelson gets here.” 

I couldn’t help but scowl at the sound of that. Vince Edelson was from the front office. He was the worst SOB on the planet. He was the type of guy who’d gotten to the top by stomping on ideas and making his fellow co-workers look bad. The only way he ever got anywhere in the company was by budding up with Douglas Jr. and kissing the asses of manufacturing corporate executives on a regular basis. Needless to say, I wasn’t looking forward to working with him on this project. 

“Why is he in here?” I asked. “No one from the Corporation is permitted in the Tank.” 

We all mumbled and shuffled our way into the conference room. Tagging along beside me, Jim muttered, “So the metaphysical convention begins.” 

I smiled grimly and said, “Hey, It’s possible these missions and configuration concepts could provide us with a steep learning curve. Like enough to fend off the threats, which appear to be coming from out there. It may mean the life or death of our species. I want to be as prepared as possible, rather than turn a blind eye to the limitless possibilities.” 

The elaborate conference room could hold over thirty people. It had modern, upholstered swivel chairs, overhead movie- and slide-projectors, and a pull-down screen. We situated ourselves at the oval table in the room’s center and started setting up our paperwork. Everyone was abuzz with speculation as to what the day’s thrust would bring. Facing what I knew would be another round of deception from Edelson, I felt a knot develop in my stomach. 

Just then, Vince Edelson rushed through the door and pushed a chair next to Elmer Wheaton. I rolled my eyes. He always wanted to be the mediator, to look more important than he really was. 

“OK, Sheila, you can start typing down the minutes,” Elmer said, as he began the meeting. 

Sheila nodded and flipped her brown hair, just like she always did. 

“Today,” Elmer said, “we’re going to discuss the possibility of multiple extraterrestrial threats, and the measures we have conceived that the Navy should take to form a plan of action against them. We’re going to define defensive and offensive interstellar missions. We’re also going to discuss how we should configure our launch and landing facilities for our spaceship designs. 

“Since it is virtually certain that these other vehicles originate from a sector of our Galaxy, let’s open the discussion with the types of alien species hypothesized previously, and what sectors of our Galaxy they come from. Dr. Sorenson, would you please disclose your findings for the group?” 

At this, Dr. Sorenson sorted through his paperwork, stood up, shifted his thick-rimmed glasses on his nose, and cleared his throat. In a thin, raspy voice, he said, “According to our analysis of the closest star systems, Alpha Centauri is the closest, only 4 light-years away. But it is not the most likely candidate because it appears to be a twin star. If correct, they may be too close together to provide stable planetary orbits. What we need are stars that have planets with a similar distance ratio to their stars as we have to our sun. Therefore, stars that are farther out than Alpha Centauri are the most probable ones for planets from which we might see attack. Also, and this is very important, this region - the next ten stars out- poses the possibility of finding planets with ecosystems viable to human colonization.” 

Folding his arms, Edelson, said, “Speak up.” 

Dr. Sorenson glanced at him. He raised his voice and shouted, “Over here!” He pointed to a starmap with circles drawn around numerous places, each representing possible, intelligent, extraterrestrial civilizations. “Now, I believe, as a first step, that if we can harness enough power - with the use of Dr. Klemperer’s electromagnetic propulsion and his unconventional propulsion schemes for long-term space exploration - the possibility of landing one of our proposed naval spacecraft carriers on one of Alpha Centauri planets is achievable.” 

I interrupted, “We won’t land. If we have no resistance, we’ll park in orbit and launch our landing craft to the surface.” 

“Good thinking, Bill,” Elmer said. 

Edelson scoffed. “Just how do you propose backing up your claims for the Navy and Lt. Commander Daniel Howard? A few star-maps and a hypothesis won’t impress him. Our NIKE anti ballistic missiles are the strongest selling point. We’re wasting our goddamned time with this theoretical horseshit!” 

“Now wait just a minute,” I interrupted. “I haven’t finished my cup of coffee yet, and you’re already whining in our ears. This project is far too big for you to understand. If we take our propulsion method, spacecraft carriers, and colonization ideas to the Office of Naval Intelligence or the Office of Naval Research, the Navy will fund us millions of research-and-development dollars to support star-ship production programs. Just back off, Edelson, and take your narrow-minded point of view elsewhere.” 

“All right, let’s get a move on,” Wheaton stepped in. “Edelson, don’t jump in unless you have some useful feedback for the group. I know you have the company’s best interests in mind, but we don’t need to start a boardroom brawl at 9:30 in the morning. Sheila, strike out the profanity in the minutes, and Tompkins, since you had the floor last, bring us up to speed on your spacecraft carrier configurations.” 

I opened my brief case and retrieved the configurations. I unfolded them from the opposite side, in the center of the table, facing Wheaton. 

I began: “Okay, what we have here are two basic designs for Naval spacecraft carriers. There are two tradeoffs for configuration ‘T’ and one for configuration ‘J.’ All three are based on Alien Threat File Number 44022, with the exception of the Nova III Exploratory/Drop Mission. Of course, these all utilize Dr. Klemperer’s and H.E. Salzer’s electromagnetic propulsion concepts. Both configurations for ‘T’ are 1.5 kilometers long and configuration ‘J’ is 1.0 kilometers.” 

“Bill, you’re smoking pot again,” Edelson said. “And where is your fucking system plan? You were supposed to show us what these spaceships of yours are supposed to do, to justify their existence.” 

“Mr. Edelson, you are out of order again,” Wheaton said. 

I rolled out my 8-foot functional flow plan and 6-foot Ship System Development diagrams, but Edelson jumped across the conference table, almost half lying on it, and pointed at configuration “J.” 

“What the hell are you thinking, Tompkins? Dr. Sorenson told us space is a vacuum. There’s no air out there, but you dumb-asses have all your stupid rocket fronts configured with sharp edges. I don’t have time for this nonsense. I’m going to tell Jr. to cut this whole shit off.” 

And with that, he jumped up and stormed out of the room. 

Sheila held a hand over her mouth in disagreement. In a low voice, Jim chuckled. 

“Let him go, Bill,” Wheaton said. “I’m interested in your thoughts on the pointed fuselage hull configuration.” 

As my mind recreated the Edelson blowup, I stated hesitantly, “It’s a given that the electromagnetic shields surrounding the spacecraft carriers will protect it from extraterrestrial light ray attack. If the ship were to fly through an unsheltered nebula at possibly three times the speed of light, and encounter a kilometer-sized meteor shower, any boulder that got through the shield would just glance off the angled surface. With our limited knowledge of all the different particles of space materials, and given that we provide a capability for wedging our way through, I’ve conceived a backup system.” 

I pointed at my charts to demonstrate the concept. 

Sipping his coffee, Wheaton stared at my chart. 

“Good thinking,” he responded. “I’m impressed with your configuration ‘T,’ indicating all three classes of spacecraft needed for a drop mission. Well then, gentleman, let’s try shooting holes in Bill’s concept.” 

At that point, Dr. Sorenson spoke up. “Your ‘T’ configuration might work with the right materials. Asteroids do pack a punch in our atmosphere. At three times the speed of light, a similar impact would possibly be three-fold the experience of what we can test now in a laboratory. Dr. Jansen, do you have any ideas about what may impact the logistics of Bill’s design here?” 

Dr. Weston Jansen rubbed his head, arching his brows. “Well, I could come up with a theoretical design for the forward panels that might take impacts better, by using a suspension system. I would be concerned about the integrity of the electromagnetic surface of the panels, however, after such an impact. We’d have to get the approval of the Office of Naval Research to use Caltech’s supercomputer when they get the bugs out and recreate a simulated physical scenario, but the real thing may endanger the lives of the astronauts.” 

“Don’t worry about ONR’s approval,” Wheaton said; “They can get it for us.” Then he said, “Okay, great, job, gentlemen. If we can get this through the heavies in the other part, we might get a final out. I think ONI and ONR will both run with it. This is the kind of backup Bobby Ray (Bobby Ray Inman) needs to convince Forrestal’s people that we can close the gap with the other ones out there.” I thought, who are they? And who are the heavies in the other part? (Note from Editor Wood. My interpretation of these remarks and their chronology is this: Elmer Wheaton had contact with the UFO-cleared group in the Navy, which he referred to as “Forrestal’s people as the ones who knew about the UFO issues. One of the new young Navy officers who was cleared for the UFO topic appears to have been Bobby Ray Inman, and his inside knowledge of the UFO problem may well have been the special link to his subsequent highly successful career. Apparently Bobby Ray was the main person interacting with the Wheaton think tank at the time of this conversation. Since Bill Tompkins’ time in this vault spans several years, it is not really clear that this conversation occurred in 1952 or perhaps a year or so later.) 

“Naval Interstellar Space Operations are a way off, but they need to get some probes out to Mars as soon as possible. I want everyone to make notes about what we need for further discussion of these ideas. Sorenson, I want you to make a density chart of some of the asteroids we have on file and confer with Jansen and some of the material design engineers. Dr. Klemperer, would you please guide them per your specifications for the electromagnetic panels?” 

“Absolutely,” Klemp said, nodding. A man in his late sixties, he had a head of thinning gray hair, and nearly always wore a white smock over his suit. 

“Oh, and, Bill, keep the configurations concepts coming. These ideas, if put into motion, could very well ensure the fate of humanity’s existence and exploration into the Galaxy. Sheila did you get that all down?” 

Sheila looked up from her typewriter. “Sure thing, Mr. Wheaton. I’ll put a copy of this on your desk.” 

“Thanks Sheila,” Wheaton replied. “But please make sure you stamp it as ‘Classified,’ and put it into my locked files, rather than on my desk. That would be great.” He looked at the team seated around the table. “Okay, gentlemen, let’s touch on our submerged submarine missile concepts, now.” 

“Hold on, Elmer,” Dr. Hurtling interrupted. He was a nervous man, always popping stomach pills. “That’s got to be our lowest priority.” 

