 There are many examples that illustrate the disparity between official and unofficial truth about UFOs. I will give one right here. It is one of the better-known UFO reports: the Redmond, Oregon case. Shortly before dawn on September 24, 1959, police officer Robert Dickerson was driving through the streets of Redmond, Oregon, when he saw a large, bright object descend over the city, stop abruptly, and hover at 200 feet. The object was low enough that nearby treetops glowed. Minutes later, Dickerson drove to the Federal Aviation Administration office at the Redmond Airport. Meanwhile, the object rapidly moved to an area northeast of the airport, and once again hovered. Its color had changed from bright white to reddish-orange. Through binoculars, Dickerson and others perceived it as flat and round; tongues of "flame" occasionally extended from its edge. At 5:10 a.m., FAA reported the object to the Seattle Air Route Control Center, which relayed the message to Hamilton Air Force Base in California. At 5:18 a.m., six F-102 jet fighters were scrambled from Portland to intercept. Witnesses were still watching the hovering object when the jets roared over Redmond. As the aircraft approached, the object squelched its "tongues of flame," emitted a fiery exhaust, shot up into the air at an incredible speed, and disappeared into the clouds at 14,000 feet. It was so close to the path of the jets that one of the pilots swerved to avoid hitting it. Another jet, caught in the turbulence of the tremendous exhaust, nearly lost control. One pilot, using gunsight radar, continued the chase, but the object abruptly changed course - an event that was tracked by radar at Klamath Falls Ground Control Intercept - and the pilot gave up. For two hours afterward, the unknown object continued to register on radar, performing high-speed maneuvers at an altitude between 6,000 and 54,000 feet. The pilots immediately received an intelligence debriefing and were ordered not to discuss the matter, even among themselves. Unfortunately, hundreds of Redmond citizens had heard the jets, some had seen the interceptors, and a few had made reports about the unknown object. Forced into an explanation, the Air Force said the flight was a routine investigation caused by false radar returns. Excitable witnesses probably imagined the glow. Word soon leaked out, however, that the FAA was checking for abnormal radioactivity where witnesses saw the object hover and "blast off." This made it rather difficult for people to swallow the Air Force explanation: why would FAA check for abnormal radiation if the whole event was illusory? The Air Force soon changed its solution: the object everyone had seen was probably a weather balloon. But how could a weather balloon outdistance jets flying at 600 mph? Nevertheless, the explanation stood - for a little while. The Air Force did not know that the nation's then-leading civilian UFO group - the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena - had obtained certified copies of FAA logs. At various times before and after the Redmond incident, there had been talk of pressure against the FAA into silence regarding UFOs; apparently this time the pressure was insufficient. The FAA logs described the unidentified object and its maneuvers in great detail, including its evasion from the interceptors. The logs also included Air Force confirmations of radar tracking, scrambling of Portland jets, and a report from Klamath Falls. The Air Force promptly denounced the FAA for issuing false information and maintained its balloon answer. After more pressure from NICAP and several legislators, however, the Air Force finally announced the "true" explanation: the witnesses had seen the planet Venus. In UFOs and the National Security State: An Unclassified History. Volume One: 1941 to 1973 by Richard Dolan
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