MOD file DEFE 24/2032/1

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1275 Unidentified [ LORDS ] Flying Objects 1276
[Lord GJadwyn.]
some condition of the atmosphere, or
upper atn~osphcre, unknown to us, pro-
d~Jcing el~ctricaJ or similar phenomena
which no doubt interfere with compr.sses,
and for some reason dart about the sky,
sometimes even coming to earth. The
difficulty about such an explanation is
that they never seem to come into actual
contact with aircraft, or any other air-
borne objects. Even if collisions have
sometimes been suspected, they have not
been proved to have occurn:-d. Nor,
apparently, do they ever crash into
anything important on the ground. When
they are alleged to have been seen on the
ground it is always, incident.11ly, away
from houses. I sup;_')ose it is conceivable
that they may be ca:)able of passing right
through physical objects, their mindless
trajectory being tile;·efore harmless, and
dict was cmrent, as I remember
well, in America at the time of the Korean
war, \vhen I was in New "/ork. Jndeed,
it was responsible for, as far as I know,
the only known joke ever perpetrated by
a Soviel: functionary, namely Mr.
Gromyko, who when. asked ·.vhat he
thought about flying saucer5 said, " Some
people say these objects are due to the
excessive consumption in the United
States of Scotch whisky. I say that is
not so. They are due to th~ activi:ies of
a Soviet athlete, a discus thrower, in
Eastern Siberia, practising for the Olympic
Games and quite unconscious of his
strength."
If these objects are not t;:;rrestrial,
then admittedly, always supposing they
exist and arc not mere illusions, they
must be of som.! non-terre:.trial origin.
We can, I think, discard the pos£ibility
that they come from uny of the other
planets, as was said by the noble Viscount,
(
Lord Oxfuird, whose maiden speech we
so much appreciated; I hope we slu>JJ
hear from him again shortly. Venus is
too hot, ~1ars is a lifeless wilderness,
an.d conditions on the others are extremeiy
unlikely to be compatible wirh any form
of life.
Thus, from \vhence do t11ey come?
They can cnly come from a planet in
some other starry system, of which the
nearest, as the noble Viscount said, is
the siar Proxima Centauri, which is 4-1:
light years away. Always supposing:
therefore, that UFOs are manned by
sentient beings who travel at the Sf)eed
of light-and if you travel at 186,000
miles a secoDd, how do you slow down
on approaching the earth? (how wonderful
to imagine !)-these cr-eatures must have
been cooped up in their small machines
for no less than 4·5 terrestrial years before
::ppearing in cur atmosphae. One can
perhaps i::12gine thai they may somehow
have been able to escape from time and
consequently not need any sustenance or
sleep, but it is difficult, even on that
hypothesis, to believe their machines are
sor:.1ehow time-exempt and can conse-
quently contain enough propellant to
keep them steady on their millennary way.
If a UFO was launched near Proxima
Centauri and proceeded at the rate at
which astronauts go to the moon, it
would take, I am reliably informed, not
100,000 years bat more 1ii:e 900,000 years
before it reac~1~:d the earth. In which
case, it is indisputable that any non-terres-
trial UFO now si1zhtcd over New Zcalaud
or anywhere else~ must have started on
its journey sc:-!1Cthing lik0 a million
years ago. In other w0rds, since after all
the huma11 race lives within time, it must
have left long before any kind of re-
cognisable hcman society existed here
below.
It is, however, also indisputable that
UFOs have been observed for many
hundreds of years in Europe, China and
elsewhere. There are records of mediaeval
monks seeing cigar-like objects in the
heavens; and indeed it is quite possible
that such sightings have been observed
during the last few thousand years.
There may be more ~ightings now simply
because we have better facilities for
observing them. Jf so, what conclusion
m'.:st we draw as regards the whole non-
terrestrial hypothesis? It is simply that
'
1-~ 1271 v!
these sen6~nt
telligeni bein
if such they
minable jourr.
hover about 1
attempt a Jan~
of which we 1
evidence.
What couk
strange procee
obviously intr;
picked up cnm
that a serious
not feasible, t
idea. Perh::ps
mysterious wa
cur Jangur.r;c ~
I think it w;
Kimberley wb
were under so
from a p!anet
Proxima Cent;
simply a qucsti
it cop:,es dow
cosmic joke be
beings from 4
unfortunate in·
are a sort of
induce us by t!
them. It is a
net think it is<
There ~;re, i
that m~1jor l:ln1
taken place ir
inauguratic1~ •
then app< re11i
behnd some l
sum ably to see
that is, the ne\
brougH dov.n
and Peru t1:en
markings on t
been utilized t
together with t
father of rhe r;
who came du
such tradition
the world, dr
proof that sl!<
descended fro1
The ne2res
-I cuctc t:1:s
lengths to wi:i
--is the tLeo
Russia, tht
star cf Bet;, ;e
\vhich, to :.he
en~ergcd ·' th