“It is,” said Wheaton, “but I’ve had a meeting with Admiral Davis since we first pitched him our concept of the threat of submerged extraterrestrial vehicles. Our next meeting will not only include Admiral Davis, but his staff, too. That means Admiral Conway. He’s the guy I’ve been having so much trouble with on our old proposed Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile Program. Yes, I know Corporate doesn’t think missiles can be launched from submerged submarines and that we’re wasting our time trying to convince the Navy we can do it. Corporate is not cleared for the SLBM programs, though, and they’re damn sure not going to ever find out about the extraterrestrial programs. Bill has been helping us with the extraterrestrial USOs.” 

USOs were “Unidentified Submerged Objects.” 

“So that’s where you’ve been hiding, Bill!” Dr. Klemperer exclaimed, 

“We’re wearing two hats in here,” I whispered to Jim. 

“It’s more like five hats,” Jim whispered back. “Who do we really work for?” 

“Exactly. And what’s the other part of a Tank?” I asked. 

Ignoring Dr. Klemperer, Wheaton continued, “We’re going to have to educate the senior staff of the Navy on both systems. Seventy percent of them will tell you it can’t be done, but through some of my team’s extensive research and finagling of funding from the Nike series programs, I think that we’re well on our way to achieving the configurations that can accomplish both threats. That’s the diversified goal here. We will continue to bootleg the funding from any program necessary for defining the missions, weapons, and galactic Naval warships necessary to beat the multiple extraterrestrial threats. I thought we must be getting funds from somewhere else. 

“Oh, and Sheila?” he paused. “Make sure you don’t record that comment about switching funds from the Nike programs, please.” 

She nodded. 

“So, now that I’ve given everyone the update on that, let’s continue with what is also a very high priority right now: our undersea and underground facilities. Bill, would you show us your latest diagrams?” 

Sifting through my system block diagrams, I came up with my conceptual DW-23. It was meant to be a “deep water” facility, which was a portion of our ONR proposal. 

“Alright,” I said, “this diagram has four major phases, each with its own set of requirements: the conceptual phase, the definition phase, the acquisition phase, and the operational phase. The Navy’s System Program Office will oversee the phases, outputs, baselines, and technical direction review points. This diagram outlines the initial tasks needed to implement, conceive, and develop an undersea reconnaissance mission operation center and the requirements for an underground development facility. These are different programs that have command elements such as environmental limitations. 

“The major functional flow points start with Block ‘A.’ This includes all necessary equipment, such as high pressure construction vehicles or core drillers. Block ‘B’ specifies the identification of the contractors, other agencies, and their related equipment. Block ‘C’ tests the effectiveness of the site as related to location - on land or underwater - and how the equipment can be implemented in that specific area. Block ‘D’ pinpoints the referenced functions and numbers of the equipment. Block ‘E’ will be the defining step in ensuring the stability of the underground facilities. It includes: 

(1) vibrations, or shock and acoustic levels and their maximum limits, 

(2) temperature and humidity, 

(3) forced ventilation and air exchangers, 

(4) illumination of the control and operation areas where personnel will be working, 

(5) personal occupancy in numbers required for normal operation, 

(6) electromagnetic interference and compatibility, 

(7) contamination levels and tolerance, 

(8) hazards and safety in qualitative and quantitative measures, 

(9) heat rejection rates, 

(10) critical time measurements and 

(11) other special requirements not already listed, but specific to each site, including water pressure and sea currents for the underwater facilities. 

“Okay now, keep with me here. Block ‘F’ lists the interface design requirements. These are similar to Block ‘E,’ and specifically pertain to physical interfaces between the site and the equipment. They include: 

(1) envelope and weight, 

(2) mounting precision, 

(3) nuclear or electric power generation (let’s, if possible, not use nuclear), 

(4) electrical grounding, 

(5) water desalination service, 

(6) access and transportation, including platforms for machinery, 

(7) handling provisions, like elevators, submersible construction vehicles and hoists, 

(8) fire hazard provisions, and 

(9) other special interference considerations.” 

I stepped back from my DW-23 diagram and took a sip of water. 

“Now, I’m not running with a request for a proposal here, and to my knowledge, no one has ever mentioned what the intent of these facilities is. What has come to my attention, and I’m sure all of yours, however, is that somebody in the Navy wants to research the bottom of the ocean extensively. I say this because the program requires the use of giant boring machines capable of operating in deep trenches and cutting into the planet’s crust. Now, it would be irresponsible for us to overlook their specific intent. The most probable assumption would be that the Navy wishes to monitor the extraterrestrial underwater and underground bases that have possibly been secretly operating all over the planet. That has been the requirement for years. Therefore, I’m recommending we submit this proposal to whoever approves our efforts in here. Then, I’m recommending that it be submitted to the Office of Naval Intelligence and Admiral Caldwell next week, to get the ball rolling before ONR can get cold feet again.” 

”Now, Bill, don’t be sarcastic,” Wheaton said. 

I put away my diagrams and nervous chuckles filled the conference room. 

“Your presentation and our proposal, Bill, should provide the others with an incentive for recommending this proposal to Washington without any problem,” Wheaton said. “This time, I’ll be sure to mention to Corporate that we need to set aside resources for advanced research. We can troubleshoot the details and specifics once we get a preliminary nod from Washington.” 

“Who the hell are ‘the others?” Jim whispered. 

“Washington?” I whispered back. “I think. I thought we were working for the Navy?” 

“Well,” Wheaton concluded right over us, “I think we should stop for now. Everyone make sure you take all of your notes and put them into your research schedule. I know the load is just getting heavier, but with persistence, we can begin a sound program to catch up on technical grounds with whoever is out there. OK? Enough. Oh, Sheila please note the time on our records. Good, let’s get some lunch.” 

We all hurried out of the conference room. 

“I need a stiff drink to settle my nerves. Do you want to come?” I asked Jim. 

Jim laughed: “Incredible, isn’t it? After a disclosure like that, I’m not sure I can stomach much. It’s like we’re being watched from all angles.” 

3 Mysteries of the impossible deepened 

“Every meeting I get more confused as to who we’re making all this effort for,” I said to Jim and he agreed. “I want to know, who the hell are ‘they?’” 

Later, after another horrendous eleven-hour “rain dance” in the conference room, where we had a knock- down, drag-out session about the requirements for a galactic Navy and the first twelve star missions, Jim hollered to me that we should hit the lab. So, we grabbed our coffees and headed straight over. The lab was a place where Advanced Design engineers played with their concepts and ideas. We cut out card stock and taped the different parts together to simulate study models of our exotic propulsion systems, star ships, command facilities and lunar/planetary base configurations. 

I relaxed, knowing that Jim was easy to converse with on ideas. 

“We’ve got to do our homework, and get better prepared for all of these unannounced attacks on Advanced Design by Corporate,” I said. 

“I’m with you there,” Jim agreed, as he stared at the door, waiting for the flood of people about to arrive. “We can’t let those SOB’s cut Wheaton up into little pieces like they have been doing.” 

I nodded and clenched the handle of my mug. “We had agreed in Advanced Design years ago that we wouldn’t be considering rocket or nuclear platforms for any proposal system concerning the galactic Naval missions. Right? So forget what that asshole, Edelson, was screaming about. Let’s look at this way. The traditional methods just aren’t going to work. Utilizing the terms ‘annulling’ or ‘counteracting gravity’ usually refers to any means that would enable material objects in space to withstand the tendency to fall to the earth.” 

“Correct,” Jim agreed. 

👽  👽  👽

“The three different possibilities we’ve been working with are the annulment of gravity without cost in energy; the annulment or counteraction with the expenditure of energy, employing some yet undiscovered relation between gravitational and electromagnetic fields; and the counteraction by electromagnetic propulsion, employing an anti-gravitational device based upon principles in the existing state of physical knowledge.” 

“Sure.” 

“You and I selected number three, Einstein’s principle of equivalence, which is the theory of general relativity and gravitation.” 

“That’s right.” 

“So, it’s not some mysterious attraction, like Edelson was raving about. It’s identical to the field of mechanical acceleration! We’re not annulling gravity. Instead, everything under the attraction of gravity is the same: like as though it were in the vacuum and nowhere within the Earth’s or any other planet’s gravitational attraction. The electromagnetic device has next to no loss in weight and no extra weight to carry in fuel.” 

“We have got to get this understood by the whole pack of them, though,” Jim said. “It removes all other concepts that require vehicles to be launched singularly from a station in Earth’s orbit 

“That’s right” I added. “We don’t need a launching complex like my proposal for our first Moon rocket. (that became NASA’s Apollo Complex-39). We don’t need a space station lunar launching facility; it’s not required. We only need the hangers. It’s just like in the late 1930’s when our Navy’s  air carrier U.S.S. Macon dirigible took off. The photo shows it refueling warplanes. Our system will allow Admiral Conway to give the ‘move out smartly’ command from his spacecraft carrier at the San Diego Naval Space Station, leaving the US on the Alpha Centauri mission. You know Jim, I don’t think they understood. They didn’t understand that we’d established Naval operating times between stars, at an average speed of one light year or faster. That’s 186,000 miles per second. And some of our proposed larger battle cruisers may move at three times the speed of light. "

“Basically,” Jim concluded, “we have our work cut out for us.” 

4 In the tank 

After extensive studies in 1953, Advanced Design concluded that UFOs were actually interplanetary spacecraft, piloted by extremely advanced extraterrestrial beings. Specifically, we resolved that they were the greatest threat our planet had ever encountered. And this was way before the CSI (Civilian Saucer Investigation) came to the same conclusion. People were being taken out - particularly those who were knowledgeable about the situation but wanted to talk. It began with the first Secretary of Defense James Forrestal, former Secretary of The Navy. Then it was President John Kennedy in Dallas. Next, Bobby Kennedy in the hotel. And who can forget August 5, 1962, when Marilyn Monroe got it in the bed that John and Bobby had shared with her? But why Marilyn? That was too much for all us guys to take; Marilyn was the real loss. Only kidding. 

