Unknown Down Involving UFOs over South Florida and the Subsequent Cover-Up by the U.S. Military Unknown Down Involving UFOs over South Florida and the Subsequent Cover-Up by the U.S. Military By Jack Roth as told by Bill Schroeder Foreword by Maurizio Baiata Copyright © 2016 by Jack Roth and Bill Schroeder All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without written permission from the publisher. Unknown Down Edited by Michael Candelaria and Jon Sumple Front and Back Cover Design by Joe Mandia Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Roth, Jack. Unknown Down: A Cold War Incident Involving UFOs over South Florida and the Subsequent Cover-Up by the U.S. Military / Jack Roth. — 1st ed. CIP Data Available Upon Request. ISBN 978-1-6827-3737-8 DISCLAIMER: Some of the names in this book have been changed in order to protect the privacy of the witnesses. First Edition Printed in the United States of America Special thanks to Lori Wagner and Jon Sumple for helping me get this project completed on schedule. A sincere “thank you” also goes out to Dennis Force, Robert Salas, Chase Kloetzke, Stanton Friedman, Bob King, Robert Halpern, Francis Ridge, Gerald Flood and Arthur D. Jones for their willingness to talk about their experiences and add intelligent insight into the discussion of UFOs and the phenomenon’s significance to the human race. Bill Schroeder and I would like to dedicate this book to all of the UFO experiencers out there – both civilian and military – who have had to endure the negative consequences associated with the U.S. government’s long- standing policy of UFO secrecy and denial. Table of Contents Foreword ................................................................................. 1 Introduction ............................................................................ 9 The World Stage in 1967 ..................................................... 15 “The Night” ........................................................................... 21 Cuba Gets Involved .............................................................. 35 Aftermath .............................................................................. 47 Other Eyewitnesses .............................................................. 51 School Daze ........................................................................... 67 The UFO Flap of 1967 ......................................................... 85 Other UFO Incidents Confirmed by Radar .................... 115 Radar Data as Tangible Evidence of UFOs ..................... 135 Military Personnel as UFO Witnesses ............................ 143 Afterword ............................................................................ 157 Appendix ............................................................................. 165 References ........................................................................... 177 Biographies .......................................................................... 183 I knew very little When I met them that night I was aware but unknowing Till that moment of flight They came from somewhere A long ways away We were destined to meet In an unusual way It was my mission that night To watch Florida skies A mission accomplished With electronic eyes Then they appeared To my comrades and me The speed and aerobatics They were something to see And we watched them all night As they moved through the skies They ignored us and teased us And made us all wise I learned a great lesson That night in the Keys There are many more out there Then just you and me BILLSCHROEDER March31,2016 Initial trajectory of the flight pattern for the two UFO groups (A and B) tracked over South Florida on the night of March 31, 1967. Full trajectory of Group B and the breakout of one of the UFOs towards Cuban air space during the early morning hours of April 1, 1967. Foreword By Maurizio Baiata Investigative Journalist and Author W hen it comes to the definition of UFOs, I prefer to use the following: UFOs are a product of unknown intelligence in possession of unknown motivations and power. I consider this an effective and grounded definition of a phenomenon characterized by countless sightings and even more theories. But does this definition stand up to the scrutiny given by reading Unknown Down? Probably not. It crumbles before the scrutiny of a discipline that cannot be rooted in a rational belief system, since one must extend the human mind to a stellar distance and then, with much difficulty, return to this small earthly world. Then, and only then, can a person get closer to understanding the nature of this complex mystery. Approaching and understanding such a phenomenon can be likened more to the romantic idea of the 1968 Summer of Love than to the constricted boundaries of mainstream science. Author Jack Roth works on the assumption that knowing and believing represent odd partners in a super- complex game, played by “we the people” on one side and by an intricate mosaic of quasi-dark powers on the other. Many dedicated researchers risk their professional reputations, and sometimes even their lives, painstakingly investigating and often struggling to ascertain the facts and consequences associated with UFO-related events, including the deeply complex contact experiences … and they carry the burden for their efforts. These researchers often reside in a large international UFO community that basically adheres — in principle and in regards to the rules of engagement — to the traditional nuts-and-bolts North American school of Ufology, meaning they simply want recognition as serious scholars and, if and when possible, to be undisturbed by “outside” forces. Unknown Down is clear in one of its underlying messages: Too many devoted and passionate researchers find themselves alone in this field and have no reason to keep up the good work out of fear and in light of several means of intimidation. The same holds true for sincere and well-intentioned eyewitnesses (both civilian and military). The more a UFO incident remains relevant and represents a problem for the national security of any nation, the more persuasive countermeasures are applied upon the witnesses and the researchers involved. The witnesses of the events narrated and meticulously reconstructed in this book kept their mouths shut for long time. They knew what they saw weren’t helicopters, or temperature inversions, or anything else that could be explained conventionally for that matter, and they most likely suffered for years in a state of psychological confusion, not knowing how or to whom to share their stories. With thousands of credible witnesses all over the world, it has become clear to me that no country offers their citizens a platform in which to speak their truth. Instead, governments create an atmosphere where witnesses, if they dare, talk at their own risk. Take the case of the late Col. Philip J. Corso, who revealed in his book, The Day After Roswell, a great deal about the Pentagon’s secret activities related to alien technology recovered from the Roswell, New Mexico, UFO crash. I remember when, during one of his two visits to Italy in 1997, I asked him a question about the danger of being a whistleblower. He replied, “Maurizio, I have received no threats, and I’m not afraid because they know the most important parts of the book are true. They can’t change the facts. Roswell is history. After the incident and through significant backengineering efforts, we achieved some results, but nothing of significance compared to what the ET’s actually showed to us. For that we literally had to start from scratch with a new science.” History links The Day After Roswelland Unknown Down in several ways, which speaks to the frequency of UFO incidents and the patterns we see develop when we read about them. First is the issue of military personnel and their respect for national security, something Corso and Bill Schroeder adhered to during their service and for many years afterwards, even though they were compelled to share their stories immediately following their respective experiences. Corso used to say “no paper trail” was the motto of his intelligence network, referring to “verbal only” communication. It is also no coincidence that Roth includes several other incidents involving the U.S. military in Unknown Down. He refers to the March 2, 1967, White Sands Missile Range incident “when two radars plotted 20 silver objects and radar blips at 7-mile altitude.” A similar incident occurred 10 years earlier when Corso was stationed at White Sands and was responsible for radar operations. According to his military records, Corso was Battalion Commander from October 1957 to September 1958 in various Army Nike missile battery installations. At that time, White Sands was the largest military base in the United States and the nerve center of the Southwestern United States defense system. Corso wrote in both his book and his still- unpublished original notes (Dawn of a New Age) that on one hot day in the late summer of 1957, while he was inspecting the radar station connected to the White Sands range launching ramps, a radar man informed him an unknown blip appeared on the radars. The unit followed the object’s track until it suddenly vanished from the screen. Hypothetically,