5 1951: before NOVA concepts 

Using Klemp’s four propulsion schemes that Elmer threw holy water on, Jim and I were asked to define the Naval Stellar Exploratory Missions. We were also asked to configure several extremely large Naval spaceships capable of performing the requirements of those missions. Elmer Wheaton called an Advanced Design meeting in the Tank conference room after lunch, so we could review the proposal. There were fifteen of us present. 

Wheaton said, “I don’t want Corporate in on this design method. I have said this before. I don’t want anyone from the front office in these meetings. The Think Tank is a separate, top secret organization. I’m concerned; someone’s providing them access. I know they keep trying to push their authority on us, but they only pay our rent. Remember, we don’t report to them.” 

Always pushing it, Jim asked, “Then who exactly do we report to?” 

“Simmer down, Jim,” Wheaton said. “You know that’s not discussed.” Then Klemp promptly proceeded to describe anti-gravitation as it applied to the Naval spaceship designs. I interrupted, explaining that from my mission requirements listings, my ship configurations would be horizontal like a battleship, rather than vertical like a German V-2 Rocket. Then I proceeded to elaborate on how I would utilize light ray weapon systems. We had no requirement for fuel; the vehicles needed to be self-sufficient, so the ship would require anti-gravitational propulsion. 

Dr. William Oswald, aerodynamics chief, said that, on a mission to Venus, if we flew "at an acceleration of one gravity (1g) in our space vehicle for 18 hours, at the end, if the acceleration was reversed, it would be theoretically possible to land on the Planet Venus, 25 million miles from Earth, 36 hours after launch. The speed of his spaceship would have reached 1,400,000 miles per hour, or about 400 miles per second.” 

“So, OK, what does that mean?” 

Wheaton continued, “It means that we can get out there, too; not just the aliens. We’ve already accepted that there are many more other extraterrestrials out there besides the ones from Sirius, Alpha Centauri, and the Andromeda galaxy M-31. I have a strong feeling that some of them are from other galaxies, too. 

“To answer your question more specifically,” I continued, “these thoughts materialize in my brain and present images of certain configurations. They tell me that these are the only ones that will meet certain threats, and it’s up to me to implement them at all costs.” 

I began making sketches of the basic configuration and necessary components needed to accomplish the task, saying, “You know, Jim, there really aren’t very many of us here at Douglas who can visualize the entirety of the weapon systems projects or the spaceships we formulate. Most of the PhDs in Advanced Design are very good at analyzing specifics, but they are limited in their view of the big picture. But I don’t know how Johnson comes up with his designs, like his small NOVA star ship, shown nearby on the right to be launched from an equatorial raft. (Later, I developed launch control centers for the NOVA Program, and my design is shown is shown on the left. I summarized the space requirements for them in a memo in 1962.)

“How do you come up with your ideas?” I asked Jim. 

“You know, Bill,” he replied, “like you, I sometimes don’t know where they come from. The ideas just appear. Hey, remember that list of near stars and galaxies Dr. Klemperer got from CalTech and gave us last year? Well, Alpha Centauri has to be just the start of the search for alien life-forms and their home planets.” 

Excited at the thought, I exclaimed, “Jim, I’ve also pictured in my mind these gigantic twenty kilometer-long alien mother ships cruising the galaxies, and they’re always carrying military weaponry.” 

“White Hats or Black?” asked Jim. (As noted in the prologue, black-hat aliens promote actions that would be poor for our society; an evil agenda). –Editor. 

“Some seemed to be like our Navy Battle Groups, patrolling peacefully. But others were really menacing, conquering worlds. I’ve had dreams where these alien ships were neutralizing entire planetary civilizations and sucking their resources dry. I’ve even pictured certain components of their ships we could use on our spacecraft carriers and cruiser configurations. 

“Every time I have this dream, I wake up in a panic, like something’s been planting this information in my head, to warn me! For some reason, Jim, I have this feeling that some of these alien life-forms are not just from our galaxy, but may have advanced millions of years ahead of us and are cruising the universe. Have you ever thought of that?” 

Jim placed his hand on his chin and remembered: “Well, yes, but my dreams are nearly always filled with bad guys, like in the Flash Gordon newspaper comics. Where do you think these visions are coming from? And why?” 

I had to speculate on this. For years, some of us had been simply giving ourselves credit as the top thinkers, never realizing that we may be frequently receiving information telepathically from a group, or several groups, of aliens. They had been influencing the design of our weapon system and spaceships. Thereby accomplishing their agenda - although, “their agenda” was not necessarily what was best for the planet Earth. 

There were some organizations trying to determine “their agenda.

CHAPTER 2 

CIVILIAN SAUCER INVESTIGATION (CSI) 

The CSI was comprised of highly qualified engineers from Southern California aerospace, who were interested in flying saucers and who were attempting to identify the UFO sightings that were occurring all over the world. Dr. Walther Riedel headed up this organization. Mostly under cover for over eighteen months, the CSI continued without a hitch. That is, until the winter of 1953, when someone stole our files. As a result, our group was disbanded. I confronted Dr. Walther Riedel of NAA on this one day and asked him what the hell had happened. We had unofficially been working heavily on this project for a long time and, now we were just supposed to drop it, no questions asked? There were well over 1,600 eyewitness reports and case files. Who took the files and where did they take them? Walther scratched his head and let me know that if he knew, he would tell me, but his superiors at NAA wouldn’t touch the situation. He’d gotten the same explanation as I had. We were continuing the CSI, with Kelly Johnson of the Lockheed Skunk Works, Jack Northrop, and my other co-workers at Jack’s place: Ed Heinemann of our El Segundo Division, Klemp, and Earl. I had supported Walther, but had always remained anonymous, because we were the closest to what was really happening. It appeared to Walther that there were three companies involved in CSI investigating the UFO phenomenon. 

The investigations were linked to developments in major propulsion (rockets) at NAA, and involved reverse-engineering of crashed and acquired extraterrestrial vehicles at DAC, El Segundo, Lockheed, and Northrop. They also directly affected the Douglas missions to study the extraterrestrial threats. We were supported through the grapevine by JPL and CalTech. Walther thought that some of the North American sightings were open to the public via magazines Life and Time. But Kelly, in the skunk works, Jack at Northrop, and our crew at DAC, were investigating and researching the extraterrestrial presence on earth. I was asked if I had used the words “system engineering” in the past. It was one of my major weapon system concepts and I told them yes, but that I couldn’t get into it then. I knew what Northrop was doing. Yet I wondered what Kelly Johnson was into. Walther told me that based on the CSI Board questions to him, it seemed that they were trying to design and build extraterrestrial-type crafts, without the benefit of real extraterrestrial materials. We had both talked to Jacques Vallee (a helpful young Frenchman involved in UFOs). Walther believed Vallee was of the same mind about several of Kelly’s high market aircraft. But there were other elements of our situation that were muddying the water. It now appeared that we were dealing with many hostile, very intelligent beings that were utilizing unbelievable, technically advanced systems totally beyond our understanding. Their agendas seemed to be different. Nothing in our military was capable of preventing them from accomplishing those agendas.

1 The civilian saucer research 

The Civilian Saucer Investigation (CSI) address was P.O. Box 1971, Los Angeles, California. 

Jacques Vallee was of the opinion that I was in the know at the secret Douglas research group. At one particularly long meeting, Jacques divulged his “knowledge concerning the Federation of Planets” - a sort of galactic governing force that limited the extraterrestrials of rogue planets from threatening other planets. Basically, Jacques was somehow selected, in contact with them, and was exposed to information related to their governing control of our planet. To me, Jacques Vallee appeared to be more knowledgeable than the CSI board members. 

“They operate a lot like an aristocracy of kings, queens, dukes, and so forth,” Vallee told me. “It’s not like our democratically elected government. They, the aliens, communicate internally and different from us.” 

Even though I was fascinated with Vallee’s information, I avoided divulging any of the work I was involved in. This made it a little difficult but we continued the off-site meetings. 

Back in the Think Tank, I was also selected to be the disseminator for CSI information. I believe Elmer Wheaton was responsible, but I don’t think he was openly involved in the CSI. I was also responsible for interpreting alien encounter letters transmitted from all over the world. This included all DAC in-house military, airline, and research documentation on the subject. 

It was thought possible in the Tank that a galactic federation of planets (or controlling group of aliens) apparently operated and controlled some sixty stars in our sector of the Galaxy. 

Project Sign was established in 1949 by the Air Force to investigate UFO sightings, but it became Project Blue Book, when it got the backing of director Admiral Delmar Fahrney (head of Navy’s guided missile program), Roscoe Hillenkoetter, and Air Force General Nathan Twining. They all acknowledged that UFOs were real and that they were a threat to Earth. They were tied in with the national security elite, who wanted it to be kept secret, even within the classified world. But Major Donald Keyhoe nearly blew their cover with his book Flying Saucers Are Real. Of course, that was later covered up by the US Government. 

Captain Edward Ruppelt, an Air Force Intelligence officer, who supposedly represented the Air Force’s investigation of UFOs, headed up Project Blue Book. Ruppelt hired Dr. Allen Hynek to support their investigation of the UFOs on the technical side. He came to Los Angeles (the center of aviation), to investigate the findings of the CSI, having discovered our data through the public and private CSI meetings. Douglas, Lockheed, North American, Northrop, CalTech, and JPL: we were all involved in the CSI study, as well. CSI informed the Air Force (via Ruppelt) that they had determined UFOs to be real, that humans were controlled by aliens, and that the aliens appeared to be a threat to our planet. The Air force confiscated all of the CSI files. They didn’t want this intelligence leaking out to the mass population. I’ve always found it extremely interesting, however, that after three years of study by projects Sign and Blue Book, the Air Force released information countering the existence UFOs and their threat to the United States. Ruppelt left the Air Force and Douglas immediately hired him as a consultant on extraterrestrials for Advanced Design. Several months later in September 1960 he died after a second heart attack. 

2 Dr. Walther Riedel’s Research (CSI) 

I grabbed my briefcase, which contained some of my Civilian Saucer Investigation (CSI) files, and headed out to an early meeting. This was before work, at a Beverly Hills coffee shop on Wilshire Boulevard. This was with Dr. Walther Riedel, the principal head of the CSI. The group was comprised of the most technically oriented and highly qualified analysts from southern California-based aircraft companies and universities. They were intensely interested in unidentified flying objects. While trying to determine their source and agenda, and documenting UFO sightings that were appearing all over the world, the group hosted official open-scheduled meetings to inform the press - such as Life magazine - which we at Douglas did not attend. Rather, we met privately with Riedel and others in the CSI. Nearby is my personal copy of an early issue of the CSI newsletter. 

At that time, Dr. Walther Riedel headed up the Rocket Engine Research at North American Aviation, which later became known as their Rocketdyne Division. In 1949 his associates included Dr. Gerald Heard, author of Is Another World Watching?, Werner Eichler, Norton H. Nolson, J.S. Newton (President of Leif Erickson Society of Mechanical Engineering), John Danied, Ed Sullivan (technical writer for NAA) and C. Barnes.

In an attempt to identify the UFOs, they had set up equipment to measure background radiation in a classified desert location. They had encountered large radiation bursts “for no apparent reason,” while a nearby colleague sighted a formation of three UFOs. This same group of scientists had also decided the phenomenon required further testing, and so had established the Civilian Saucer Investigation for this purpose. 

When I stepped into the coffee shop Dr. Riedel was seated at a small circular table in the back corner. As I approached, he shifted his stance, reached out his hand to shake mine, and said, “Hey Bill, great that you could make it.” 

“My pleasure, sir,” I replied, thanking him for keeping me up to speed on this intriguing subject. Dr. Walther Riedel had close cropped gray hair, steady gray eyes and was slightly overweight. Brushing down the side of his ruffled three-piece suit, he looked more like a salesman than a scientist. I said, “So I see you have a cup of coffee; I’ll order one and we can get started.” Before returning to his table, as if concerned about maintaining our anonymity, he walked over to the window, nervously glancing up and down the street. 

I flagged down a waitress and asked for a cup of coffee. Then, I opened my briefcase and took out the paperwork we had previously been investigating. Basically, Dr. Riedel was keeping me and Douglas informed on the CSI activities. I took notes every time we met like this. 

Once we were settled in, Dr. Riedel rubbed his jaw and filled me in on some of the current CSI investigations: “I resurfaced the ‘mineral club’ information that we had discussed that contained the soil analysis of the UFO sites in January and February of 1951. They found a correlation in a secret Air Force project lab at AMC’s Cambridge Station, named ‘In the East’, which came up with similar test results. Essentially, high levels of radiation were found shortly after the sightings.” 

I interrupted, “Do you think that the Air Force is deliberately lying to us, attempting to steer our efforts away from the truth?” 

“They don’t act that way, but yes it certainly is a possibility.” 

“So, there’s a trace that can be followed,” I said, “and the Air Force has already honed in on that fact. Well, I’m not surprised. Were there any spikes in the samples between each sighting that would physically prove this repetition?” 

Dr. Riedel explained: “It’s hard to gauge since the sightings were so close together. The samples clearly read very high levels on the Geiger counter for both instances. The eyewitness accounts we recorded stated that the UFOs were silver, circular objects that flew near the makeshift lab. It was almost as if they wanted us to see what they were doing.” 

“It sounds like they were baiting your team out into the desert to keep you where they wanted you,” I said, dread in my voice. “Why else would they want you out there? They may have some kind of underground alien military base out there that can’t be seen; their entrances could be disguised by electromagnetic fields. It might be that they were really testing you on your capabilities, not vice versa. What better way is there than to set up a false alarm to see how you’re going to react in a real situation? They could build better precautions through that type of testing.” 

“Of course! We figured that as well. However, we had to take the inch just to comprehend the mile. 

I talked to Gerald Heard yesterday and I mentioned I was going to visit with you today. He said you were the senior analyst in the Douglas secret advanced think center charged with defining the alien missions operations and addressing the overall threats.” 

I laughed with shy content. “Well, thank him for the compliment. But we were just an Advanced Design group at Douglas.” Thinking: at work I am continually confronted with unusual ideas; but that was a very strange interpretation of our activities. What did Riedel know that I didn’t? 

“Over at Douglas we had a similar finger-waving episode much like yours. A garden-variety flying saucer was spotted at about 7,000 feet over our runway, next to engineering. The flight-test guys held fast while the craft parked in the air. Like they were staring down at them for what they said was ten minutes. In reality it was only three minutes.” 

“It seems that the sightings are becoming more frequent around our testing areas,” 

Dr. Riedel added. “I think this seems like another case of surveillance. Were your people testing any new craft?” 

“Not at that time. It was as if they were just hanging around, saying, ‘we’re here; what are you going to do about it?’ They were in and out so fast; we couldn’t have done anything about it if we tried.” 

Struggling he looked right at me. “Bill, it is possible that thousands of years ago these beings became technically sophisticated, developed the capability to move off their planet...” 

I finished his statement... “Left their star, and, now, their battle groups are cruising our area of the galaxy.” 

“Where did that come from, Bill?” 

Taking a last sip of coffee, he stared at his watch. 

“Sorry, but I’m already running late. I’ll keep you posted on any new developments. We should have coffee again next week, same time, same place. I will have more specific figures from my team by then.” 

“Next time we can discuss more about the reverse engineering necessary for interstellar space travel. Your team may come up with some of the pieces of the puzzle that my team is lacking. I just wanted to again thank you for your help with all of this.” 

He shook my hand and said, “Bill, we need every man, woman, and child working on this. It’s the only way we can preserve the human species.” And with that, he walked out of the coffee shop. 

I sat there for a moment, finishing my coffee. I repeated his last words over and over again in my head. I was mesmerized by the sheer magnitude of the comment. 

We were at war with a far superior foe. 

Documenting some of the CSI information, This page displays one of two pages of notes in the handwriting of Mike Swords from an early visit by John Timmerman to author Bill Tompkins in 1991, and even alludes to the name of editor Bob Wood. 

3 NOVA trucks 

THE NOVA SPACE FREIGHT TRUCKS AND THE U.S. AIR FORCE SAC COMMAND POST 

In Douglas Advanced Design, we had been developing many of the physical concepts of Dr. Klemperer’s unconventional propulsion schemes, as well as designing spaceships utilizing their propulsion methods. We had spent seven years on-and-off with these concepts before NASA put out requests for a bid on the NOVA space vehicles (NOVA was way before Apollo). The vehicles were forty-times larger than the Apollo Saturn vehicles. Because we had Dr. Klemperer’s propulsion schemes that Elmer Wheaton approved we were far ahead of NASA or any of the other missile contractors again. So, Jim Jenkins, Mack Davis, and I spent an enormous amount of time discussing and conceiving these rockets. Our mission in Advanced Design was to analyze the propulsion scheme, develop configurations, trade off studies, and design massive space freight trucks.

I personally designed a 600-foot high, cone-shaped NOVA vehicle that was so large it would have been necessary to build a 1,000 x 1,400-foot raft. We would have had to construct the rocket on the raft and tow it out to sea to the equator for launch. I also designed a massive step-down theater checkout and launch center, locating it in a Naval C 3 I command ship. 

While in the process of conceiving propulsion and vehicle designs for the above, reading Dr. Klemperer’s studies, and reviewing the extraterrestrial impact on all of those unconventional propulsion schemes with me, Jim told me that this alien design thing could only be explained by addressing Klemperer’s comments earlier. “One concept thinker to another,” Klemp had stated. He said that if we had a given electromagnetic thrust, we could combine the NOVA 12 type truck with the NOVA 16 and have a space assault ship capable of supporting a 30-man crew with a 40-man drop combat battalion. I thought the concept was great but for our modified heavy transport designs, rather than the NOVA configuration. They would be compatible to the landing ship docks that the Navy had at this time. It would also give us the capability to accomplish a preliminary Navy/Marine expeditionary crew mission to the star Alpha Centauri. 

4 Pre-NOVA investigations 

IN THE TANK 1953..... Why build massive space trucks? Let me make it a little clearer. It had appeared from our studies of “the situation” that this planet was in deep you know what. This is because extremely advanced space beings had designed, developed and built space motherships (space battleships) eons ago, and which are parked in our orbit right now. Normally, however, they spend most of their time cruising their territory of the galaxies trying to take over some other gang’s neighborhood, or slice of the pie. These bullies are in a gang that is thought to control hundreds of thousands of planets, orbiting thousands of stars. Our sun is a small star that just happens to be in one of their neighborhoods. And yes, our little star is located way out near the tip of one of our galaxies. We are so far out in the boonies from where all the action is: downtown, near the center of our small galaxy. Nobody cares what the bad gangs have been doing to us for thousands of years. Now, add to that, the fact that different star gangs are cruising the other spaces between galaxies every week. They see this puny little Milky Way, completely unprotected by a U.S. Naval Space Battle Group, Wallowa. Just like the eagle seeing the sparrow’s nest. 

I know I am oversimplifying our deep water space threats, as Admiral Conway calls it, but do you guys get the picture now? Different alien militaries have been warring for control of our planet, continually, for thousands of years. 

So, again, our studies determined we needed a heads up in our little sector of the southeast area arm of our Milky Way galaxy: build receiving antennas all over our planetary system that will give our ICBM’s a heads up. Having been involved in both of those studies I conceive dozens of multi-staged, pre NOVA rocket trucks to supply necessary construction materials, and to build surface and sub-surface naval bases and stations. They were to support our unsolicited proposal for a Naval Moon to study solar system planets and their moons’ major antenna communications sensor facilities. They were supposed to be heads up for incoming hostile extraterrestrial battle groups. The launching facilities were always a problem. I conceived facilities to assemble and checkout sections of pre NOVA vehicles: a rectangular production building; an air conditioned structure 600 feet high, with the capacity to accept change on a modular basis. This building would accept expansion by constructing additional assembly buildings on the port side. This was to support higher quantity launches and their planet- or moon-control stations. These grandiose plans had their genesis in the Think Tank.

CHAPTER 3 

THE INVESTIGATION 

Continuing the ongoing investigation of the NASA problems on the Apollo program, my section had weekly two-to-four-day meetings on the early concepts for the production launch facilities at the Cape. 

Attempting to use the Complex 37 Service Tower in some enclosed configuration for the Saturn V Launch Vehicles was determined to be unacceptable. This filthy concept, like in an open field, would never have worked. We were going to have to go back to the white room (clean room) concept. Not just for the S-IVB upper Stage of the Apollo vehicle vertical checkout stations, but also for a final assembly and checkout 39 Vertical Assembly Building sections could be added off the left side, along with the SIVB stage L- vertical building with complete air-conditioning, and capable of withstanding category 5 hurricanes. Complex 39 had to have the same quality-controlled environment that we at Douglas designed for the S-IVB stage. Everything in the Apollo from the smallest microchip to a 360 foot high Saturn V Apollo Moon vehicle had to be assembled, completely checked out and controlled in a white room environment. To meet Dr. Debus’s production launch schedule (as many as 20 per month), it was a prerequisite that the vertical assembly building be designed so that additional, identical Complex shaped assembly modules and the North American S-II stages added on the opposite side of the building. We could use the same launch control building for some of the future Saturn V launches. We may, however, have needed six to twelve new Complex 40, 41, 42, 43 -‒ to meet Dr. Debus’s extended 1992 plan. 

Let’s address the R&D (research and development) C-IB launch facility requirements at the Atlantic Missile Range (AMR). Again we had total lack of definition by NASA for the anticipated proposals. We at Douglas understood that NASA was incapable of managing a program as complex as the Apollo Moon program. They expected leadership from industry. Douglas manufacturing were waiting for Daddy to tell them what to do. Daddy had no idea of what to do and it was imperative that we, in engineering, had to plan the total program and launch facility ourselves and submit everything to the top of NASA. 

NASA’s contract requirement to Douglas for the Special Assembly Building (SAB) was totally unacceptable. 

Extensive problems were continually encountered in the checkout and launch systems of all of the Air Force and Navy missile programs. As an example, when the vehicle checkout was in a horizontal position and all systems were finally operating correctly, we erected the vehicles, such as the Air Force WS-315 IRBM missiles, to a vertical position for launch. Many of the electronic systems failed because of the different positions of the vehicle in a horizontal checkout position vs. a vertical checkout position. (Boeing, not being in the field, would not even have been aware of this.) 

During the early NASA Atlantic Missile Range (AMR) Saturn program, when the C-1 Vehicle consisted of only the S-I NASA/Chrysler booster and the Douglas S-4 stage, Dr. Kirk Debus, Director of Launch Operations, expressed his concerned about the checkout and launch capabilities of the entire Saturn Program. 

Even in Douglas Missile and Space Engineering design, on the Apollo S-IVB there was a complacent expectation that we were just glad to be a part of this wonderful Moon program that the great thinkers at that big NASA organization had given us. 

Look at the DAC APOLLO Engineering Organization Chart and you will see that almost all those other Engineering Section Chiefs were concerned with specific areas of design. They had no need to address the entire S-IVB systems, let alone study the Apollo Moon vehicle, the Moon and planet missions, the assembly/checkout and launch – or even what facilities were required for missions to the Moon. 

What if we had a problem during the mission and need to abort? Every possible problem had to be addressed. This involved both systems checkout and launch test equipment that had to provide an absolutely infallible reliability and unlike no other system ever designed. Look at Douglas engineering’s successful missile background during World War II. Our last years of operation of the Thor WS-357Air Force IRBM Missile led to the production of the NASA Thor/Delta Heavy, the most reliable, liquid rocket payload booster in history. The Nike Ajax anti-aircraft and Nike ZEUS anti-missile Star Wars systems proved to be equally reliable. The exceptional warhead strikes in many ZEUS R&D test programs included Nike ZEUS missiles launched from Kwajalein Island in the south Pacific. They were designed to intercept ICBMs launched from Vandenberg AFB in California. Photographed on theodolite, the aliens zapped and distorted our warheads on final targeting, preventing successful missions. 

I woke-up at 2.10 in the morning, thinking that I had learned a few things this year, and, for some reason, a great deal about those alien creatures. I didn’t read it; it just popped into my head. That if I paid enough attention to some of their tendencies, I could predict what the extraterrestrials would do in any given situation. It was very weird. I found this discovery unnerving, but, somehow, very helpful, too. 

1 The bottom line 

The reason I am telling you this story is because I want it to impact on you and convince you to do whatever it takes to participate in the greatest event ever attempted on this planet. We want the planet to be better after we participate than worse. Our “greatest event” was to go out in space. This book is about your future, regardless of whether you participate in that future or not. It’s important that you understand what a lot of us have lived through. For just a moment, consider it is possible that the analysis is correct and that there are numerous planets orbiting equally numerous stars, both in our galaxy and beyond. There are thirty billion stars in our little Milky Way galaxy alone. And there are hundreds of billions of galaxies in the Universe. Let’s also assume that the string theory is also correct and that the entire area outside of our universe is also filled with other expanding universes. String theory is an active research framework in particle physics that attempts to reconcile quantum mechanics and general relativity. In light of all this, it is virtually impossible to accept that we are the only fish in this vast sea. 

I am an Aerospace Engineer who took the space challenge and succeeded. I have been given permission to tell the whole story. However, the coming role that anthropologists will soon have, in terms of studying the thousands of different cultures out there, will be extremely difficult for them. The innate problems in developing productive relationships between us and advanced, exotic civilizations and cultures will be an even greater challenge. We will examine unbelievable documentation into aerospace’s preparation for the Navy’s mission to our nearest star in Volume 1, Selected by Extraterrestrials, and in Volume 2, Others in the Secret Think Tank. An accomplished space concept design engineering Section Chief penetrates into the center of the black programs, revolutionary new theories about space research, ion, electromagnetic, and anti-gravitation propulsion and the systems development concepts. Together we will review how it was, where we are now, and most important where we are really going. 

In this book you beautiful people will learn how I became a universe visionary, what happened back then, what is really happening now, but far more important to you, what is going to happen in your future. By bypassing some of the past and participating in our magnificent future, the unbelievable opportunities will open up for you and those who dream the missions, of cruising through the spectacular galaxies to unbelievable civilizations. Hopefully this book will open up some of your subconscious, the unused area of your brain and create an unbelievable enthusiasm that will propel you to participate with unlimited drive so great that nothing can stop you from accomplishing not only the Alpha Centauri mission but the hundreds of thousands of missions and cruises though out our galaxy and universe. 

Do you really down deep inside want to “Go Out There?” Get yourself away from those individuals that spend all their time telling each other why it can’t be done. Use the same amount of time and effort conceiving ways it can be accomplished, and it will be done. Think like Einstein, break the rules, live outside the box, let yourself be selected by the Nordics and discover your hidden geniuses. 

2 Reconnaissance vehicles in our airspace 1952 

In 1952, during our studies of pre-NOVA and pre-Apollo/Saturn deep space star ships designs, we in Advanced Design determined that UFOs were short-range reconnaissance vehicles operating from mother-ships, not unlike aircraft-carriers. I had been of that opinion since February 1942, when I observed a massive wave of UFO activity over Los Angeles. This mother-ship concept established prerequisites for all of our Naval spaceship studies. With Elmer Wheaton’s approval, in all of our documentation, I titled our largest ships, “spacecraft carriers.” The two hundred years of Naval experience in operating missions at sea (sometimes without replenishment), became a precondition for all of our military star missions. I selected our U.S. Navy to defend us out in the cosmos. The reasoning was because the Navy is out at sea for extensive periods. They had the expertise and experience needed to cope with very long space missions. I gave the Navy the job in all of our space missions. 

3 In the Tank 1,442 

It was 6:00 p.m. I turned to Jim: “Dr. Klemperer’s unconventional propulsion schemes…” 

He interrupted me: “All of us inside the Advanced Design have spent years trying to get it off paper and into orbit.” He gave me an agitated smile. 

“It’s still sort of unreal,” I replied. 

“Some of those people in the 1,442 were scientists and engineers in Germany, and some were shoe salesmen. They all wanted to build a spaceship. They borrowed money, took out loans on the farm, and were in debt up to their necks when they were trying to get materials to build their spaceship. It was like they thought they could simply load their families and friends into their ship and fly off to some distant star.” 

“A lot of people do dumb stuff,” Jim shrugged. 

I sipped my coffee.

“When you think about it, they’ve all wanted to leave here and start a new life for some reason, like Leif Erickson or Columbus.” 

“Supposedly to find a better climate,” Jim joked. 

“Well, now that you say it that way, yeah, that really is strange. Nobody in Advanced Design has ever explained why so many people were in on such a complicated effort.” 

“The American guys were testing their rocket designs in New Mexico in the 1930’s,” I said. “The Europeans, who were attempting the same thing, didn’t give them any clues to go on. Both parties were unaware that anyone else was trying to do the same thing. Coincidence? Nobody in the Tank has justified this. Think about it. Hardly anyone in here was ever interested in chemical power plants, when they were the next hot thing. No one is interested in anything less than ‘exotic.’” 

I felt an overwhelming rush: “Electrostatic force accelerator beams, light energy stuff, ion propulsion, electrical oscillators, electromagnetism, counteracting gravity…” 

“Yes, Bill,” Jim sighed. 

I ignored his patronizing. “A lot of these guys had no idea about mathematical engineering. They didn’t even know what materials could withstand the temperatures involved! And remember, a lot of these guys were doing this stuff way before Hitler came to power in Germany.” 

“Here comes Klemp,” I said. He liked for us to call him that. 

Jim elbowed me. “Ask him.” 

“Hey, Klemp.” 

Klemp passed us, looking older than his sixty-two years. He made a 180 and cleared his throat. “What now, Bill?

“Klemp, clear me up on a little history here. Were any of your inventors getting help from a school or a program of some sort?” 

“Wheaton asked me the same question. Not that we have been able to determine,” he replied. “Some of them were trained, yes, but a substantial number of people have been developing their propulsion and space vehicle schemes independently. They haven’t been influenced by anyone in advanced science, if that’s what you’re thinking.” 

Klemp frowned. He seemed reluctant to explain. “Now, yes, there are a good number of technical papers on the subject, in our RLR-744 unconventional propulsion. But as both of you know, those are not where some of the real breakthroughs are found, like that shoe salesman in Berlin, with his electrostatic force acceleration contraption that nearly worked.” 

“Then, who instructed these independents?” I asked. 

“Shoot, why did they invent these schemes in the first place? Klemp, I don’t understand.” 

“Don’t call him ‘Klemp,’ Bill!” Jim had to save his sense of courtesy. “He’s ‘Doctor Klemperer.’” 

Klemp just laughed, which eased the tension. “It’s alright, Jim. You know I enjoy the informality with both you boys.” 

“Okay.” I nodded. “But you have all 1,442 guys here, working on your RLR-744 unconventional propulsion schemes. At least fifty-percent of the Europeans are trying to get off the fucking planet. Excuse me - the planet. What’s really going on?” 

“All right, Bill, calm down.” 

Klemp held up his hands and rubbed his chin. “Several of us feel that certain extraterrestrials, for whatever reason, have been influencing these inventors telepathically. Influencing them to develop a capability that will move them off this planet.” 

“We know that,” I said. “But I still see no apparent reason why the aliens want to help us. They’re here out of self-interest, right? Why fly half way across the galaxy to get here, then hide and influence men to achieve these physical possibilities?” 

“Think about it this way,” Klemp said. “We have twenty-six PhDs in our area of Advanced Design and thirty-eight others in Engineering – specialists - some of whom we frequently pull in as needed. Out of everyone, you two still manage to approach the Tank’s requirements differently. It’s as if you’ve already thought of them and either known the answers or conclude that the requirements aren’t necessary, because another concept would provide a far greater capability.” 

Pausing, as if to find the best way to express himself without giving too much away, Klemp continued, 

“Believe me, I’ve thought about it several times and I still don’t know why. You two are caught up in the same enigma you’re asking about. You, in a way, are like the 1,442 - the inventors. Sometimes, you look through a much larger window and can see things in three, four, maybe five dimensions. 

“You, Bill, have personally gained the reputation of thinking far ahead of everyone in the Tank. You seem to always ponder the deep questions of our presence in the galaxy, or for that matter, in the universe. When you start a new project, at times you seem to be an observer, living in an element that allows you to view and conceive every new mission that will meet the requirements for galactic operations. In the same space, you also seem to utilize the system for the advent of star ships, with an enthusiasm that will get us to the corners of the universe. And your questions weigh very heavily upon some of us, too. We’re living through the most complicated problem confronting civilization as we know it.” 

“It has been confirmed: Admiral Conway reported to Forrestal’s people, and stated that several, different alien craft have flown, and will continue to fly, into our restricted air space. They have operated over every one of our secret nuclear research facilities. When our Navy and Army Air Force fighters are scrambled, in an effort to get the aliens to land, the aliens respond by shooting all our aircraft down. Even our patrol aircraft are attacked and destroyed. They use some unknown ray weapon killing our crews. 

“Since early 1948, our pilots have been ordered to intercept and shoot down all the unknown invaders. Because we have lost so many of our top pilots and their aircraft trying to chase the UFOs, that order has been changed to, ‘Intercept but don’t shoot except in the case of an obvious maneuver on the part of the UFO.’ That order has never been revoked, which means we have been in a state of war with several alien hostile civilizations. There is definitely more than one type of alien craft that have made absolutely no attempt to communicate with our military. They are extraterrestrial threats. They have even intercepted our missile tests at White Sands, preventing successful missions.” 

“Klemp?” I was still glowing from the compliments. “I really do see things as if I’m looking over a fence, holding on by my fingernails. I feel like Advanced Design is seeing this massive universe for the first time. Intercept but don’t shoot, except in the case of an obvious hostile maneuver on the part of the alien craft.” 

“Bill, that’s just what I mean about you. A beautiful metaphor.”

“One question,” said Jim. 

“There isn’t just one question with you two, but go ahead,” Klemp said. 

“In World War II, did Hitler hear about some of the 1,442 and grab these guys?” 

Klemp looked nervous. “Well gentleman, you’re asking the wrong person. I will tell you, however, that every time the SS ever located one of these inventors during their investigations, they arrested him, confiscated everything he had, shipped him to an underground in-mountain research laboratory, and put him to work on their star machines.” 

At 10:00 a.m. it was time for coffee; I was still in the Tank. I said to Jim: “It’s not ours.” 

“What’s not ours?” he replied. 

“The Moon; it’s not our Moon.” 

“Oh come off it, Bill; Mars’ moons belong to Mars; they have an owners contract.” 

“No seriously; I got another flash just now that it’s not even a Moon. It’s a station.” 

“Bill, there are no trains running on the frigging Moon and you know it.” 

“Ok; take it easy, Jim. I mean an alien Naval operating facility; an alien Naval base. And there ain’t no cheese there either.” 

“Was this flash in color or black and white?” 

“Don’t remember; I think…color; that’s right, most of my flashes are in color.” 

“Well, Bill, what alien Navy swiped our Moon?” 

“Flash indicated it was never our Moon; aliens towed it here in a pickup from another sector of the Galaxy several years ago; like ten thousand.” 

“Oh, Bill, slow down; now you are way too far out for me; that’s unreal.” 

“No Jim the damn thing has no core; it’s filled with massive cities” 

“Cities?” Grabbing me by my shoulders, Jim said: “Bill, let me help you lay down before you faint and fall off your chair.” 

“I am ok, Jim; it’s like forty eight states inside that…Holy cats, Jim! I got it again right now. I am freezing; I can see inside it. There are thousands of structures in there, massive open areas. Thousands of entities, beehives, like transparent buildings. Hundreds of control centers, millions of laboratories. Military research, medical. It’s gone; can’t see anything now. But, Jim, that cold, shaking - that was the worst I ever had. I do feel a little sick. Dizzy. Boy, they really hit me that time, Jim.” 

“You look a little pale, Bill; you sure you’re ok? I have had them too but never had one like that, one that hit me that hard,” Jim added. 

“You know, Jim, the Moon never rotates like everything else in the solar system.” 

“Yes, Bill, I have wondered about that for a long time, too.” 

“Jim, I think we are really in trouble 

4 Shooting a bullet at a bullet 

TO GET TO THE MOON WITH NOVA, WE MUST USE THE NIKE ZEUS SYSTEM ENGINEERING CONCEPT 

On an early spring morning in 1954, the pressure of unknown threats from out there was unbelievable. “You can’t pull Bill out of advanced design at this critical time,” Dr. Klemperer said to Elmer Wheaton. 

”Don’t have a choice now; there are fires burning all around White Sands on ZEUS.” 

“Elmer, I don’t have anyone to replace him now.” 

“Pull Jim off the type of entities we may be dealing with and stick him on Bill’s Navy Moon base project.” 

During the same time-frame that we were designing massive star ships to combat the hostile alien battle groups, we were trying to figure out the technical method of shooting a bullet at a bullet. Hitting it every time out in space was also a prerequisite necessary to accomplish the mission of shooting a rocket to the Moon. 

Douglas Engineering, during the very early Cold War in the 1950’s, was also producing the U.S. Army’s NIKE AJAX, and NIKE Hercules anti-aircraft missiles. All of the missiles were to be manufactured, tested and deployed in cities throughout the United States and Europe. Now, think about how I felt being pulled out of the Think Tank (the most classified center in the country, designing Naval space battle cruisers) to grind out engineering changes for the mobile NIKE Hercules ground support checkout and launch equipment. It was only for a short time, they said. What they really wanted was for me to determine which Hercules systems could be applied to the NIKE ZEUS to reduce development time. I was also a principal concept designer in Advanced Design for the Top secret Hardsite NIKE ZEUS Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) System. It included a massive underground battery command control center, and an entire battery of tunnels linked to underground, rectangular missile silos. 

The NIKE ZEUS (Douglas DM-15) Weapon System, including the underground silo missile launchers, was to be built near Boston. At that same time, there were unbelievable problems at our missile test operations at White Sands Proving Grounds. 

I had an extra pair of shorts thrown into a taxiing Navy C-118 (DC-4) aircraft, which was headed non-stop to El Paso, New Mexico. After the normal, bouncy landing, Paul Delaw, our field test manager, grabbed me and the shorts before the propellers stopped turning. We hit 80 mph on that narrow rounded road north, not even stopping at the test center gate to sign in. With two Army guards in hot pursuit, we literally smashed right through the wire gate. We entered the second, heavily-guarded, top secret test area and for several miles drove at 65 mph, out to the airfield taxi strip. Now, with five camouflaged vehicles on our tail, and not stopping at our Douglas missile assembly hangar, we drove past the end of runway N3. We headed out northwest, around thirty-three miles, to a clearing where there was a lot of equipment and personnel clustered around one of our DM-15 NIKE ZEUS missiles. 

Paul’s assistant got the cops off our back with the assistance of the security military police. This morning’s test firing was the fourteenth that they pushed out of our planned target projection. 

I asked, “Have they actually distorted the skin of the missile?” Ignoring my question Store went on, “The GD SOBs won’t let us in the target area one GD time. We got clear 35mm tracking coverage from two of our theodolite cameras on private firings. No, Bill, they don’t actually touch our nose cone, they are using some sort of beam to distort the missile” 

“Now listen Bill,” Paul said, “I don’t know what that bunch of hardheads that Elmer is listening to back at Santa Monica is up to; but out here in the real world these aliens are at war with us and it is clear to us that we have no way to stop them. Certainly the NIKE ZEUS can’t do the job. You tell Elmer. Yes, you know we can knock out anything the evil empire can throw at us with the DM-15; but this sinister alien thing is our real problem.” 

“I’m with you Paul.” I answered. 

The photo shows the NIKE ZEUS missile on a launch pad. It was capable of a very fast acceleration to hypersonic speeds to intercept enemy ballistic missiles.

For the final NIKE ZEUS Weapon System acceptance by the Army’s General Gates (Commander, Missile Systems, Missile Test System Program), quad concrete vertical missile silos and phased array radar receiving and transmitting antennas were built above ground - on Kwajalein Island in the Pacific Ocean. This was the first STAR WARS Missile System. After spending months in the Tank and conceiving the entire system, we were contracted by the Army to design, build and test a complete battery of the Teflon nose–coned DM-15 NIKE ZEUS missiles at their underground launch facilities to be located just outside Boston, Massachusetts. 

I had spent three months in advanced design laying out specific configurations of the NIKE ZEUS underground battery launcher and control center. Most people could not envisage the size of this massive, Star Wars-type, underground town, with its thirty-foot high, reinforced concrete walls. The tree-shrouded missile tracking radar building was the area’s most striking feature, a massive pyramid shaped structure containing four solid state phased array radar antennas. It was to be the only structure protruding above the surface of the landscaped low-rolling hills. When I say hard site, I mean it: the DOD specifications required that the facility remain capable of launching missiles, even after taking a near-direct hit from a fifteen megaton, hydrogen bomb. 

At a later time, I was still involved in different configuration designs of the launch control battery center monitor, (missile readiness checkout and launch). During that effort I frequently went back to White Sands, New Mexico, where we were still testing firing our DM-15 NIKE ZEUS test missiles and improving tactical system testing checkout and launching operations. During these test firings, after the missile reached supersonic (Mach 1) speeds in our low altitude thick atmosphere, the rocket motor burned out, and a parachute was deployed for soft landing of the test missile, and to allow for recovery and post-launch inspection. 

The parachute was deployed from the center of the missile allowing it to land in a level position, leaving the nose cone unaffected by ground impact. During the post-landing inspection, it was hard to believe how the Teflon nose-cones of these missiles bled off like hot butter. Teflon was never used on the production tactical missile nose cones, however. 

During the ten years-plus of the on-and-off NIKE ZEUS test program, I made over sixty flights back to White Sands Proving Ground, in the Tularosa Basin of southern New Mexico (near Roswell). This included testing, and checking out the launches of all types of missiles. The Douglas field station people were continually on my back, discussing various sightings of UFO’s. Every time I arrived, they hit me up to explain new weird performances of the alien crafts in the areas all around the base. As I have said before, I was the disseminator of information on the subject in engineering, and I reported to Dr. Klemperer and Elmer Wheaton, the V.P. of engineering, who wore two hats. He was V.P. of all the classified missile and space system programs. Unknown to 99.9%, Wheaton was V.P. of the above top secret compartmentalized extraterrestrial threats research Think Tank, too, sometimes referred to as Advanced Design. 

The White Sands people always nailed me on what was seen there, while I was back at Santa Monica. Many times they drove me out on the desert to show me sites where UFOs had been sighted or where there was evidence of landings. Out west, to the San Andreas Mountains, to the Truth or Consequences range that is southeast of White Sands, and to the east of Alamogordo and the Roswell ranges, we were looking for a site where it was thought a vehicle of unknown origin had apparently landed. We never found any actual parts, but we did get very unusual vibrations and humming at several locations where their craft had been seen parked. There were the usual three-point, landing-gear imprints in the ground on some of these locations. The base tracking people had recorded partial photographic coverage of our missiles during test firings. The imagery showed small disks following our missiles - and for around no less than twenty percent of the flights. They would streak ahead of our missiles, pull impossible 180 degree turns, aim themselves at the missiles, then pull away, just before impact. At that time, we were not certain that the aliens were preventing our missiles from successfully accomplishing their flights. But, the missile test programs were continually being blocked by the aliens, which set back the development of the entire program. 

So, here I am, at eighteen thousand feet again, in a Douglas DC-6, and only two hours from landing at El Paso, which is only a mile north of Juarez, Mexico. I was thinking, “How do we solve all the problems and chaos the aliens have been giving us on so many different programs?” 

The air was unusually rough on approach; we even had a height cross wind that caused our pilot to drop our left wing and crab us in to a really rough landing. Jeb Parker, one of our top field stations reps, met me at baggage pick-up. 

“Bill, glad you are finally here; we got troubles. And, frankly I got scared.” 

“The black hats?” 

“Yes, they are really fucking up our launches and they are even screwing up our pre-launch checkout. We are taking every step on your system block diagram, but they are somehow electronically penetrating our circuits; really weird, Bill.” 

“Ok back to that in a minute. What’s the personnel problem Santa Monica is covering up?” Jeb asked.

“Remember George Davis’ eighteen year old girlfriend?” 

“Yes, they recently got married.” 

“Well, he brought her out here with him again; staying at our same motel. He took her over the border to a bar in Juarez, on a Friday night five weeks ago.” 

“You’re kidding Jed; when he was working for me he brought her down and wanted to take her over there and I told him, ‘I’ll fire your ass if you do.’” 

What’s the matter with his brain, Jeb?” 

“He is a smart kid Bill; a damn good engineer. He would never do that on his own, but it’s like something is influencing his head.” 

“You mean possibly entities?” 

“Don’t know, but you know more about that than me.” 

“Bill, you also know how she looks; a blond in short shorts and a bare midriff, running around the motel. That’s how she was when just the two of them went in that dingy bar. The report said after drinking she went into the ladies room, down a hall, and never came back into the bar. Now, Bill, you know what those damn Mexicans think of blonds. Both our border patrol and the Mexican police were searching for her. A Navy special intelligence investigator found her body two weeks ago, in south Juarez. The preliminary autopsy indicated that she had been dead for days, severely beaten and had been continually, violently raped.” 

”What do you make of it, Jeb?” I asked. 

“You know Bill, there are some very strange things happening all over this area that the old timers say never happened here in their entire life before 1957. And it’s getting a lot of people worried.” 

“Like what, Jeb?” 

“Two weeks ago, Roy Millikan, from communications, was scouting for one of their craft, downed somewhere by the Truth or Consequences, a mountain range south of the base. He had engine trouble and was trying to land a Navy F6F-1 on an asphalt road. He was about a hundred and fifty feet from landing when he felt heavy tingling all over; the F6F turned upside down. Now Bill, Ray is in the Navy reserve and a damn good pilot; you are an ex-Navy pilot too and probably even flew Grumman’s F6F’s.” 

“No, TBF-1s though.” 

“Well, Jeb said that he has been flying that specific plane all the time and it was in perfect condition. But, he couldn’t pull it all the way back level. So, he hit the side of the road, left wing first and ground looped, broke his arm in three places. He got cut up a lot, but is okay. Said the soft dirt saved him. Said there was no wind, totaled the plane. Now, this is where it gets spooky. At the same time, his wife, Carle, felt tingling and fell to the floor in her office, breaking her arm. She really went off the deep end.”

We learned, during the Kwajalein Island final-phase test program, that our NIKE ZEUS anti missile missiles were being prevented from intercepting the Air Force ICBM’s, which were being launched from Vandenberg. 

A review of 35 mm film, taken from the theodolite tracking cameras, showed the alien space projectile entering into our orbit and pushing us out of the perfect head-on impact with the ICBM. This alien interference has continued on and off since 1955. In fact, it continued right up to February 15, 2005, when the new Star Wars missile defense - the updated configuration of our Nike Zeus - failed to even launch. The Missile Defense Agency said the cause of the failure was a malfunction within the ground support equipment at the test range on Kwajalein Island, not with the interceptor missile itself. “That’s a bunch of BS.” 

We also test fired many of our tactical Nike missiles at the U.S. Navy Pacific Missile Test Center, Point Mugu, California. It was 2:00 a.m. when I got the wakeup call: 

“Bill. Get your ass over to the flight office, now.” 

At 70 mph I hit the fog coming out of the Sepulveda tunnel, and with all of those canyon curves ahead of me. The fog was really getting thick. When I crossed Sunset Boulevard, a red light showed up in my rearview mirror. Pulling over, I flashed my badge. The cop said, “Follow me.” He turned his siren and red light on. By the time we got to Douglas, the fog was so bad I could not see the hood on my Caddie. 

Rick Burges, the Operations Manager, who met me at the flight office, said, “We’ve got to get to the Point now; get in the flight jeep. Perry’s got the DC-3 at the east end of the runway; let’s go.” I could hear the twin DC-3 engines crank up. 

“Is it clear at Mogu?” 

“No, it’s stopped in there, too. But, Parry said he can get us there.” 

It took us forever to get to our plane. Leaving the jeep near the side of the runway, we climbed in and pulled the heavy door closed. We walked forward, past some tied-down missile electronics to the pilot’s office. 

“Bill, I am driving. You take the co-pilot seat. And, Rick, you strap yourself in the jump seat, between us,” Perry said.

“How are you going to keep her on the concrete? I can’t see the engines.” I asked Perry. 

“Well, Billy boy, the Navy needs your famed visualizations. There is something really out of this world happening at the point and nobody knows how to stop it.” 

“Okay, Perry. Thanks for the flowers but…” 

Perry Courtney suddenly pushed both throttles to max power. The old DC-3 literally jumped forward. Sticking his head halfway out the pilot’s window, while wearing his World War One fighter pilot’s flopping, untied strap-cap, he mumbled: “Forgot my goggles again. I think it is this way.” 

With roaring engines, vibrating wings, and tail surfaces, we headed down the runway. Spilling his cold coffee, Rick said: “Nobody has ever taken off this Santa Monica Airport in a fog like this.” 

“You guys want to turn around and go back?” Oh boy, we’re in trouble, I thought. 

Perry said: “Billy, don’t just sit there help me pull back on the yoke; I think she is ready to fly.” 

Yes, we lifted off like a bird with an empty cargo. We used less than a twenty five percent of the normal runway. 

“Piece of cake, Willie boy. Don’t you think?” 

“Okay, fly-boy. I was all wrapped up in Elmer’s wake-up call about what’s going on in our hangar at the point that I forgot this is an empty cargo DC-3.” 

Banking sharply up the coast Perry answered, “Short run; really don’t need much altitude.” 

“Wait a minute, I can’t see a thing in this fog. How are you going to find the Navy’s runway in this soup?” Rick asked. 

“That’s right, Perry. Is there GSE at that station to guide us in?” 

“Yes. And this is my first time trying to land blindfolded.” 

“But, Billy, having you along on this trip, I felt one of your alien good guys could help us down.” 

At that moment Perry let go of the controls; even the throttle. “Look, no hands,” he said. 

We made a sharp left turn, and several light banks left and right. The throttle came back, and the landing gear came down and locked in place. The nose came up and we touched down ever so lightly on the runway. 

“Damn, that’s smoother than I ever landed. Boy, Bill, you got super friends.” 

We all added, at the same time: ”I don’t believe this.” Taxiing right over to the Navy’s VIP parking area, Perry cut the engines. Two sailors chocked both of our wheels saying: 

“It’s 4:00 a.m. and pitch dark. How did you guys land in this fog?” 

Climbing down the wooden steps that the sailors pushed up to our door, I answered, “Douglas has the best pilots on the planet.” 

We were driven through the lighted security gate, surrounded by at least twenty guards carrying automatic weapons. We headed to the DM-15 (NIKE) assembly and checkout hangars. Approaching the hangar we could hear an unearthly screaming. I thought: and what is that smell? Inside, the lighting was so bright it hurt our eyes at first. 

Clint Walker, our field-program test-manager, without even asking how we landed in the fog, was visibly shaken: “Tompkins I am so glad you are here.” 

He grabbed my arm, almost running over two six DM-15s lined up down by the big hangar. They were in various stages of assembly, and covered with test equipment. But there were no people working. He pulled me back: ”Don’t stand so close. We have absolutely no idea what is going on here. Look at the number two on the line.” 

Now he was really shaking. He said: “Just watch it.” The missile was fully assembled, seventy five feet long, but it was waving, rotating like a snake, still tied down on the assembly stands. It was also sparking, like little lightning flashes. 

“Can you feel it: the vibrations?” 

“Oh, shit, look at number four. It’s starting up, too. The nose cone is bent up towards us, like it going to eat us. The radiation is pulsing again, can you feel it?” 

Two engineers grabbed both of us, pulling us back out of the hangar. I was shocked, too, and shaking like a leaf. 

We grabbed coffee and raced to the conference room, where it was standing room only. I felt a little sick, as did some of the others. They said it wouldn’t last long. In a rather blunt way, Clint asked most of the people to leave the conference room. He was still very disturbed. When that didn’t work, he selected several of us and escorted us down the hall to his office. When we had all filed in, he locked the door. I looked around the fairly large office, trying to see who Clint had selected. There was Admiral Conway and his aide, Lt. Chuck Hunters, Captain Terry Noels, the base skipper, General Justin Serves, and his aide Lt. Denny Haig, and the CIA’s Sears Matson and Rick Burgess. 

“Now Tompkins,” Clint blurted out, “what the hell is going on?” 

”Well, with my limited exposure to things alien, you gentleman have been given the finger. This event is a wakeup call directed at your anti-missile test-program. You have been told that shooting a bullet at an incoming bullet may be capable of working against hostile earth nations. But don’t count on your weapon system interfering with our military agendas. Ninety-nine percent of you will not remember any part of this alien event. "

“Aliens?” Army Lt. Haig yelled, obviously easily frightened by a lack of knowledge of the extraterrestrial presence. General Serves jammed his elbow in Haig’s rib to shut him up. 

Things got really strange: six weeks later I couldn’t find any one that remembered the incident had ever happened, except Admiral Conway and Lt. Hunter. The aliens must have an overwhelming control of our minds. 

The final NIKE ZEUS Star Wars test-program was extremely complicated, expensive and time consuming. The aliens continued to give us the finger. Our response was to build four, massive, vertical concrete missile silos above ground – rather like eight-story buildings - and a massive receiving antenna radar system on Kwajalein Island, out in the Western Pacific Ocean. 

The NIKE ZEUS missile-tracking phased-array radar on Kwajalein would sense the ICBM and launch the NIKE ZEUS from one of the four rectangular concrete silos, with a trajectory east towards the Pacific coast, intercepting the ICBM warhead and destroying it. 

On many occasions, the NIKE ZEUS interceptor and the Atlas ICBM missile mock-warhead were diverted by UFOs in the last several seconds before being hit by the intercepting NIKE ZEUS Missile. This was well-documented by classified, long-range Air Force 35 mm cameras at White Sands Proving and Vandenberg. No indication of a UFO was ever mentioned in any public DOD release. The news media continued to report on other Douglas missile shots.. These tests were successfully accomplished by us at Douglas Engineering in the late 1950’s (long before President Ronald Reagan proposed his Star Wars Missile Program in the 1970’s.) As I said before, flying to both of these test facilities, several times a week during the test phase, was always a challenge. Our contracts at that time included furnishing our own transportation. Driving was avoided because of the long distances. So, we flew up in an old, unheated Douglas surplus Navy R5D-2 (DC-3). With most missile countdowns starting at 8:00 a.m., we hit the Douglas runway with the Santa Monica fog so thick we could hardly see the old DC-3. Takeoff was not so bad, but finding the Navy runway at Point Mugu was sometimes an accomplishment. And the Air Force runway at Vandenberg AFB, with no GCA, was really scary. 

It’s important you understand that designing space vehicle and missile check out and launch is extremely complicated. So, when you’re in the concrete block house and you press that old red fire button, it actually launches the test missile. I know, as I have launched seven. This requires a great deal of defining what comes first, then what comes second, and so on, through thousands of functions, one after the other. And with plenty of “what ifs?” stuck in between each function. What if the missile’s onboard controls malfunctioned just after lift-off and it headed inland, towards residential neighborhoods? What if the emergency engine shut off failed, and the on-board self-destruct initiated in the block house refused to fire? I can tell you that this did happen – frequently, too. 

Designing so many different missile-launching operations forced me to also become a system engineer. Douglas did not have one of those way back then. You certainly did not need one of them to design a DC-3 commercial transport. It’s a job that requires a complete understanding of every function necessary to accomplish the mission. A lack of complete understanding was, in many ways, the reason why there were so many missile failures in those early days. 

Along with another engineer, Jim Jenkins, I defined possible NIKE ZEUS Battery Control missile checkout and launch functions, something that we had both been doing for years on other missile program systems. We stepped back and took a close look at not just our NIKE missile, but the entire weapon system, right from the original threat to a successful mission, knocking down one of the incoming ICBMs. We had both been in touch with Bell Telephone Labs, who were the contractors that Army General Gates had selected to design the Missile Tracking Phased Array Radar (MTPAR). They were very familiar with their radar electronic functions, but lacked understanding of the mission and the overall weapon system. There is still a lack of understanding at Douglas manufacturing and corporate office of missile functions. 

We proceeded to lay out a complete anti-missile, missile weapon-system development program, conceiving it to be in sections which, when refined later, became concept phase, definition phase, acquisition phase and operation phase. We applied our success on other systems too, such as a top down, re-evaluation of all functions necessary to provide not only the logical tasks for each operational function in our flow block diagrams, but the backup items necessary to provide total system reliability. Taking hundreds of these functional flow block diagrams and taping them together provided us with a continuous 8 ½-inch x 8-foot system block diagram that we then compared with the Bell Labs systems requirements charts. This literally disclosed hundreds of errors in the Bell Systems. This then established a new Douglas operation concept for the Army’s NIKE ZEUS anti-missile system development program. 

After refining our system concept for Douglas, those of us in engineering were preparing to rewrite our contract using our new system block diagram - as the principal document - with the Army. The proposal was that we, Douglas, assume the role of prime system contractor on the entire weapon system. At this same time, Congress was considering an extensive reduction in funds that would have extended the missile and facilities deployment program to be located at every major city in the country. The Boston underground launch complex (which I had designed three years earlier, in advanced design) was stopped when nearly completed. And just when we’re convinced the program can accomplish its goals and we’re starting mass production, a strange, black cloud comes over the entire program, hitting every major- and sub-contractor and test center in the country. And, yes, even Congress felt it, too, and stopped the funding. Who was it that didn’t want this program to accomplish its goals? 

It is very interesting that years later at TRW, I used that same system concept to successfully acquire a major system engineering contract for President Ronald Reagan’s Star Wars anti-missile, missile NIKE X Program.

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THE DIVORCE AND THE THINK TANK 54s

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